Myopia - How to care for and prevent complications

Myopia is one of the most common causes of vision loss worldwide, and the second leading cause of blindness that can be treated.

Normal Eye (Artwork)

In recent years, surveys in different geographic regions of the world, on different populations have separate rates of nearsightedness, but generally have rates of 20% or more. Myopia tends to increase in recent years especially on students.
Myopia is a kind of refractive error of the eye in which the image of the object converging in the retina makes the image blurry. Nearsighted people who want to see distant objects need to wear adjustable glasses so that the image of the object is properly focused on the retina then everything becomes sharp and clear.

Myopia does not have a specific cause but there are many factors involved in which the most important factors are heredity and environment.

Hereditary nearsightedness is often associated with severe nearsightedness, from about 6.00 diopts or more. The mild effect of most nearsightedness on the environment, it has been found that in people who have to do the job, they need to look close for a long time, especially in a low-light environment with a higher rate of nearsightedness. In addition, premature, preterm infants with adulthood also have a higher rate of myopia than normal babies of all ages.

Myopia (Artwork)

However, to say with certainty what causes nearsightedness, so far science has not been explained. If myopia is not detected and adjusted promptly, poor vision will reduce learning ability, affect the physical face (children are afraid to move, play sports causing obesity or malnutrition . ), spirit (children have feelings of inferiority, lose confidence in communicating with friends), in addition can cause amblyopia.

Amblyopia is a condition in which the eye does not give clear information about the image of things to the brain, the visual center in the brain is lazy and slowly leads to a decrease in the brain's ability to analyze and reduce visual force even though there is no physical injury to the eye.

Vision can recover if amblyopia is treated when a child is under 6 years old, but when the child is older, it is very difficult to even recover. In case of deep amblyopia, it can lead to strabismus. . . Therefore early detection for timely treatment is very important.

In adults who are nearsighted, they can detect it early but most children only find out when they start going to school, the teacher finds the wrong words on the board, the word is wrong or the child learns poorly at that time and goes to the doctor and wearing glasses is a bit late. Therefore, parents should pay attention and let them go to the doctor when they notice the following signs

1. Children sit too close to the TV, read books, stories are too close
2. Young eyes squint
3. Tilt or turn your head to see clearly
4. Often rub their eyes even though they are not sleepy
5. Fear of light, blinding, or teary eyes
6. Aim an eye when reading or watching television
7. Avoid the visual activities as far as throwing balls

As a precaution , children need to learn and play at the appropriate distance. Learning desk with medium size, distance from Eyes - Books: 30 - 40cm. Children should be instructed to sit neatly, in correct posture, without reading. Choose where there is enough light when reading books: lighting is considered the best for reading is lighting from behind and up and down.

The light used for reading must be three times greater than the light intensity in the room. Choose paper to study, books are not too glossy, printed letters clearly do not cause eye fatigue. Do not bend your eyes or put books too close to your eyes.

Eye examination for children at HCMC Eye Hospital.
(Photo: H.Cat)

Children with refractive errors should sit near the table. When working with the computer for about 30 minutes, resting your eyes, looking away for about 3-5 minutes, or maybe going back and forth in the room also helps our eyes rest.

Do not allow your eyes to overwork when playing games or watching TV and video; When watching television, sitting and watching at a distance is 7 times the width of the television distance (about 2.5 to 3 meters). When participating in vehicles (ships, cars, airplanes, etc.), reading should not be read because of the bumpy movement that requires constant changes in vision and fatigue.

To treat nearsighted children the most common, convenient, easy and cheap method is to wear glasses for children under 14 years old. Older children can use contact lenses, in special cases contact lenses can also be used for young children with refractive errors (two eyes that are too large on the 3 diopter) cannot wear eyeglass frames to avoid amblyopia.

However, when using contact lenses, children need a great cooperation from their families, complying with all professional guidelines. There are overseas reports of excimer laser treatment for near-severe children with refractive differences, the risk of high amblyopia is very positive.

Currently, in Vietnam Excimer Laser treat myopia only for people aged 18 and over. In addition to wearing glasses, the progression of myopia is necessary. Therefore parents should keep all of their child's proximity measurements handy for professionals to consult. In addition, using the right glasses for children is also a very important issue, so choose a reputable institution, there are people who have strong expertise to ensure you a good vision.

MSc. Trần Hải Yến , Head of Refractive Department of HCMC Eye BV