Myopia is associated with interactive effects of genetic and environmental factors. The development of myopia in childhood is likely to be more dependent on genetic background. Candidate gene analysis, whole exome sequencing, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and subsequent metaanalyses have identified more than 400 loci that are associated with myopia. However, most genome studies have been conducted in adults and only a few of genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms identified in adult GWAS have been successfully replicated in children. In this review, we summarized these variants and compared the effect size between children and adults.