What are Myopia Symptoms and Treatment in Children?

Myopia, one of the most common vision problems, usually occurs at an early age. Therefore, it is necessary to detect problems such as myopia early in children and prevent their progression.

What are the symptoms of myopia in children, what should be done to prevent it from progressing?

What is myopia?

Myopia, one of the most common visual disorders, can be explained as the problem of farsightedness. It occurs because the rays reflected in the eye are focused in front of the retinal layer instead of focusing on the retina. For this reason, the child cannot focus on the object relatively far away and cannot see clearly.

What causes myopia in children?

Genetic factors also have an effect, but myopia is mostly due to environmental factors.

• watching too much tv,
• Spending a lot of time with smart devices,
• Playing games for very long hours,
• reading a lot of books,
• wrong lighting,
• Myopia can occur due to reasons such as spending less time outdoors.

What are the symptoms of myopia in children?

• Inability to see distant objects
• Do not squint when looking away,
• Headache,
• double vision,
• Eye strain is one of the symptoms of myopia. It is revealed that most children have myopic problems when they express that they cannot see the blackboard clearly at school. In addition, the child’s trying to watch television too closely may be an indicator of myopia.

How is myopia diagnosed in children?

It is necessary to consult an ophthalmologist when complaints and symptoms such as the above are encountered. The doctor tries to determine the visual status of his child with various measurement methods, letter-number readings, and eyeglasses inspection. By evaluating all these measurement methods together, the degree of myopia of the child is determined.

If myopia is below 3 degrees, it is called mild, if it is between 3-6 degrees, it is moderate, if it is above 6 degrees, it is called severe myopia.

How to treat myopia in children?

When it comes to children, myopia treatment is done only with glasses. It is also possible to get rid of glasses with methods such as lens and laser treatment in advancing ages. Experts mostly say that glasses should not be used for very mild myopic conditions. They say that the use of glasses for cases of this degree will likely increase the degree.

Does myopia improve in children? After what age does myopia regress?

Myopia in children continues to progress until the age of 18. However, after this age, the degree of myopia does not decrease, mostly remains constant. Laser treatment can be performed after the age of 18. Myopia does not improve over time. But its progress can be slowed. For this;

• Using the right glasses,
• To make use of the environment light by allowing the child to spend time in the open air,
• To spend less time with electronic devices,
• To ensure that the distance from these devices is not too close,
• Again, limiting the reading time to 30-40 minutes and keeping the distance of 30-40 cm,
• Ensuring studying in a properly lit environment can reduce the progression of myopia.

Apart from that, the doctor may also recommend some contact lenses and eye drops if progress is rapid.

If the parents are nearsighted, will the child also be nearsighted?

There is no such thing as a certainty. However, there may be a genetic predisposition.