Near-sightedness rate among children in Hong Kong

The myopia rate among Hong Kong schoolchildren increases with age, from 6.3 in pre-school children to 18.3% in 6-year-olds, and further increases to 61.5% by age 12%, while the rate among adults aged 21–30 is as high as 84.7%.

If it progresses to near-sightedness, the risk of developing various eye diseases later in life, such as retinal detachment, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, will increase significantly.

The purpose of children's vision correction is not to completely stop myopia from deepening, but to slow down the rate of myopia deepening.

Preventing myopia

If a child's myopia increases by 100 degrees each year, it is considered to be rapid progression of myopia, so it is advisable to consider treatment. For children, the ideal progression rate is within 50 degrees per year.

Low-dose atropine eye drops are commonly used by ophthalmologists in recent years as a first-line method to slow down children's myopia.

Research from the University of California, Davis shows that this method can effectively slow the progression of myopia in children by up to 60%, and has few side effects.

In addition, a “multi-zone forward optical defocusing” (DIMS) lens designed by Hong Kong Polytechnic University has been proven to slow down the progression of myopia in children participating in the study by up to 60%.

Eyeglass lenses consist of a "central optical zone" used to correct refractive errors, and "multi-zone continuous near-sighted defocusing" extending around the central zone to the periphery of the lens.

When worn by the wearer to view objects at different distances, DIMS lens provides clear vision and near-focusing, correcting vision and helping to slow the progression of myopia.

Finally, children can choose to wear corneal refractive lenses (OK lenses).

It uses special rigid corrective contact lenses and the tension of tears to change the curvature and shape of the cornea.

Children who undergo vision correction can simply wear the corrective lenses at night to sleep, and the advantage is that they don't need to wear glasses in the morning.

The only concern is that children may inadvertently rub their eyes during sleep, causing corneal damage or infection. Therefore, this method is only suitable for children who are able to manage themselves well and are over 8 years old.

What is pseudo-myopia?

Once a child develops myopia, parents become extremely anxious and often ask, "Does the child have a true degree of myopia if they are tested?"

We already know that the eyes can see both near and far distances; it is mainly the ciliary muscles and the crystalline lens that regulate this process, allowing the image to be focused on the retina so that we can see objects clearly.

We need to know the main symptoms of nearsightedness: seeing things blurry when looking far away.

However, if this happens suddenly after excessive eye strain, please don't rush to get new glasses right away; you could be suffering from pseudo-myopia.

Looking at things up close for a long time causes the ciliary muscles to contract excessively; when looking at distant objects again, the inability to relax immediately causes the focus position to shift, resulting in blurred vision.

Pseudo-myopia often occurs in schoolchildren, because children's eyelid muscle regulation function is more powerful.

Additionally, the most prominent characteristic is that visual acuity changes from time to time; especially when looking at near objects and then turning to look at distant objects, it becomes blurry.

Furthermore, nearsightedness is less common when combined with astigmatism.

How to distinguish fake nearsighted eye drops from the real ones

If pseudo-myopia is treated as true myopia by wearing corrective lenses, the patient’s eyes will be very uncomfortable because the factors that cause the ciliary muscle to contract are not relieved.

Finally, the doctor will use eye drops containing a bulking agent for the ciliary muscle to enlarge the pupil and relax the ciliary muscle, thereby distinguishing between true and false nearsightedness.

How to achieve improved pseudo-myopia?

However, parents should not worry too much; this situation is temporary.

As long as diagnosis and treatment are carried out in a timely manner, and the factors that cause pseudo-myopia are eliminated concurrently, such as paying more attention to reading distance and posture when writing, frequent looking at distant objects to relax the ciliary muscles, the increased myopia can still be corrected.

It is worth noting that today, students carry tablets and mobile phones with them at all times, causing the ciliary muscles to remain in a state of tension for long periods of time, even leading to premature degeneration and the inability to contract and regulate the muscles. This can lead to "fake reality."

Therefore, if you notice that your child has vision problems, you should take them for an eye examination as soon as possible.

As a parent, of course, we are concerned about our children's eye health.

Five key points of "eye protection methods"

According to statistics, infants are born with a near-sightedness of about 250 degrees, and they can only see black-and-white images before they are half a year old.

Therefore, it is best to place patterns with high black-and-white contrast to stimulate the baby's visual development.

In addition, soft natural light is crucial for helping infants develop their vision.

It is recommended to keep the curtains open during the day to allow the baby to receive light stimulation, but remember to avoid direct sunlight hitting the baby's eyes.

Because children as young as one year old still have developing vision and their pupil dilates slowly, overly bright light can harm a baby's eyes, so when taking photos you must turn off the flash.

After six months of age, parents can shake colorful patterns in front of the child's eyes at a distance of 30 centimeters.

This can cultivate the coordination of the child's eyes and train their focusing ability.

Eye-vision check can be tried at home in Hong Kong

If you suspect your baby has poor eyesight, you might want to perform some simple self-tests at home.

First, the baby's vision will change as the light moves; secondly, parents can use a clean gauze cloth to cover one of the baby's eyes and then observe whether the baby's activity patterns change during wakefulness.

If the baby looks at things with a poor eye sight, the blurred vision will be different from usual conditions. The baby will become anxious and restless, and will keep crying. This should be further examined.

Caused by "near-sightedness"

In addition, any form of close-up work will cause nearsightedness.

Long-term near-focusing work on the eyes increases the strain on the ciliary muscles, causing the eyeball to become elongated.

The American Pediatric Society has issued guidelines stating that children under the age of two should not be exposed to electronic devices; for children aged 2 or older, the time spent using electronic devices should ideally not exceed two hours, with adjustments made as needed based on the child’s learning needs.