Starting from National Children’s Day on 14th November 2024, India will observe National Myopia Week 2024. Myopia is an increasingly concerning condition worldwide. What was once dismissed as “just glasses” or “slight -0.5D lenses” is now recognized as a much larger issue. Myopia has always been more than just a need for corrective eyewear.
Since the onset of the COVID pandemic, its prevalence has surged. Myopia and Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) are closely linked, complementing each other in their rise. As myopia accelerates, so too does our ignorance and neglect of this pressing health concern. Hence the growing need to know more about MYOPIA.
Table of Contents:
- Understanding Myopia
- Why you should read ahead ?
- What you can do about it?
- Section below is for more understanding if you wish to read. Contains definitions and meanings of certain terms used above.
Understanding Myopia
There are many refractive errors – meaning, different types of “chasma”/”spectacles”. One such is Myopia. Myopia is commonly known as nearsightedness. It’s a refractive error wherein distant objects appear blurred while close objects can be seen clearly.
This condition arises when the eyeball is too long (this is important – eye ball elongation- I’ll explain why in the later section) or the cornea has too much curvature. Thus causing light rays to focus in front of the retina instead of directly on it. This can be corrected by using a concave lens or minus lens in your spectacles. When you have minus lenses it can be called “minus power”. More about correction of myopia.
Why you should read ahead ?
- Ever growing incidence of myopia
- Impact on daily life
- Long term eye health risk
- Associated heart problem?!
- Lifestyle patterns which are prevalent widely are risk factors
- You might not be knowing that you have it or your child might have it.
EVER GROWING INCIDENCE OF MYOPIA
Myopia generally starts in childhood.
In the map pic we can see dark blue shaded areas have very high prevalence of myopia. Taiwan, Hong Kong and China have highest prevalence. India has around 14-20% prevalence. Most of them are in the age group of 12 years.
The graph shows the rising trend of myopia. By 2050, the numbers have almost doubled.
This surge in myopia cases highlights a significant public health concern.
So go ahead and know more about it.
IMPACT ON DAILY LIFE
Myopia not only causes vision impairment but also hinders daily activities, affecting driving, watching movies, and sports participation, which can limit career options and reduce quality of life. Children may face difficulties in school due to the inability to see the blackboard clearly.
Children and teenagers with uncorrected or worsening myopia may experience social stigmatisation and decreased self-esteem, leading to anxiety and depression, particularly when the myopia is high.
LONG TERM EYE HEALTH RISK
When power of glasses keeps on increasing it is called as progressive myopia and can cause pathological myopia
Progressive myopia presents significant long-term health risks, including a higher likelihood of serious ocular conditions like retinal detachment, which can result in permanent vision loss if not treated quickly.
High myopia is linked to complications like glaucoma, which can cause irreversible vision loss, highlighting the need for early detection and intervention to slow down myopia progression.
ASSOCIATED HEART PROBLEM?!
Some people with extremely high myopia tend to have a condition called as Marfan’s Syndrome. People with Marfan’s syndrome are extremely tall, high myopia (high minus power) and heart disease along with many other features. Sometimes death due to heart diseases could be averted when high myopia and Marfan’s Syndrome was diagnosed by ophthalmologist.
LIFESTYLE PATTERNS WHICH ARE WIDELY PREVALENT ARE RISK FACTORS
The popular belief and fact is that books cause less eye strain than e-books. Don’t worry it’s true. But continuous non stop reading without taking breaks is as bad as digital screen time. It is called Continuous near work.
Since the dawn of COVID indoor activities – be it studies or work has increased exponentially. This has given rise to 2 new issues related to eye – Computer Vision Syndrome and less talked progressive myopia myopia in children.
There are other risk factors which I’ll explain ahead.
YOU MIGHT NOT BE KNOWING THAT YOU OR YOUR CHILD MIGHT HAVE IT.
Many a times in my practice I have seen patients not knowing that they have minor power. Minor refractive error can be corrected temporarily by partially closing the eye lids – called squinting. When constant squinting is present it leads to headaches as a symptom rather than blurring. Many consult a general physician for headache rather than an ophthalmologist and hence myopia gets missed – not treated – progression – complications.
What you can do about it?
To understand the actions you can take, you can refer to the content below.
THINGS YOU CAN DO IF:
a) Your child is below 6 years of age, and/or
b) not using glasses as of now
1) Get a comprehensive dilated/cycloplegic eye check up from an ophthalmologist.
2) 1-2 hrs of outdoor activities in daylight under suncscreen cover
3) Continuous “near work” (reading, screentime) should be limited. 30-45 min of near work followed by a break of minimum 5 min. During the break one can look at a distant object to relax the eyes
4) Natural daylight or exceptionally bright indoor light
(over 2500 Lux) are beneficial to use indoors
5) WHO recommends – For children up to five years old, screen time at short
distances should be limited to 1 hour per day.
Here’s a summary of WHO guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age
THINGS YOU CAN DO IF:
a) Your child is above 6 years, and/or
b) already having glasses, and/or
1) Get a comprehensive dilated/cycloplegic eye check up from an ophthalmologist – if your child hasn’t got any yet. Adequate follow ups as adviced by your eye doctor – if you or your child has got an eye check up already
2) Now what is progressive myopia? Progressive myopia – a propensity to get increasingly thicker glasses. People who already have minus powered lenses are at risk of progression when they are:
a) East asian by ethnicity
b) females
c) one or both parents have myopia
d) more screen time
e) less exposure to outdoor activities
3) You can eat food rich in Vitamin D. Exposure to sunlight, stimulates vitamin D synthesis in our body and hence outdoor activities in daylight is essential.
4) Last but not the least
a) follow up as adviced by your eye doc
b) your eye doc might prescribe drops, or special type of glasses to halt progression of minus power. DO COMPLY WITH THE TREATMENT CONSISTENTLY.
Section below is for more understanding if you wish to read. Contains definitions and meanings of certain terms used above.
Click here to read
Mechanism of myopia
Increase in axial length of eyeball causes the rays of light to focus in front of retina. Also if corneal curvature is increased, cornea acts like a magnifying lens and focuses the light rays in front of retina. How axial length causes near sightedness is illustrated in the section – understanding myopia
Myopia correction
Myopia is corrected by minus lenses or diverging lenses or concave lenses
Grades of Myopia
| Quantitative definitions | |
|  Myopia | −0.50 D or more |
|  Low myopia | −0.50 to −6.00 D |
|  High myopia | more than −6.00 D It is pathological myopia when high myopia is associated with some retinal changes |
|  Pre-myopia | +0.75 D to −0.50 D in children |
Awareness Precedes Change
Do not neglect.
More links on this topic
- global prevalence data: https://www.aaojournal.org/article/s0161-6420(16)00025-7/fulltext#relatedArticles
- myopia simulator: https://myopiasimulator.myopiahub.com/myopia-simulator
- Study on how outdoor light affects myopia: https://www.aaojournal.org/article/S0161-6420(17)30367-6/fulltext
- To know more about complications of myopia: https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2765517
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