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Myopia is the medical term for short- sightedness, when the eyeball is too long or too powerful. The result is that light coming into the eye does not focus directly on the retina (the light sensitive layer at the back of the eye), but instead falls in front of it, causing objects in the distance to look blurred.
Myopia is traditionally corrected by wearing spectacles or contact lenses. As the eye grows, a person typically becomes more myopic and the power of their spectacle or contact lens prescription increases.
Myopia is expected to affect 50% of the world population by 2050. In the UK, the amount of myopia has increased from affecting 10% to 23% of children in the past 50 years.
Yes. Generally, once you have myopia, your spectacle prescription gets greater over time, in particular during childhood as the eye grows. The key years of change in myopia are between six and 17 years old with the largest change
in prescription typically happening at around age seven to eight years and changes getting less as you get older. Generally, myopic children wearing traditional glasses or contact lenses will continue to increase in myopia by approximately 0.50 to 1.00 DS (units of measurement) per year. We can use these figures to calculate what we expect a child’s prescription level to be by the time they are in their late teens when change generally starts to slow or stop. Many people develop myopia later in life, however if a child develops myopia, they are at risk of their vision deteriorating much more quickly and for many more years leading to a higher eventual prescription.
A higher prescription is not only an inconvenience causing poorer vision without glasses or contact lenses but all myopia and especially higher prescriptions (over -6.00DS) are linked to an increased risk of developing
eye diseases such as glaucoma,
retinal detachment, myopic macular degeneration and cataract in later life. Each dioptre increase in myopia results in 67% increased risk of myopic macular degeneration.
This website My Kid’s Vision is a free online tool that helps parents assess and manage myopia risks for their children. The most accurate assessment will, of course, be performed by your optometrist.
A comprehensive guide to Myopia Management with research on the findings, can be downloaded here – Myopia Management information.