If you think your child might have myopia, talk to an optometrist today.
Myopia (short-sightedness) is a chronic progressive disease where the eye elongates and continues to grow. If your child has myopia, distant objects may appear blurred, causing them to squint or hold objects close to them.
It is generally an inherited disease but excessive “near work” – like holding a digital device close to the face has been associated with earlier onset and faster progression of myopia.
Currently, 30-40% of the world’s population is myopic with numbers dramatically increasing.ii While there is no cure that reverses the condition, there are many things you can do to safeguard your child’s future vision.
As a parent, you have enough to worry about. However, it is important to take myopia seriously. The earlier your child is diagnosed and treated, the greater the protection against future vision loss.
While myopia used to be merely associated with blurry vision and “short sightedness,” we now know that myopia is correlated with vision problems later in life, including a higher risk of sight threatening eye diseases e.g., myopic macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and retinal detachment.iii
Worried myopia may be holding your child back? Talk to an optometrist today.
To help your family prioritise their eye health this summer, download the Sight Sanctuary Guide.
Remember the good old days when kids played outside until dusk? Built a treehouse in their garden? Camped out under the stars?
Summer is made for kids to enjoy time outdoors, which is great for eye health - just 76 extra minutes outside a day can reduce the risk of myopia by 50% (please leave same reference here web dev team.) But today, children can easily spend their time glued to screens and doing near work (such as reading, writing or colouring), which can contribute to the development of myopia.
This summer, we’re encouraging you and your family to tap into nostalgic activities with your very own Sight Sanctuary - a place for your kids to take a break from screens and near work, to rest their eyes, get outside, and ignite their creativity.
To help, we have teamed up with Optometrist Hamza Mussa, and created the Sight Sanctuary Guide, which has everything you need to protect your child's future vision and reconnect to the outdoors, as well as more information on myopia and new treatment options.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to ask your child’s optometrist. Download the optometrist discussion guide and discover just what to say in your next myopia conversation—which is the most important one you can have for your child’s future vision health.
Download the Guide
This handy guide provides more information about the important eye health milestones and new myopia treatment options for your kids.
Download the Guide
References
I. Tim T Morris, Jeremy A. Guggenheim, Kate Northstone & Cathy Williams (2020) Geographical Variation in Likely Myopia and Environmental Risk Factors: A Multilevel Cross Classified Analysis of A UK Cohort, Ophthalmic Epidemiology, 27:1, 1-9, DOI: 10.1080/09286586.2019.1659979, Last Accessed: August 2023
II. https://retinatoday.com/articles/2019-sept/myopia-a-global-epidemic, Myopia: A Global Epidemic, Last Accessed: August 2023
III. Bullimore MA, Ritchey ER, Shah S, Leveziel N, Bourne RRA, Flitcroft DI. The Risks and Benefits of Myopia Control. Ophthalmology. 2021 Nov;128(11):1561-1579. doi: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2021.04.032, Last Accessed: August 2023
IV. Myopia Awareness, https://www.myopiaawareness.org/screen-staycation, Last Accessed: August 2023
