Essilor Stellest:

What’s Different About These New Lenses

• The lenses are called Essilor Stellest  (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
• They work for children ages 6 to 12 years (including kids who are just starting treatment).
• They look like normal glasses, but they have a special design: a clear center zone and tiny raised dots (“lenslets”) around the edge. These dots subtly redirect light in the periphery of vision in a way that helps slow down the eye’s growth. That’s important because longer eyeballs are what cause worsening nearsightedness.

What the Research Shows

• In a clinical study over 2 years, children wearing the Stellest lenses had 71% less myopia progression (by prescription change) compared to kids wearing regular single-vision lenses.
• Also, the elongation (growth) of the eye was reduced by 53% compared to the regular lenses. Since eye lengthening is what leads to more severe myopia and higher risk of eye diseases later, slowing that growth is a big deal.
• There were no serious safety issues in that study. Some children reported visual effects like slight blur or halos, especially at first. That’s normal and usually improves.
• Learn more about Stellest Lenses: Parent Guide

Why This Matters for Your Child

• Myopia often gets worse during childhood and before the eyes finish growing. The worse it gets, the higher the risk later in life of things like retinal problems, glaucoma, cataracts, or other eye health issues.
• These new lenses give an option for children who may not be good candidates for contact-lenses, or are too young for certain contact-based treatments.
• They offer a non-invasive, relatively simple way to slow myopia, potentially reducing how strong their prescription has to get over time.

What to Expect / Next Steps

• These lenses were just approved. As of now, we do not yet have access to them in our clinic. But we are keeping track, and as soon as they become available, we will contact interested families.
• Also, while promising, every child is different. Some children might respond more, some less. It’s not a guarantee but a helpful tool.

What You Can Do Now

Even before these lenses are in-hand, there are steps you can take right away to help manage your child’s myopia:

1. Schedule a baseline eye exam if your child hasn’t had one recently. We can measure their current prescription and eye length (axial length) so we can monitor progression over time.
2. Explore other myopia control options that are already available:
   • Orthokeratology (“ortho-K”)
   • Dual Focus Contact Lenses (MiSight)
   • Low-dose atropine eye drops
   • Environmental / behavior modifications: more time outdoors, reducing close-up screen time, taking breaks during near work, good lighting, etc.

If you think this might be helpful for your child or want to stay informed about when these new lenses become available, we’d love to hear from you. Please fill out the form below so we can follow up with you, and so we can customize a myopia-management plan that’s right for your child.

Yes, please let me know when these lenses become available for my child!

Interest Form