How eyes are changed when myopia progresses

When eyes are worse in myopia, the length of eye ball grows longer as of squash on vine. Physically growing longer makes impossible to reverse changes in my opinion.

Myopia is commonly measured in terms of prescription strength in diopters for optical corrections. Recently, axial length of eyeball measurement (biometry) is used to verify objectively changes in elongation of eyeballs.

Most common question about myopia is if it can be fixed with laser surgery such as LASIK. Any refractive surgery -like LASIK – can only replace optical corrections such as eyeglasses and contact lenses. Elongated eyeball will stay elongated because any optical corrections which includes all refractive surgeries and implants will not reduce elongation.

Second common question is any exercise can be done to reverse myopia /elongation. I am not aware of any studies indicating efficacy of any exercise to reverse elongation.

Because of irreversible nature of changes, we recommend our patients to recheck in 3 months to catch early rather than late to intervene axial length changes.

What is Myopia Prevention?

childmyopiaMyopia, nearsightedness, is the  most common eye problem among young children. The number of children having myopia is increasing rapidly in U.S. and world wide.  Most of myopia starts at school age then gradually progresses each year. Generally, the younger the age myopia starts, the worse the eyes get when they reach adulthood. Myopia increases the risk of retinal problems, such as detachments, holes and breaks, and glaucoma,  as a person gets older.

The goal of myopia prevention is to reduce the speed or stop the progression  to avoid a high degree of myopia. There are a few clinically proven methods that have shown to  prevent or slow down the progression. Some methods are more effective than others and can be determined based on each individual patient’s needs.  It is the best to have your child examined before deciding on what to do on prevention. It is very helpful to know family history of myopia as well as old prescriptions to determine rate of change.

We offer free screening for myopia prevention. Please call us at 248-332-0200 to set up an appointment.

Is it possible to prevent progession of Myopia?

The age of a person needing glasses seems to be getting younger than ever. It is common to see a 6 to 7 year old child wearing eye glasses these days. An alarming rate of school aged children are wearing glasses and the rate is continuing to climb. The explosion of  the myopic rate in school aged children corresponds well with our cultural changes ..(ie use of cell phones, i-pods, laptops and hand held gaming devices.)

There have been some preventitive measures taken, but most have proven to not be very effective against myopic change until the year 2000.  This was the introduction of a new corneal molding technique that really revolutionized to stop or slow down myopia from progressing. This is done by the use of a rigid gas permeable contact lens that is warn while the patient sleeps.  The lens are made from an overnight contact lens material designed specifically for this purposes.

If you or someone you love suffers from Myopia, call our office today at (248)332-0200.