Myopia, also called nearsightedness or shortsightedness, is a disease in which a person experiences blurry distance vision, usually caused by the eyeball growing longer than expected.3
High myopia is diagnosed when myopia reaches a significant level, which increases the risk of sight-threatening conditions later in life.3
A child with one myopic parent has about double the risk of developing myopia; with two myopic parents, that risk rises roughly fivefold.1
Studies show children of South Asian descent face about a 9-times higher risk, and children of African Caribbean descent about a 3-times higher risk, compared with European children.2
Extended near-work, like reading, screens, or other close-up tasks, raises risk by about 1.5 times. Working closer than 12 inches raises it further, to about 2.5 times.1
Spending less than 2 hours a day outdoors is linked to higher risk.1
None of these factors guarantee your child will develop myopia, and none of them are your fault. They're simply useful signals for you and your child's eye doctor.
1 Martínez-Albert N, Bueno-Gimeno I, Gené-Sampedro A. Risk factors for myopia: A Review. J Clin Med. 2023;12(18):6062. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37763002/
2 Rudnicka AR, Owen CG, Nightingale CM, Cook DG, Whincup PH. Ethnic differences in the prevalence of myopia and ocular biometry in 10- and 11-year-old children: the Child Heart and Health Study in England (CHASE). Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2010;51(12):6270-6276. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20631242/
It’s easy to assume glasses or contacts solve the problem. In one recent survey, 94% of parents of myopic children believed exactly that.1 But correcting a child’s vision isn’t the same as slowing how fast their myopia progresses, and progression is what drives long-term risk.
Every child is different, and there’s no single ‘best’ option. Your eye doctor will help you weigh these based on your child’s age, prescription, and lifestyle. Here’s a quick look at what’s out there.
Simple daily habits can make a real difference. Aim for at least two hours outdoors a day, and build in regular breaks from screens and other close-up work. Starting these habits early, even before any signs of myopia, can also help delay its onset.
These look like everyday glasses, but the lenses are designed to do more than sharpen vision. They’re often a good starting point for children who aren’t ready for contacts, and your eye doctor can help you decide if they’re the right fit.
These soft contact lenses are worn during the day, just like standard contacts. The difference is in the design: specialized optics correct your child’s vision and slow how quickly their myopia progresses at the same time.
These firm, breathable lenses are worn overnight while your child sleeps. They gently and temporarily reshape the surface of the eye, so your child can see clearly during the day with no glasses or contacts needed, while also slowing the progression of mild to moderate myopia.
Low-dose atropine is a prescription eye drop your child uses at bedtime. Clinical trials indicate low-dose atropine eye drops can slow myopia progression in children.
Your child’s eye doctor is your best resource for understanding their individual eye health and whether myopia management may be right for them.
Myopia is a chronic, progressive disease commonly due to elongation of the eye. As a result, when light enters a myopic eye, it is focused in front of the retina rather than directly on it, which causes far vision to be blurred. Generally, myopia can be an inherited disease, but also excessive “near work,” (like holding a digital device close to the face) and lack of outdoor time have been associated with an earlier onset of progressive myopia. Myopia is associated with a higher risk of eye diseases such as glaucoma, retinal detachment and macular degeneration—which may lead to vision impairment or blindness in the long-term. Early detection and intervention can help reduce such life-long risks.
If your child has myopia or you’ve seen them squint or hold objects close to their face, then the best thing you can do is visit your local eye doctor in order to get a customized treatment plan.
In terms of eye-healthy lifestyle changes, spending time outdoors has been shown to have a protective effect for the onset of myopia and growing evidence supports that more time outdoors may also slow the progression of myopia.1 Researchers also discovered significant associations between the use of screens (digital devices alone or with computer usage) and myopia progression.2
1 Deng L, Pang Y. Effect of Outdoor Activities in Myopia Control: Meta-analysis of Clinical Studies. Optom Vis Sci. Rev. 2019;96:276–2 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30907857/
2 Foreman J, Salim AT, Praveen A, et al. Association between digital smart device use and myopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet. 2021:3(12):E806–E818. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34625399/
While there is no cure that reverses myopia, there are many effective treatments that can slow myopia’s progression, including orthokeratology contact lenses only worn at night, soft contact lenses that can be worn during the day, atropine eye drops, specialized glasses lenses, and others your eye doctor can discuss with you. It is important that caregivers and parents speak to an eye doctor as early as possible in order to prevent their child’s myopia from progressing.
Myopia is a global epidemic with numbers increasing dramatically each year. Myopia currently affects around one-third of the world’s population1 and is predicted to affect half of the world’s population by 2050, with almost 1 billion people at significant lifelong risk of eye disease due to high myopia. Given the increasing prevalence of myopia and related complications, it is important to act as early as possible to protect your children’s vision in the future.
1 Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology. 2016;123(5):1036-1042. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26875007/
As a parent, you have enough to worry about. However, it’s 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 merely be associated with blurry vision and “nearsightedness,” we now know that myopia is correlated with vision problems later in life, including a higher risk of myopic macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, and retinal detachment.1 The World Health Organization (WHO) defines high myopia at -6 diopters, but patient data suggests that even moderate myopia of -5 diopters or less is associated with increased vision complications.2
1 Bullimore MA, Ritchey ER, Shah S, Leveziel N, Bourne RRA, Flitcroft DI. The Risks and Benefits of Myopia Control. Ophthalmology. 2021;128(11):1561-1579. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2021.04.032 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33961969/
2 Haarman AEG, Enthoven CA, Tideman JWL, Tedja MS, Verhoeven VJM, Piano CCW. The Complications of Myopia: A Review and Meta-Analysis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020;61(4):4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32347918/
We recommend that you always consult an eye doctor about the best treatment options for your child. A comprehensive annual eye exam by an eye doctor is recommended. While myopia can’t be reversed naturally, there are plenty of healthy lifestyle options that have been shown to slow the progression of myopia, including spending time outside and limiting screen time and near work outside of school time.
