02 Mar Compounded Low-Strength Atropine Eye Drops for Childhood Myopia (Nearsightedness)

Compounded Low-Strength Atropine Eye Drops for Childhood Myopia (Nearsightedness)

With increased usage of screens in children at young ages, the vision of today’s youth could be the worst yet! With March being Save Your Vision Month, we wanted to let you know of a condition affecting children today and show you what we can do to help with this condition. 

Childhood Myopia (nearsightedness) occurs when developing eyes grow too long from front to back. This prevents the eye from focusing correctly. As a result, distant objects appear blurry, while close-up objects typically remain clear.¹  Signs may include difficulty seeing objects far away, blurry vision, squinting or moving closer to objects to see them. 

Children whose parents are nearsighted are more likely to be myopic. Those who spend significant time on a computer or handheld device are even more at risk. 

Low-Strength Atropine Eye Drops have been shown to be a great treatment option for childhood myopia and are well tolerated with very few side effects.

Low-Strength Atropine Eye Drops are not available from your regular pharmacy. 1% Atropine eye drops are available commercially, but for this condition, your child needs a much lower strength…0.01% to 0.05%. Using the full strength may cause extended pupil dilation and other side effects. Our compounding pharmacy can customize atropine eye drops to the strength your child needs.

Atropine Eye Drops are compounded and shipped every Wednesday. Because they need to be refrigerated or frozen to ensure stability and sterility, they are shipped cold via FedEx Next Day Air. But no worries, this is available to you at no additional cost. We will reach out to you every 6 weeks to confirm your refill and schedule your shipment.

If you believe your child may be suffering from childhood myopia, please consult with your optometrist/ophthalmologist. Your provider will be able to recommend a compounded prescription to help your child see better. 

Redline Specialty Pharmacy is the only accredited Nebraska compounding pharmacy that compounds low-strength atropine eye drops. In addition to serving Nebraska, we can also ship medications to Kansas, Colorado, Iowa and South Dakota.

Ref: “Childhood Myopia.” Duke Health, https://www.dukehealth.org/pediatric-treatments/eye-care/myopia#:~:text=Myopia%20occurs%20when%20developing%20eyes,up%20objects%20typically%20remain%20clear.