What is Myopia (Nearsightedness)?
What is Myopia?
MYOPIA, or nearsightedness, is a refractive error caused by an abnormal elongation (an increase in the axial length) of the eyeballs. This results in vision where images are clear at near (eg. books, computers, digital devices) but are blurry in the distance (about 6 feet and beyond). Glasses and/or contact lenses are needed to improve vision, but they do not treat myopia, or stop myopia from getting worse. The rates of myopic incidence and progression are increasing all over the world. A recent study by the National Institute of Health predicts that by the year 2050, half of the world’s population (about 5 billion people) will be myopic.
What are the Causes?
Genetics. There are more myopic parents having myopic children than ever before. A child with 2 myopic parents has a 50% chance of becoming myopic. A child with 1 myopic parent has a 33% chance of becoming myopic. And even a child with no myopic parents still has a 25% chance of developing myopia.
Lifestyle. Digital Devices (increased near vision tasks). Kids are growing up with devices in their hands both at home and at school, especially through the pandemic. This incredible increase in near vision activities is believed to trigger an elongation of the eyeballs, causing myopia (see image above).
What are the Health Risks of Myopia?
The younger a child develops myopia, the higher their risk for severe myopia in adulthood. 96% of children will become more myopic after their first diagnosis. With increased myopia comes an increased risk of several vision-threatening eye diseases later in life, including: cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachments, and myopic degeneration. For this reason, some experts consider myopia, itself, as a disease.
What is the Next Step?
We first need to perform a full, dilated eye exam on your child to see what their prescription is. If we determine that your child is myopic, we want to start treating your child as soon as possible. This is not an emergency by any means, but any amount of myopia should be treated, especially for younger children. If we don’t start treating it, there is an incredibly high chance that your child’s myopia will worsen. And if it worsens, and their eyes elongate, we will never be able to reverse that loss.
Please reach out to us (562-597-3100) if you have any questions or would like to set up an appointment for your child.
