When to stop myopia treatment: rebound and a planned stop

Key takeaways

There is no fixed date to stop myopia treatment. The eye doctor decides from your child's age, how stable the last one to two years were, the eye length and the type of treatment.
Eyes tend to grow faster again after treatment stops. A 2025 review of 19 studies found no evidence of rebound for myopia control spectacles or soft contact lenses, and larger rebound values mostly came from red light and atropine studies.
In the LAMP trial, children aged 4 to 12 who stopped atropine at year 3 grew faster that year than those who carried on, and 87.9% of those followed to year 5 needed to restart. Restarting worked as well as carrying on.
Older age and longer treatment went with less change after stopping in the studies. These are group results, and they do not forecast one child.
Do not stop, space out or step down treatment on your own. Ask the doctor what result would count as a reason to restart, and keep the date of the next measurement.

You have been giving the drops, or wearing the lenses, for two or three years now. The last two checks showed a steadier number, and a thought arrives: can we stop? It is a fair question, and the honest answer is that there is no fixed date.

This page sets out what the studies show happens when treatment for short-sightedness (rabun jauh) stops, what an eye doctor weighs before a stop is planned, and what the months afterwards look like. It gives no dosing advice. The decision to stop, taper or carry on belongs to the eye doctor who has your child's measurements.

Can we stop myopia treatment once the number looks steady?

Sometimes, but the decision is made on the whole picture and not on a birthday. A steady number for one or two years is a good sign, and it is one input among several. The doctor also looks at your child's age, how long the eye has been treated, and how long the eye has grown.

Short-sightedness comes from the eyeball growing too long, and it slows with age without switching off on a set date, as at what age does short-sightedness stop getting worse explains. So the question is less "has the treatment finished" and more "has the eye settled enough to manage without it". The action: do not stop or space out the drops or lenses by yourself before the visit, and bring the question to the next review.

What is rebound, and does it really happen?

Rebound means the eye grows faster after treatment stops than an untreated eye of the same age would have. Eyes do tend to grow faster again once treatment stops. Whether that is a true rebound, or only a return to the speed expected for the child's age, depends on the treatment and on how each study measured it.

A 2025 review pooled 19 prospective studies that followed children after treatment ended. Across them, eye length grew on average 0.05 mm per year faster than expected. The same review found no evidence of rebound for myopia control spectacles or soft contact lenses.

Its largest rebound values, 0.14 mm or more, came mostly from red light therapy and atropine studies, and overnight lenses ranged from 0.03 to 0.14 mm. A 2025 Cochrane review was more careful still: it found limited evidence on whether stopping pushes progression beyond the rate expected with age.

Put plainly, the evidence says to plan a stop, not that stopping is dangerous. The action: ask the doctor which kind of treatment your child is on, because the answer differs by type.

What do the studies show when atropine drops are stopped?

The best-known data come from the LAMP trial in Hong Kong. At the start of the third year, children aged 4 to 12 who had been using low-dose atropine were randomly assigned to carry on or to stop.

In the stop group, eyes grew faster that year: for the strongest of the three strengths studied, eye length grew 0.33 mm in the stopped group against 0.17 mm in the continued group. Across all three strengths, the differences in rebound were small, and older children and the lower strengths showed less rebound.

The fifth-year report followed the same children. Those who stopped at year 3 were measured and restarted if their short-sightedness progressed by 0.5 dioptres or more over a year. Most of them did: 87.9% (94 of 107) needed treatment again. When treatment restarted, progression in years 3 to 5 matched that of children who had never stopped.

A 2024 meta-analysis of 13 studies and 2,060 children agreed on the pattern: more change in the first 6 months after stopping than at 12 months, and more in younger children, in those treated for a shorter time, and in those with a higher starting number.

Two cautions. These are group results from trials in Chinese children, not a forecast for yours. And the LAMP stop happened abruptly at year 3 by design, so it tells us what stopping does, not the best way to stop. For the numbers behind the drops themselves, see atropine drops for myopia: what the numbers say.

And when overnight lenses, myopia spectacles or soft lenses are stopped?

The picture differs by type. For overnight lenses (orthokeratology), a 2024 meta-analysis of 45 papers found that eye length grew by 0.10 mm more after stopping than in children who carried on. Its authors called the evidence of moderate certainty, thought selection bias probably favoured the lenses, and said that questions remain about the best duration of treatment. The same lenses are covered in overnight lenses (orthokeratology) for children.

For soft multifocal contact lenses, the BLINK2 study followed 235 teenagers aged 11 to 17 who wore the lenses for two years and then ordinary soft lenses for a third. Eye growth and short-sightedness returned to faster rates that matched what is expected at their age, with no loss of the earlier benefit. The authors concluded that wearing the lenses until growth stops would make sense. The 2025 review above found no evidence of rebound for myopia control spectacles either.

The BLINK2 teenagers were older than most children on this page, so this is a result for the teenage years. The action: if your child wears myopia control spectacles or soft lenses, ask whether a stop would change anything, because for these types the main effect of stopping is that the protection ends.

What does the eye doctor weigh before planning a stop?

Four things come up. The first is age. In the trials above, older children showed smaller changes after stopping, and younger children larger ones. A twelve-year-old and an eight-year-old on the same treatment are not in the same position.

The second is how stable the last one to two years were. This is a judgement, and the usual question is whether the yearly change has been small enough that an extra year of growth would not matter much. The third is the eye length. Axial length is the front-to-back length of the eyeball, measured in millimetres.

It tracks the growth itself and not only the spectacle number, which is why myopia clinics follow it. The fourth is the starting point: in the 2024 meta-analysis a higher starting number went with a larger change after stopping, so a child who began with a high number gets more thought in the plan.

