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Myopia, also called nearsightedness
or shortsightedness, is the eye condition where objects nearby or a short
distance away are clear but objects that are far away are blurred. It is caused
by the eye being slightly too long.
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One
can stop the eyes from becoming myopic or progression of myopia.
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Myopia is getting worse around the
world, even to the point of being called an epidemic by some. In some parts of
Asia, 80% of the girls in high school are myopic. In the United States, myopia
has increased 66% in thirty years so that now 42% of people aged 12-54 are
myopic.
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Myopic parents have more myopic
children than non-myopic parents.
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People in urban environments have
more myopia than rural or primitive societies.
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The amount of reading or near work a
person does is not predictive of whether they will become myopic.
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People who spend more time outdoors,
even if they have myopic parents and even if they read a lot, are less likely
to become myopic. We don't know why exactly - it may
be the sun, it may be focusing on distant objects or some other factor.
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Spending too much time on the
tablets and mobile games can accelerate the progression
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Your child needs an eye exam
every year starting at age five. (Check-ups before then.) The goal is to
actively start treatment within a few months of myopia starting. In general,
you can slow or stop it, you can't make it better.
Treatment options……
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Atropine: reviews - the ATOM study. -
77% myopic progression reduction
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Pirenzepine: approximately 50%
reduction; not available easily.
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Bifocals: No slowing of myopia
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Progressive Addition Lenses(COMET
study): PALs are "not clinically meaningful"
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Contact lenses (RGP): "not
effective for myopia control"
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Orthokeratology: "...no
evidence for long-term efficacy of orthokeratology in reducing myopia
progression...A gold standard randomized controlled trial is needed .."
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Undercorrection: makes things worse.
"This means that myopes may have an abnormal mechanism for detecting the
direction of optical defocus of the retinal image."
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Part time lens wear: No effect seen.
Larger study called for.
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NeuroVision: A commercial internet
based system of training. Preliminary results compared to age matched normals
of another study showed slowing of myopia.
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EyeRelax: "a microscope-like
device". No evidence it can retard myopia.
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Pinhole Glasses: No evidence it can
retard myopia.
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Bates Method: "Bates' anecdotal
reports of improved vision have not been evaluated in trials.
