myopia in children
Myopia in children is increasingly common and usually manifests during school age, specifically among eight and twelve years old.
Properly addressing this condition is essential for the little one to enjoy a good visual acuity of greater age, since in the infantile age diopters increase as the child grows.
myopia in children
Myopia in children is increasingly common and usually manifests during school age, specifically among eight and twelve years old.
Properly addressing this condition is essential for the little one to enjoy a good visual acuity of greater age, since in the infantile age diopters increase as the child grows.
What is myopia in children?
Myopia occurs when the rays of light that penetrate the eye do not focus on the retina, but in front of it. This refractive defect can happen because the cornea has an abnormal curvature in its structure or because the eye is too large.
Most children with myopia have a eyeball much larger than normal.
Causes of myopia in children
There are factors that make a child more prone to myopia than others, some of them are:
Genetic and hereditary factors
One of the main inherited eye diseases are refractive errors. Children with myopic father and mother are at greater risk of developing myopia in childhood. In fact, it is believed that 60% of children with parents with myopia will develop this vision defect.
In these cases it is very common for the small be born with myopia or develop it from a very early age, between the ages of two and four.
Environmental factors
The current pace of life, the use of video games, tablets and computers have made children spend less leisure time outdoors. Different scientific studies have determined that being in contact with nature and playing there stimulates the development of long-distance vision and represents a rest in the use of digital screens.
Is myopia in children cured?
Myopia is a condition that It has no cure but must be corrected through the use of glasses or contact lenses that graduate visual disturbance. In general, children with myopia notice that they are not seeing well because they have trouble focusing on the school board correctly. This symptom is the most characteristic of childhood myopia and should be considered a compelling reason to go to the ophthalmopediatra.
At Lóleo Eventos, ophthalmologic consultation the specialist perform an eye exam to determine the refractive defect that the boy or girl has and will deliver the formula with the ideal graduation to send to make the glasses or contact lenses. Because the child's eyeball is in the process of growth, it is completely normal for the child to see blurry over the months and it is necessary to adjust the graduation according to the increase in diopters.
And can you stop your prognosis?
The increase in diopters is given by the development of the eye. As the child grows so does their eye structure and, the larger the eye the greater number of diopters will be. As usual, myopia progresses by increasing 0.5 diopters per year and stops its growth when the eye completes its development, at approximately 18 years of age.
Currently there is scientific evidence that supports the possibility of carrying out actions to slow the progression of myopia in children, and specifically the axial growth of the eye.
There are four basic treatments that, according to studies, estimate between 40 and 60% the decrease in the progression of myopia and the growth of the eye:
- Use of atropine, for example at 0% which gives us an improvement of between 01% to 50%.
- Night Orthokeratology or Ortho-K, with an improvement rate of 40% to 60% of children.
- Peripheral blur contact lenses, improves from 30% to 40%.
- Bifocal contact lenses where they improve from 30% to 60% of children.
It is important to assess this type of treatment, since the growth of the eye, based on certain values, can condition the eye's health, specifically due to the fact that it can lead to various eye diseases, especially the retinal detachment y myopic maculopathies.
Ethical criteria oblige professionals to indicate this type of treatment, due to its eminently preventive character in the eye health of the boy or girl.
Once the boy or girl has over 18 years old and the professional determines that there has been no increase in diopter for more than a year, it is possible to consider the myopia surgery as a treatment to combat this condition permanently and not depend on the use of glasses and / or contact lenses.
