How Does MiYOSMART IQ Work?

Written by Craig McArthur, Optometrist and Director, Peter Ivins Eye Care

If your child has recently been diagnosed as short-sighted, you may have heard about MiYOSMART IQ and wondered how it actually works.

At our Myopia Clinic in Bearsden, one of the questions we hear most often from parents is: “How can a pair of glasses slow down myopia?” The answer comes down to decades of vision science and an optical design that goes well beyond a standard spectacle lens.

Traditional Glasses Correct Vision, But Don’t Control Myopia

A standard pair of glasses corrects your child’s prescription so they can see clearly. What it doesn’t do is affect the underlying progression of myopia. For many children, that means a stronger prescription every year, increasing dependence on glasses, and higher levels of myopia in adulthood. Modern myopia management is designed to address that progression directly.

The Science of Peripheral Defocus

Myopia progression is influenced not only by central vision, but also by how light focuses on the peripheral retina. With traditional lenses, light often focuses behind parts of the retina, which appears to signal the eye to keep growing longer. As the eye elongates, myopia increases, prescriptions get stronger, and the long-term eye health risks rise. MiYOSMART IQ is designed to alter that signal.

D.I.M.S. Technology

MiYOSMART’s design is based on Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (D.I.M.S.) technology. The lens has two parts: a central Clear Vision Zone that provides crisp vision for everyday activities, and a surrounding Treatment Zone made up of hundreds of tiny lenslets that create controlled peripheral defocus. In clinical studies, this design has been shown to reduce:

Clinical Measure	Reduction vs. Standard Lenses
Myopia progression	59% reduction
Axial eye growth	60% reduction

In practice, this means your child can see clearly while the lens works to slow the rate at which their myopia progresses.

What’s New in MiYOSMART IQ?

MiYOSMART IQ builds on the original MiYOSMART platform, refining visual performance, comfort and treatment delivery while keeping the same underlying D.I.M.S. design. We cover the differences between the two versions in more detail in our comparison post, “MiYOSMART vs MiYOSMART IQ: What’s New?”

Why Some Families Choose a Spectacle-Based Option

Compared with contact lens-based myopia control or orthokeratology, spectacle lenses like MiYOSMART IQ don’t require any lens handling, tend to be easier for younger children to adapt to, and are straightforward to wear for sports and school. For many children, MiYOSMART IQ becomes one part of a broader, personalised myopia management plan.

Why Monitoring Matters

Myopia management isn’t just about dispensing a lens. At our Myopia Clinic in Bearsden we monitor prescription changes, axial eye growth using our Oculus Myopia Master, and treatment effectiveness over time, so we can adjust recommendations as your child grows. Read more about our expertise.

Families Travel From Across Scotland

Families choose our Myopia Clinic not just from Bearsden and Glasgow, but from further afield too, including:

• Milngavie
• Newton Mearns
• East Dunbartonshire
• Stirling
• Ayrshire
• Edinburgh

to access specialist myopia management from a team with an international reputation in the field.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does MiYOSMART IQ work?

It uses D.I.M.S. technology — a clear central zone for everyday vision, surrounded by hundreds of tiny lenslets that create peripheral defocus, which signals the eye to slow its growth.

What is DIMS technology?

Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (D.I.M.S.) is the optical design behind MiYOSMART and MiYOSMART IQ, combining a clear vision zone with a peripheral treatment zone.

Does MiYOSMART IQ slow myopia progression?

The underlying D.I.M.S. technology has been shown in clinical studies to reduce myopia progression by 59% and axial eye growth by 60%, compared with standard single vision lenses.

Craig McArthur’s Clinical Opinion

PLACEHOLDER — draft only. Please personalise and approve before this goes anywhere near the site.

“Parents are often surprised that a lens can do anything beyond correcting blur, so I like explaining the D.I.M.S. principle properly rather than reducing it to a slogan. The peripheral defocus mechanism is one of the better-understood explanations we have for why myopia progresses, and it’s why I’ve been recommending MiYOSMART-based lenses for years. What I try to get across in clinic is that the lens is only part of the picture — monitoring axial length over time is what actually tells us whether treatment is working for that specific child, not just whether their prescription looks stable.” — Craig McArthur, Optometrist and Director

Book a Myopia Consultation

Interested in whether MiYOSMART IQ could benefit your child? Book online or email Craig McArthur.

Our team helps families throughout Bearsden, Glasgow and Scotland make informed decisions about childhood myopia management.

Book a Myopia Assessment

If you’d like to find out whether MiYOSMART IQ could help your child, book a myopia assessment or email Craig McArthur directly with any questions.

We’re committed to giving children across Bearsden, Glasgow and Scotland access to the latest advances in myopia management.

Call us: 0141 943 3300
Visit our clinic in Bearsden, Glasgow

Learn more at www.myopiascotland.co.uk