The treatment itself matters too, and so does how long it has been used. A child's life matters: exams, a growth spurt, a new school year. The action: ask the doctor what number they are watching, and write down the axial length from each visit. How fast is too fast: yearly myopia change by age helps you read the yearly change.

Is tapering better than stopping all at once?

A stop is sometimes planned in steps, and the evidence for it is limited. The 2024 atropine meta-analysis found that stepwise cessation still produced rebound, and that combining an optical treatment with atropine seemed to prevent it. Both are findings from small groups of studies, and the authors asked for more research.

So a taper is a reasonable way to watch how the eye responds, not a method proven to prevent a rebound. What the step looks like, how long each step lasts and what happens if the number starts moving are decisions for the eye doctor. They depend on the treatment, on your child's measurements and on how the family manages the routine. I would not copy a schedule from a forum or from another child.

What happens in the months after a stop?

The doctor measures more often. In LAMP the children were measured every 4 months, and in the 2024 meta-analysis the largest changes after stopping showed up in the first 6 months. A planned stop therefore comes with an early recheck and a clear idea of what would count as a reason to restart. In the fifth-year LAMP report, that reason was a yearly progression of 0.5 dioptres or more, and a restart worked as well as carrying on.

That last point is the reassuring one. A stop that goes badly can be reversed in the studies, and the earlier benefit is not wiped out. It also explains why checks matter more after a stop than before it. AAPOS advises yearly eye examinations for most children with short-sightedness, and a child who has just stopped is likely to be seen sooner.

Continue the habits that cost nothing: time outdoors, regular breaks from close work, and every visit kept. If you are weighing what treatment costs against what it gives, before you pay for myopia control: ten questions to ask and the myopia control guide for Malaysia set out the questions to take with you. The action: before leaving the visit where a stop is agreed, ask for the date of the next measurement and what result would bring the treatment back.

Book a visit sooner than planned if, after a stop or a change in treatment, your child…

Complains that the board or television looks blurrier again.
Needs stronger spectacles at the next check than the doctor expected.
Has missed the measurement visit that was planned for after the stop.
Stopped treatment without the doctor's agreement and has not been measured since.
Suddenly sees flashes of light, a shower of new floaters or a shadow across the sight: go the same day.

Is this urgent? Today, this week or routine

Common questions

When can my child stop atropine drops for short-sightedness?

The eye doctor decides, and there is no standard date. The doctor looks at your child's age, how long the drops have been used, how stable the last one to two years were and the eye length. Please do not stop or space out the drops yourself before the visit.

Will the short-sightedness shoot up if we stop?

Eyes tend to grow faster again after treatment stops, but a sudden shoot-up is not the usual finding. In the LAMP trial, children aged 4 to 12 who stopped at year 3 grew 0.33 mm that year against 0.17 mm in those who continued, for the strongest of three strengths studied. The differences between strengths were small, and these are group results.

Is rebound real, or just the eye returning to normal growth?

It depends on the treatment and how the study measured it. A 2025 review of 19 studies defined rebound as growth faster than expected for age. It found no evidence of rebound for myopia control spectacles and soft contact lenses, and a mean of 0.05 mm per year across all treatments. A 2025 Cochrane review found limited evidence either way.

What if the short-sightedness progresses after we stop?

Treatment can be restarted. In the LAMP five-year report, children who stopped at year 3 were re-treated if they progressed by 0.5 dioptres or more over a year, and 87.9% (94 of 107) needed it. Progression in years 3 to 5 was similar to that of children who never stopped. The doctor decides when to restart.

Is it better to taper than to stop all at once?

The evidence is limited. A 2024 meta-analysis of atropine studies found that stepwise cessation still caused rebound, and that combining an optical treatment with atropine seemed to prevent it. The authors asked for more research. How to step down, if at all, is a decision for the eye doctor.

Do overnight lenses rebound when stopped?

Studies suggest some. A 2024 meta-analysis of 45 papers found eye length grew 0.10 mm more after stopping overnight lenses than in children who continued, and the 2025 review put overnight lens rebound between 0.03 and 0.14 mm. The authors rated the evidence moderate certainty and noted likely selection bias in favour of the lenses.

How often will my child be checked after stopping?

More often than before. In LAMP the children were measured every 4 months, and the 2024 meta-analysis found the biggest changes in the first 6 months after stopping. AAPOS advises yearly examinations for most short-sighted children, and a child who has just stopped is likely to be seen sooner. Ask for the next date before you leave.

References

Ophthalmology · Three-Year Clinical Trial of Low-Concentration Atropine for Myopia Progression (LAMP) Study: Continued Versus Washout, Phase 3 Report (Yam et al., 2022) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Ophthalmology · Five-Year Clinical Trial of the Low-Concentration Atropine for Myopia Progression (LAMP) Study, Phase 4 Report (Zhang et al., 2024) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Frontiers in Pharmacology · Myopia progression after cessation of atropine in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Lee et al., 2024) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics · Efficacy in myopia control: the impact of rebound (Bullimore and Brennan, 2025) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
International Ophthalmology · Benefits and risks of orthokeratology treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Sartor et al., 2024) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
JAMA Ophthalmology · Axial Growth and Myopia Progression After Discontinuing Soft Multifocal Contact Lens Wear, BLINK2 (Berntsen et al., 2025) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · Interventions for myopia control in children: a living systematic review and network meta-analysis (Lawrenson et al., 2025) · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
AAPOS · Myopia and treatment of myopia in children · aapos.org

By Dr Chan Li Yen. General information only. It does not replace a consultation. If you are worried about your child's eyes or vision, please see an eye doctor.

When can we stop myopia treatment? Rebound, and how a stop is planned