For most parents, a child’s eye screening feels like a formality. Check the box, make sure they can read the letters on the chart, move on. But according to Dr. John Ormando, co-owner of Ardmore Eye & Optical, that mindset is exactly why so many kids go years without the care that could change how they see, literally, for the rest of their lives.

“Myopia is a visual disease that makes it difficult for a child to see far away,” Dr. Ormando explains. “Over time, what’s happening is the eye is elongating from front to back. As it stretches, light doesn’t focus exactly where it should on the retina, and that’s what causes the blurriness.”

It sounds simple enough. What’s harder to grasp, he says, is how easily it hides in plain sight.

Your Child Doesn’t Know What “Blurry” Means

Here’s the part most parents don’t expect: kids with myopia usually can’t tell you something is wrong.

“The child doesn’t notice. There’s no baseline for them to compare anything to,” Dr. Ormando says. “They may think everyone sees like that, including their parents.” He’s watched it play out in his exam chair more times than he can count: a parent stunned at how little their child could actually see, while the child never said a word, because they had nothing to compare it to.

That’s why he’s a firm believer in getting kids in for their first full eye exam at six and twelve, even if nothing seems wrong. “If the parent doesn’t see anything major, they still should be coming in for that eye exam,” he says. Between tablets, phones, and screen time starting earlier than ever, he’s seeing myopia show up in kids as young as three years earlier than the seven-to-ten age range doctors used to expect.

An eye exam this early does more than catch blurry vision. It also screens for conditions like amblyopia, sometimes called lazy eye, where one eye sees clearly and the other doesn’t, but the child has no way of knowing. Left uncorrected, that vision loss can become permanent. “Unless the school screening is amazing, and sometimes they’re not, it’s important to have that baseline exam,” Dr. Ormando says.

The New Myopia Control Lens Every Parent Should Know About

Until recently, there wasn’t much anyone could do to slow myopia’s progress. You could correct the blur with glasses, but the underlying elongation of the eye kept going, and with it, a lifelong prescription and a higher risk of complications like retinal tears down the road.

That’s changed. A newly patented lens called Stellest, made by Essilor, is designed specifically to slow the progression of myopia in children, not just correct their vision in the moment.

“It’s the first of its kind,” Dr. Ormando says. “There’s laser surgery once you’re in your 20s, but there’s never been anything to prevent this before now.” He compares the impact to orthodontics, with a much easier daily routine. “There’s zero pain in this process. You let the lens do the work. There’s no eye drops, no anything like that. For kids that young, you need simple, and that’s how we want to make it.”

The catch is timing. The lens works best for children roughly between the ages of four and eleven. Once a child reaches their mid-teens, the window for slowing that elongation has largely closed. “I don’t understand why there isn’t an enormous awareness drive around this,” Dr. Ormando says. “It’s becoming an epidemic, honestly, just from how much everyone uses their eyes today versus 30 years ago. Getting the word out to parents that they need this initial exam is the whole point.”

What a Myopia Management Plan Actually Looks Like

For families who are candidates, the process is more manageable than most expect. Kids typically come in every six months for a checkup, with lenses updated as needed based on how their eyes are changing. Most children’s prescriptions shift once a year; some shift twice.

“It’s not a difficult thing,” Dr. Ormando says. Frame options have expanded too, with major eyewear brands now designing children’s frames built specifically to keep the Stellest lens properly centered for it to work.

Making Sure Cost Never Gets in the Way

For a practice built around “Caring Professionals Serving Patients Like Family,” accessibility isn’t an afterthought, it’s core to how Ardmore Eye & Optical operates.

“We will deal with any situation. We want everyone to be able to have this lens,” Dr. Ormando says. The practice works with CareCredit, a no-interest medical credit option that lets families pay over time, and many vision insurance plans are beginning to cover the Stellest lens directly. “That’s a part of our core values. We’re not going to outprice anyone for something like this.”

Carrying Forward a Legacy Built on Trust

Ardmore Eye & Optical’s story is still a new one on the Main Line, but it’s built on something much older: the 30-plus years Dr. James Hall spent earning the trust of families in this community. (You can read more about the practice’s transition to new ownership here.)

“He and I align on our core values of just doing what’s right for the patient,” Dr. Ormando says. “Educating them, giving them their best options, really listening and focusing. He’s done that for years. I see people go in there and give him a hug.” For Dr. Ormando, honoring that legacy means continuing the same approach: knowing families by name, keeping care approachable for people at every budget, and never rushing a diagnosis.

“That’s what trust is. It’s not built instantly,” he says. “We’re excited to continue that, and to do right by everyone who walks through the door.”

Book Your Child’s Eye Exam

Whether your child has never had a formal eye exam or is due for a follow-up, Dr. Ormando’s advice is simple: don’t wait for a complaint that may never come. Schedule an appointment with Ardmore Eye & Optical to find out where your child’s vision stands today.

Ardmore Eye & Optical supports the Main Line Parent Community, as seen in the Fall Guide.
Photos by Polina Bulman Photography.