Essilor® Stellest™ Lens at W Optics

I've written several articles about Myopia and Astigmatism, Preventions and Eye Care. It became an unavoidable topic with three-quarters of my household being bespectacled. We have considered various methods to slow down the rate of myopia and shared our findings in a separate article on Atropine, Myopia Smart Spectacle Lens and Ortho K. 

It was time of the year for the children's regular eye check. 

Eye Examination at W Optics

I hadn't expected this but the eye examination at W Optics was such a detailed one that took 45 minutes in total! Having been to several eye screenings before, this was definitely not your basic eye check you get in other optical shops. I would say it was almost akin to the detailed checks a doctor would carry out in an eye clinic. 

The AGE 4-16 YEARS OLD (I-GEN) Myopia Prevention Group costs $60 and will overlap with the Comprehensive Eye Examination. The otometrist will look at the risk the child has of developing myopia (if they do not currently wear glasses) or assess the risk of their myopia progressing/increasing (for those that wear glasses already). 

Under the Comprehensive Eye Examination, it will cover:

- Autorefraction (a pretest they do to get an estimation of the child's prescription)

- VA test (to check how well the child can see)

- Eye teaming (check the coordination between both eyes. Important especially for eye hand coordination)

- Retinoscopy (a objective test to find out the child's prescription or if they required glasses)

- Colour deficiency (a colour vision test is done to see if the child has problems differentiating colours)

- Accommodation (tests for the child's ability to focus on near tasks such as reading small prints)

- Refraction (done after retinoscopy. They will refine the prescription for the child so that they are comfortable with it)

- Management (This would be the conclusion of the eye examination. They will give any recommendations such as if the child requires glasses or not, if so what type of vision correction is most suitable such as glasses/contact lenses, any other recommendations such as behavioural changes eg. reduce screen time/ spend more time outdoors) 

Our appointed optometrist was very patient and professional. I loved the way she demurely handled my children. She took her time and meticulously saw to every aspect of what's required to determine an accurate report. In my opinion, she was just as well-trained as the optometrists we met at Eye Clinics. I didn't felt short-changed at all!

Ewan's eye examination took longer than Faye's because he had a change in edge while hers remained the same. Do note that each pair of eyes is unique and the duration also varies. 

Essilor® Stellest™Lenses

They are Essilor’s latest generation of myopia control spectacle lens that aims to slow down myopia progression in children, which has been clinically proven to slow down myopia progression by 67% on average, compared to single vision lenses (the normal lenses we get from optical shops), when worn at least 12 hours a day.

Now you might ask. Every brand would have raved about its individual prowess so which do I trust? How effective is Essilor® Stellest™? 

Truth be told, I don't know! You've got to stay with me for the next half a year to see if Ewan's myopia is kept under control with Essilor® Stellest™. 

I had previously shared that Myopia Smart Spectacle Lenses may not be the most practical for our family as there could be a possibility that a child's eye degree may increase during the course. What do I do then? Make a new pair of Myopia Smart Spectacle Lenses? I couldn't convince myself back then and wanted to wait a couple more years for technological improvements. 

So why the change of heart now?

While Faye is taking well to her medicated eye drops, Ewan hadn't. It did not produce the same result as we hoped for. He saw an increase of another 100 degrees to 300 and 200 degree respectively after a comprehensive eye examination at W Optics and that's when I decided to open up consideration for a Myopia Management Lenses as an added intervention. 

Let us understand this very clearly, any kind of myopia intervention can only slow down myopia progression and not revert them to its original perfect eyesight state.

Allow me to explain this new technology called H.A.L.T (Highly Aspherical Lenslet Target) in layman terms. 

Do you see the many rings in the shadow? This promotes a single vision zoning [Essilor® Stellest™] right in the centre and forces the wearer to focus at a single focal point to promote myopia correction and sharp far vision. In turn, it slows down the elongation of the eye. The shorter the length of our eyeball, the sharper the vision!

The difference between this and normal lenses we get from optical shops is, it forces the wearer to keep a conscious focus in the center of the spectacle lens. Normal lenses that do not come with rings allow the wearer to wander from side of the lenses to the center, to off-center, which does not provide the efficacy of myopia control as much as a single vision zoning lens. It's not that it doesn't do its job! It still does but the effectiveness is lower than that of a Smart Myopic Spectacle Lens. 

It is something I would now like to give a go for Ewan who is seeing a steady increase in short-sightedness despite interventions. The technology used in Essilor® Stellest™lens seems to make sense to me as a layman! I'll be keeping the community abreast of our findings and journey with W Optics and Essilor. So stay tuned! It's best to hear from someone else's experience before deciding what would the best option be for your child. 

A pair of Essilor® Stellest™ Lenses retails from S$520. Spectacle frames cost separately.

Make your appointment easily for eye examinations via W Optics app! Download on Apple and Android devices.

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