Myopia – A Growing Concern
- Children with one or two nearsighted parents are more likely to have myopia (nearsightedness).
- Children who spend more time on digital devices are more likely to become myopic.
What is Myopia?
- Myopia, aka “Nearsighted”, is when your eyeball is too long.
- Objects that are far away (TV, movies, etc.) are harder to see clearly.
- Objects that are close (books, cell phones, etc.) are typically clear.
- Minus power lens, either glasses or contacts, are used to give you clear vision.
How does Myopia get worse?
- When your eye grows the image is focused farther from the retina.
- This causes images of distant objects to become increasingly blurry.
- This means your glasses or contact lens prescription will get stronger – example: from a -2.00 to a -3.00.
Is there any Treatment for Myopia?
- The lens in your eye is totally relaxed when you look at a distant object.
- As an object gets closer, your eye starts to focus – this pulls on the eye, causing it to get longer.
- Reducing this focusing, or pulling, can help reduce the progression of Myopia.
Some Ways to Reduce Myopia Progression
- Spend at least 2 hours per day outside
- Wear MiSight® contact lenses
- Wear bifocal glasses
- Put relaxing drops in your eyes
- Orthokeratology (“Ortho-K”) – reshaping your cornea with hard contact lenses