If your child has started wearing glasses in the last few years — or if their prescription has gotten noticeably stronger since their last exam — you’ve probably been told the word myopia. The childhood myopia epidemic is real, and unlike most chronic conditions, we now have a tool that meaningfully slows it down. Essilor’s Stellest spectacle lens is the first FDA-authorized lens of its kind in the United States, and at Glimpse we’ve been fitting it for kids since it became available.
What myopia control actually means.
Myopia — nearsightedness — is more than blur. It’s an eye that has elongated beyond its ideal axial length, and once that elongation starts in childhood, it tends to accelerate through the teenage years. Higher myopia in adulthood is strongly correlated with retinal detachment, glaucoma, and macular degeneration later in life. The point of myopia control isn’t just to slow the prescription — it’s to lower the lifetime risk of serious eye disease.
How Stellest works.
Stellest uses HALT (Highly Aspherical Lenslet Target) technology: 1,021 tiny aspherical lenslets arranged in concentric rings around the central viewing area. The center of the lens corrects your child’s prescription normally. The lenslets create a "volume of myopic defocus" in front of the retina, signaling the eye to slow its growth.
The clinical data is strong. A two-year, randomized, multicenter trial showed Stellest slowed myopia progression by an average of 67% compared to single-vision lenses in children who wore them at least 12 hours a day. The FDA authorized Stellest in 2025 based on that evidence.
Who Stellest is for.
- Children aged 6–15 who are already myopic or showing early progression
- Kids whose prescriptions have increased noticeably since their last exam
- Families with a history of high myopia (genetics are a strong factor)
- Children who prefer glasses to contact lenses or low-dose atropine drops
What a Stellest fitting looks like.
A Stellest fitting starts with a comprehensive pediatric eye exam — we measure not just the prescription, but the axial length of the eye, so we have a baseline to track. We then discuss the full menu of myopia control options — Stellest, MiSight 1 Day contacts, low-dose atropine drops, or overnight orthokeratology — and choose what fits your child’s life. For most school-age kids, Stellest is the easiest to adopt: it’s a lens, in a frame they already like, worn the way they already wear glasses.
What to expect at home.
Stellest works best with consistent wear — 12+ hours a day is the threshold from the trial data. We check in at six months and at one year, repeating the axial length measurement to confirm the lens is doing its job. Most kids adapt within a week. Frames need to be sized correctly so the lenslet pattern aligns with the pupil — another reason we fit these in person at Glimpse rather than online.
If your child is myopic, schedule a pediatric exam at either of our locations and ask about Stellest. Slowing progression by two-thirds for the next decade isn’t a small thing — it’s the kind of intervention you only get to make once.