Myopia: Understanding Short-Sightedness

What is Myopia?

Myopia is a refractive error that affects how your eyes focus light. In a normal eye, light focuses directly on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of your eye, allowing you to see clearly. However, in a myopic eye, the eyeball is elongated. This causes light to focus in front of the retina instead of directly on it, resulting in blurred vision when looking at distant objects.

What causes Myopia?

While the exact causes of myopia are still being researched, the key factors that contribute to its development include:

• Genetics: A family history of myopia increases your risk.
• Environmental factors: Spending excessive time indoors and focusing on nearby objects, like books or screens, has been linked to myopia development.
• Lifestyle: Lack of outdoor time and exposure to natural light may also play a role

Recognising the Signs of Myopia

Myopia often develops in childhood and progresses during the teenage years. Common signs include:

• Blurred distance vision: Difficulty seeing distant objects clearly.
• Squinting: Trying to bring distant objects into focus.

Headaches: Straining or squinting your eyes can lead to headaches.

How is Myopia Diagnosed and Corrected?

A comprehensive eye exam at Specsdirect2u will determine if you have myopia. Our experienced optometrists will perform various tests, including a visual acuity test (reading the eye chart) and a refraction assessment to determine your precise prescription.

Myopia can be easily corrected with:

• Glasses
• Contact lenses

But these methods only correct myopia, they do not slow the progression of myopia.

Managing Myopia Progression

While myopia can be corrected, it’s important to manage its progression, especially in children. Here are some tips:

• Myopia Control Glasses: Stellest lenses are specially designed glasses that slow down the progression of myopia. They do this using concentric rings of treatment zones in the lens that create an extra defocus signal for the eye. These out-of-focus areas tell the eye to slow down growth. A certain amount of eye growth is normal in childhood, but an eyeball that is too long can become myopic. These lenses are scientifically proven to help manage myopia and protect against further vision deterioration over time.
• Increase outdoor time: Encourage children to spend at least two hours outdoors daily.
• Take breaks from near work: Follow the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
• Consider specialised contact lenses: Certain types of contact lenses, like myopia control contact lenses

Your Vision is Our Priority

At Specsdirect2u, we are committed to providing personalised care and solutions for all your visual needs.

If you suspect your child may have myopia, please don’t hesitate to book an appointment with our friendly team.

We’ll conduct a thorough eye exam, discuss the best correction options for you, and provide ongoing support to help you maintain clear, comfortable vision for years to come.