Myopia is the medical term for nearsightedness, and childhood myopia is a progressive kind of myopia that develops throughout a child’s growing years and continues to get worse throughout childhood. However, the problem may be readily treated with corrective vision aids such as glasses, and it tends to stabilise by the time a kid reaches the middle of their teenage years.
Factors that Lead to Childhood Myopia
There is mounting evidence to suggest that increasing childhood myopia, often known as short-sightedness, is brought on by a confluence of hereditary and environmental variables. It is well-known that children born to myopic parents have a greater risk of developing the eye condition themselves.
There is also evidence that environmental factors and genetic makeup significantly impact the disease’s development. For example, myopia development may also be influenced by factors such as prolonged exposure to close work or detail over lengthy periods and childhood diseases.
A further possibility is that the volume of close work, such as reading, studying, and using a computer, that is performed in everyday life contributes to the condition.
Signs and Symptoms of Childhood Myopia
Children of school age who are unable to read the whiteboard at school or the bus number shown on the approaching bus may express their frustration at the bus stop.
Other symptoms of myopia include the following:
- While concentrating on schoolwork, reading, or watching television, squinting.
- An act of rubbing the eyes
- Blinking
- Fatigue
Treatment and Prevention
Myopia is a condition that can neither be slowed down nor corrected, but it can be prevented:
Your child’s risk of developing myopia can be reduced significantly if they develop and maintain healthy eye care routines from an early age. Even while close activities, such as schoolwork, working on computers, or reading, cannot be avoided, you should make sure that your child takes frequent pauses to give their eyes a chance to rest.
Glasses can correct myopia.
Maintain a healthy eye care routine by doing the following:
- Encourage your youngster to take part in more activities that take place outside.
- Always read when seated in an upright position, and keep reading material at least 30 centimetres away from your face and eyes.
- When viewing television, ensure you are seated at a distance of at least two metres.
- Screens on computers should be positioned around 50 centimetres away from the user’s eyes and adjusted so that there is as little glare as possible.
- The lighting in the room should be adequate to provide adequate illumination for activities such as reading, using a computer, or watching television without producing any glare.
- Every 30 to 40 minutes, pause what you’re doing to give your eyes a rest. To relax your eyes, try looking at things that are far away through the window.
Eye exams should be performed annually in order to detect any potential visual abnormalities in their earliest stages. When necessary, using corrective visual aids such as spectacles will assist in improving the eye’s ability to concentrate.