A pediatric optometrist at Children’s Hospital Colorado said nearly all the patients she sees are nearsighted, and the children coming to her hospital are younger than ever.
AURORA, Colo. — Parents, if you see your child squinting, complaining of a headache, or a teacher moving your child to the front of the class, it may be time to see an eye doctor. No.
A new study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology shows that one in three children around the world are myopic. That number is expected to increase further.
“This is definitely concerning,” said Dr. Melissa Engle, a pediatric optometrist at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Engle sees children who come to Children’s Hospital Colorado every day for vision tests, many of whom are nearsighted.
“It’s probably like almost every other patient I see,” Engle said. “I’m now seeing younger kids becoming nearsighted as well, which worries me more because it means they’ll probably need a higher prescription later on. Because I will.”
She said more young children are presenting with more advanced myopia.
“You might think, ‘Why?’ Right? It’s just glasses, no big deal,” Engle said. “But I think the problem that parents don’t realize is that myopia starts around the age of 8 to 10, increases every year until the age of 18, and for some patients it actually increases into their 20s. Masu.”
In addition to developing nearsightedness, it can lead to other eye health problems down the road, Engle said.
“Unfortunately, that increases the risk of vision-threatening concerns such as retinal detachment (and) myopic maculopathy, which is thought to be similar to macular development, as well as glaucoma and cataracts,” Engle said. said.
The number of children with nearsightedness or myopia has increased in recent decades, reaching almost 36% in 2023 from 24% in 1990, according to a study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. That number is expected to rise further in the coming decades, to 40% of all children by 2050.
“We think it’s a mixture — a mixture of genetics and environmental factors,” Engle said. “If you have one parent, or definitely both parents, you have a higher risk of myopia. We also know that Asians (races) also have higher rates of myopia.”
Environmental factors also pose this challenge to children’s vision.
“Unfortunately, kids just don’t get outdoors enough. So we think being outdoors can have some protective effect, preventing kids from becoming nearsighted.”
Continuous use of mobile phones, tablets, and televisions has exacerbated this problem.
“Unfortunately, I think that population is now growing again with kids who can’t get away from screens. They’re spending a lot of time on screens and they’re not getting outdoors enough,” Engle said. he said. Said.
But Engle says it’s a manageable problem.
Get your kids outside and active, ideally for two hours a day. When it comes to screens, limit your screen time to two hours a day and try to break up your screen time to give your eyes a break.
If you’re reading a book or looking at something on your tablet or phone, Engle says, hold the book or device about 15 inches from your face. This is the distance from your eyes to your elbows.
Engle said if a child is already nearsighted, special eye drops or contacts can slow the progression and protect vision in the future.
“Try to get outside and limit screen time as much as possible. If your child is already nearsighted, there are things we can do to slow the progression,” Engle said.
