Following your child’s eye examination, your optician may advise that there’s a risk of increasing short-sightedness. Myopia is the clinical term for short-sightedness, which results in the eye’s inability to focus in the distance, whilst close vision remains relatively clear.
As an industry, opticians are finding increasing levels of myopia in children. This is thought to relate to genetics, modern lifestyles, and increased time spent indoors. It is predicted that by 2050, 50% of the population will be short sighted.
Traditional methods of visual correction for myopia include minus powered (concave) glasses or contact lenses. These enable clear vision but do nothing to slow progression of myopia, which typically continues as your child and their eyes grow.
Although clear vision can still be provided with standard lenses, an increasing short-sighted prescription can lead to long term eye health problems in adulthood – with increased risk of Glaucoma, Retinal Detachment and Myopic Macula Degeneration – as well as a need for thicker glasses.
* We recommend early correction using myopia management spectacles or contact lenses, to slow myopic progression by as much as 67%.
* 90 Minutes of outdoor activity each day may reduce the risk of myopia.
* Ensuring regular rests from prolonged near tasks & screen use may reduce the risk of myopia (20/20/20 = have a 20 second rest, focusing on a target 20m away, for every 20 minutes of screen use).
* Wearing traditional visual correction is not an exacerbating factor for increasing myopia, neither will it slow or reverse any myopic progression.
* Even younger children can safely wear contact lenses – thereby gaining confidence, independence and reducing increasing myopia.