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 make the most of your tech timeout, download the Screen Staycation Guide.
Summer is made to soak up the sun, which is great for eye health—just 76 extra minutes outside a day can reduce the risk of myopia by 50%.iv But with today’s options, children can easily spend their time off watching TV or playing on devices.
Need a little assistance? Join our hottest challenge yet and encourage your children to go 24 hours without interacting with any screens at home. To help, we have teamed up with optometrist, Dr Keyur Patel, and created the Screen Staycation Guide which has everything you need to protect your child’s future vision health and reconnect to simple pleasures.
To help your family make the most of your Screen Staycation, the guide is full of fun activity swaps you can do with your children as well as more information on myopia and new treatment options.
Sometimes it’s hard to know what to ask your child’s eye doctor. Download the eye doctor 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
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: 26 July 2022
II. https://retinatoday.com/articles/2019-sept/myopia-a-global-epidemic, Myopia: A Global Epidemic, Last Accessed: 26 July 2022
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: 26 July 2022
IV. Myopia Awareness, https://www.myopiaawareness.org/screen-staycation, Last Accessed: July 26 2022
