Myopia, also known as short-sightedness, is a common eye condition resulting from eyeball elongation which causes the image to focus in front of the retina instead of on the surface of the retina. Myopia patients are not able to see distant objects clearly. Eyeball elongation is unfortunately a non-reversable physiological change.
High myopia refers to myopia greater than -5.00D. High myopia is associated with parental myopia and more time spending on reading and other close-up activities, less time spending outdoor during childhood.1, 2 Myopia onset in childhood usually progresses through into adulthood.1 Early myopia onset is a known risk factor for high myopia in adulthood. Additionally, as people age, high myopia patients have increased risk of developing many eye diseases such as retinopathy, maculopathy, retinal detachment, glaucoma,3 which may cause vision loss if timely intervention is not available.
Outdoor activity can prevent early onset of myopia.2 If a child has developed myopia, it is important to slow down the progression and prevent the developing of high myopia. Here at Nusight Eye Clinic / Myopia Control Centre, we adopt Orthokeratology, also referred as Ortho-K, which has been proven to have long term efficacy in reducing myopia progression,4 and topical medications such as atropine eye drops.5
For more information about myopia and myopia control, please visit Myopia Control Centre website.
The success of myopia control requires combined effort of the eye care professionals, the parents and the child. At Nusight Eye Clinic / Myopia Control Centre, we are dedicated to work with every party involved to deliver the best possible outcome for our patients. If you would like to learn how we can help you in controlling myopia progression,
References
1. Pärssinen O, Kauppinen M, Viljanen A. The progression of myopia from its onset at age 8–12 to adulthood and the influence of heredity and external factors on myopic progression. A 23‐year follow‐up study. Acta Ophthalmol. 2014;92(8):730-9. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/aos.12387?download=true.
2. Lingham G, Yazar S, Lucas RM, Milne E, Hewitt AW, Hammond CJ, et al. Time spent outdoors in childhood is associated with reduced risk of myopia as an adult. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):6337-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7973740/pdf/41598_2021_Article_85825.pdf.
3. Verkicharla PK, Ohno-Matsui K, Saw SM. Current and predicted demographics of high myopia and an update of its associated pathological changes. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2015;35(5):465-75. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/opo.12238?download=true.
4. Hiraoka T, Sekine Y, Okamoto F, Mihashi T, Oshika T. Safety and efficacy following 10‐years of overnight orthokeratology for myopia control. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2018;38(3):281-9. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/opo.12460.
5. Zhao C, Cai C, Ding Q, Dai H. Efficacy and safety of atropine to control myopia progression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Ophthalmol. 2020;20(1):478-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7720573/pdf/12886_2020_Article_1746.pdf.
