Myopia control for kids: what Essilor Stellest and Shamir Optimee actually do

If your child's eye grade keeps climbing every year, you have probably heard the term "myopia control" thrown around, sometimes alongside big promises. Here is what lenses like Essilor Stellest and Shamir Optimee are actually designed to do, what they are not, and why this is a decision to make with an optometrist rather than off a shelf.

Myopia control is not the same as lazy eye treatment

This distinction matters, because the two get confused often. Myopia control lenses are for children whose eye grade is increasing, usually because the eyeball is growing slightly longer than average. They are designed to slow how fast that grade climbs year over year. Lazy eye, or amblyopia, is a completely different condition, where one eye has weaker vision because the brain has learned to favor the other eye, and it is corrected by different means, not by a myopia control lens. If your child has been told they have a lazy eye, myopia control is not the relevant conversation.

What Stellest and Optimee are designed to do

Essilor Stellest and Shamir Optimee are both spectacle lenses built specifically for myopic children, using lens designs intended to slow the progression of their eye grade compared to a standard single vision lens. We will not quote a specific percentage here, because results differ by study and by child, and any number you see attached to a myopia control lens should be read as a study result, not a guarantee for your child specifically. What we can say honestly is that these lenses are designed for exactly this purpose, are worn like ordinary glasses, and are chosen for children whose eye test shows myopia that is progressing.

Hoya MiYOSMART is also on the menu

Hoya MiYOSMART is a third myopia control option available at Vision Express, alongside Stellest and Optimee. All three are legitimate, purpose-built myopia control lenses. Which one fits your child best is a clinical decision, not a brand preference, and it belongs in the exam room.

What myopia control lenses do not do

• They do not reverse an eye grade your child already has.
• They do not treat lazy eye, or any disease of the eye.
• They are not a substitute for regular eye tests while your child is wearing them. Progression needs to be tracked over time to know the lens is doing its job.

How to know if your child is a candidate

The signal to watch for is not a single bad exam. It is a pattern: your child's grade has increased at more than one exam in a row, usually paired with squinting at the board, sitting closer to the television, or holding books close to the face. That pattern is what an optometrist is checking for at every visit, and it is the reason kids with myopia should be tested more often than once a year while their grade is still moving.

What to expect at follow-up visits

Once a child is fitted with a myopia control lens, the exams do not stop. Expect the optometrist to recheck the grade at regular intervals to see whether progression has actually slowed for that specific child, and to adjust the plan if it has not. This ongoing check is part of what makes the recommendation a clinical one rather than a one-time purchase.

Talk to an optometrist, not a lens display

Book a Vision7 eye test for your child at your nearest Vision Express store. Our seven-step comprehensive exam tracks exactly the kind of grade progression that decides whether myopia control is appropriate, and the optometrist will walk you through whether Essilor Stellest, Shamir Optimee, or Hoya MiYOSMART fits your child's specific results. This is a clinical recommendation, made after an exam, not a lens you choose off a shelf. Every pair comes with a 1-year warranty and free lifetime custom fitting and adjustment as your child grows.