Myopia. Many Americans know this eye disorder more commonly as nearsightedness. Myopia is easy to view no more than a condition that individuals either “live with” or resolve with a glasses or contact lens prescription in one visit to an eye specialist. In reality, rates of nearsightedness worldwide are rising faster than in past decades. Children nowadays stare closely at digital devices and TV screens indoors over an alarming number of hours, minimizing their exposure to natural light that reduces risk for developing nearsightedness. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) cites research projecting that by 2050, half the world’s population will develop myopia.
Primary care screenings conducted at birth, grade school or adolescence can readily detect signs of myopia (eg, blurred vision reading an eye chart from a distance). When growing children who show signs of nearsightedness lack follow-up for an eye specialist to diagnose and determine best approach to controlling the patient’s disorder, they face a higher risk of developing vision-threatening eye diseases in later life that are linked to myopia, such as macular degeneration, retinal detachment, glaucoma, and cataracts.
Though myopia isn’t curable, there are ways to slow (not reverse) its progression. Eye specialists primarily control myopia through glasses or multifocal contact lenses that optimize an individual’s visual acuity; however, no glasses or lenses specifically designed for myopia control have been FDA-approved in the U.S. An eye specialist may also use orthokeratology, or reshaping the cornea with custom-fit contact lenses, to improve vision compromised by myopia. Therapeutic, low-dose atropine eye drops have also been used to slow rapid progression of myopia. Eye specialists believe that hyperopic retinal defocus (farsightedness) stimulates the eye to grow (axial elongation) and shift toward developing nearsightedness. Using multifocal contact lens and orthokeratology to control hyperopic retinal defocus can be used to slow progression of myopia.
UNC Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology Michael Mendsen, OD, notes: “It is critical for a child or adolescent whose vision screening shows signs of myopia to see an eye care specialist who can evaluate their condition at an early age and determine how best to control their condition based on severity and progression. In children, controls to prevent worsening vision can minimize visits for corrective treatment from an early age. The exact mechanism for how all treatments work to control myopia is not clear; however, all methods have appear to have similar rates of slowing the progression.”