As childhood myopia rates continue to rise, eyecare professionals are under growing pressure to detect, manage, and slow its progression. Yet despite this urgency, contact lens fitting among myopic children remains relatively rare.

This report leverages real-world practice data to uncover trends in myopia management behaviors—particularly the use of contact lenses—and highlights opportunities for improvement at both the practice and industry levels.

Methods

Using GPN’s database of over 1,800 U.S. practice locations, we tracked visits and contact lens fits for patients under age 20 diagnosed with myopia between January 2023 and March 2025.

We calculated the fitting rate as the ratio of contact lens fits to total visits for each spherical equivalent group. Practices were categorized into volume tiers—low, moderate, high, and very high—using a natural breaks clustering method based on their average number of myopic child visits per quarter.

Key Findings

Contact Lens Fitting Rates Drop as Practice Volume Rises

Low-volume practices consistently showed the highest rates of fitting myopic children with contact lenses, while very high-volume practices showed the lowest:

Practice Tier	Share of Locations	Avg. % Kids Fit	Avg. Myopic Kids Seen per Quarter
Low Volume	63.4%	3.81%	4.59
Moderate Volume	25.9%	2.65%	13.44
High Volume	8.9%	2.12%	31.19
Very High Volume	1.7%	1.36%	69.73

Insight: Lower-volume practices fit a greater share of their young myopic patients compared to higher-volume locations.

Fitting Rates Increase with Myopia Severity

Across all practice types, contact lens fitting rates increase as the degree of myopia worsens:

Prescription Range	Avg. % Kids Fit	Avg. Kids Seen per Quarter
-0.25 to -1.00 D	0.83%	15.09
-1.25 to -2.00 D	2.77%	11.25
-2.25 to -3.00 D	4.29%	7.29
Worse than -3.00 D	5.33%	9.99

Insight: Stronger prescriptions (greater than -3D) correlate with significantly higher contact lens adoption rates.

Little to No Growth Over Nine Quarters

Despite rising clinical awareness, contact lens fitting rates for myopic children remained flat across the nine-quarter study period:

• Practices saw an average of about 11 myopic children per quarter.
• Fitting rates hovered around 3.27%, with small seasonal peaks in Q3 and dips in Q4.

Trendline analysis confirms no meaningful upward shift in either visits or fitting rates over time.

Discussion

Several barriers likely contribute to the stagnation in contact lens fitting for myopic children:

• Clinical Inertia: Many providers still treat myopia management as optional care.
• Cost and Affordability: High out-of-pocket costs and limited insurance discourage adoption.
• Parent Awareness Gap: Many families remain unaware of the long-term risks of progressive myopia.
• Provider Risk Aversion: Some hesitate to fit younger patients due to compliance or safety concerns.
• Operational Challenges: Fitting and educating young patients can slow busy clinic workflows.
• Market Fragmentation: Mixed product options and inconsistent messaging create confusion.
• Payer Influence: Demographics at high-volume practices may face financial or insurance-related barriers.

Industry Implications

Despite greater clinical options and awareness campaigns, real-world fitting rates for myopic children remain stubbornly low. Growth opportunities exist, especially in practices with higher myopic child volume, where the greatest impact can be made.

Key strategies include:

• Clinical Integration: Embedding myopia control discussions into every pediatric exam.
• Parent Education: Giving practices ready-to-use conversation guides.
• Operational Support: Simplifying workflows around fitting and education.
• Financial Accessibility: Expanding coverage and affordability for families.
• Stronger Awareness Efforts: Moving public messaging toward early action and clinical urgency.

The path forward is clear: to meaningfully increase adoption, both the eyecare industry and individual practices must rethink how they present and deliver myopia management. Closing the gap between clinical opportunity and everyday behavior will require not just better products—but better communication, stronger systems, and a true commitment to helping the next generation of patients see clearly for life.