Prevention of myopia in children
The World Vision Day is celebrated on October 8. Elena Zhilinskikh, an ophthalmologist at The Children's City Hospital with a Perinatal Center, prepared several tips for preventing myopia in children.
How often do I need to visit an ophthalmologist with my child?
The first exam takes place at the age of 1 month. At birth, children have very low vision, but by 6-7 years, it becomes 100 %. The ophthalmologist should make sure that everything is formed well so that the eye can develop later. The next inspection is per year. At this age, the doctor looks for abnormalities in the eye's optics: farsightedness, myopia or astigmatism. If they are present, the child is prescribed glasses and recommended for further observation. The next inspection is best done before school, and then once a year.
What is myopia?
A nearsighted person sees objects in the distance indistinctly and blurrily, but retains good vision at close range. Most often appears at school age and increases as the child grows. It can be inherited.
How to reduce the risk of myopia
The primary prevention is to allow the child to walk more on the street. The more a child walks in daylight, the less likely they are to develop myopia. Parents need to shift their focus from using tablets, smartphones, books, and televisions to taking long walks. By the way, this is why myopia grows faster during short winter days.
When you need to treat myopia
In most countries of the world, doctors do not deal with progressive myopia in children. It stops at some numbers and doesn't grow any further. We must remember that the average myopia on the planet is -3 units. Therefore, even for these values, treatment is usually not necessary. A little short-sightedness in childhood is not a disaster. If necessary, the doctor prescribes treatment, medications, night lenses, and walking in daylight.
But vitamins and dietary supplements are unlikely to help solve the problem with vision. Farsightedness, myopia, and strabismus are the most common eye problems and have nothing to do with vitamins. However, there are vision problems with a total lack of vitamin A in food. But one needs to try very hard to miss the required vitamin.
Do I have to wear glasses if myopia is detected
If the child has vision loss, then they need a prescription glasses. Parents are afraid that if at ten years old, a child will wear glasses with diopters -1, then at the age of 18, he will already have -3. However, this is not related to points. Myopia also increases in those people who do not wear glasses.