Short-Sightedness (Myopia)

What Are the Symptoms of Myopia?

The first and most obvious symptom of myopia is that objects in the distance are blurred yet nearby objects are clear. Other symptoms include:

• Feelings of eye strain when working with objects at different distances, e.g., when playing sports or driving
• Fatigue, especially after focusing on distant objects
• Headaches
• Squinting or straining to focus

If you cannot bring objects at a distance into focus, speak to an eye specialist as soon as possible.

You may suspect your child has myopia if you notice them getting very close to the TV or repeatedly squinting and rubbing their eyes. They may ask to sit closer to the board in class. Regular eye tests can catch myopia early and help ensure you or your child gets the right treatment and advice.

What Causes Myopia?

Myopia can sometimes be genetic and inherited from one or both parents. People with myopia have an eyeball that is 1-4 mm longer than average. This refracts light abnormally. With perfect sight, your eye effectively focuses light onto nerve tissues on the retina at the back of the eye. Myopia causes some of that light to be focused in front of the retina instead. This can cause objects to appear blurred and out of focus.

There are proven links between short-sightedness and near-sight activities such as excessive reading or screen use. Experts believe that it’s more likely that near-sight activities exacerbate myopia — possibly accelerating its progression. Regular breaks from screens and other close-up work can help relax the eyes and refocus your vision. This is a healthy habit to practice whether or not you’re diagnosed with myopia. It helps to hold reading material as far as possible from your eyes.

The other important factors which have been found to be associated with myopia progression are light levels and time spent outdoors. Close tasks such as reading are especially problematic for myopia development if performed in low light, therefore bright light is important to reduce their impact. Time spent by children outdoors is also an independent protective factor for myopia development.

How Is Myopia Treated?

Myopia is commonly treated with glasses or contact lenses. The lenses compensate for the refraction error and refocus light at the retina.

Orthokeratology or Ortho-k lenses may be an option for some individuals. You wear these lenses at night and they subtly adjust the shape of your cornea. Upon waking, you remove the lenses and should notice that your vision has temporarily improved.

Special glasses which have been shown to slow down myopia progression are also available from some optometrists.

LASIK (laser eye surgery) may be an option for some people with myopia. Unfortunately, it’s not appropriate when the cornea is too thin or if the level of myopia is very high. LASIK also carries additional risks if you already suffer from dry eyes.

How to Cure Short-Sightedness Permanently

Sadly, there is still no permanent cure for myopia. Myopia generally develops during childhood and worsens steadily until stabilising, usually when you’re around 20 years old. Once you develop short-sightedness, there are a few treatments that may help, but none that can offer perfect vision.

Children may be able to use specialist lenses that correct the shape of the cornea or multifocal contact lenses. These lenses prevent eye strain and could slow the progression of myopia. As a child or young person’s eye is still growing and changing, this is the optimal time to try and intervene.

Some eye specialists may prescribe atropine eye drops. These dilate the pupil to reduce the strain caused by refraction error. However, some people experience side effects with these eye drops so they’re not suitable for everyone.

Can Myopia Be Prevented?

Where myopia is genetic, there’s no way to prevent its onset. Thankfully, there are treatments offered by experts that could minimise its impact. The treatments above show specialist ways to reshape the cornea and avoid the eye strain that causes myopia to progress.

You can also try limiting near-work in children so that they get plenty of time to look at things at different distances. The Global Myopia Awareness Coalition recommends spending at least 76 minutes outside every day to reduce the risk of myopia onset by up to 50%.

Adults are unlikely to develop myopia if they don’t suffer as children or young adults — age-related vision problems are usually caused by something else. Any loss of vision, eye pain, discomfort, or irritation should be mentioned to an eye specialist as soon as possible.

Complications of Short-Sightedness

Short-sightedness isn’t an isolated condition — once your vision starts to change, it can lead to other complications. In children, for example, constant squinting can become a permanent habit. Without intervention, it may lead to eyes that appear to point in different directions. Myopia is also associated with the development of a “lazy eye,” where one eye has worse vision than the other.

Adults who don’t get help with myopia are more likely to suffer from glaucoma. Glaucoma is where the fluid drainage in your eye is impaired, increasing pressure and eventually causing damage to your optic nerve. If left untreated, you could lose your vision either partially or fully. It’s possible to not even realise you have glaucoma, as it affects your peripheral vision first and may develop slowly over the years. That’s why it’s critical that you take regular eye tests as these help specialists spot the symptoms of glaucoma.

Another complication associated with severe myopia is a detached retina or retinal detachment. This means the thin layer at the back of your eye that detects light has become loose. Symptoms of this condition include a sudden increase in floaters; the small lines and dots you sometimes see in your vision. You may also notice a dark shadow or shape passing across your line of sight or sharp, bright flashes of light. Vision that is suddenly blurred or out of focus can also indicate a detached retina. The only treatment is surgery which is necessary to prevent permanent damage to your vision.

If you have myopia, you’re also more likely to develop cataracts. Cataracts present as cloudy patches on the lens of your eye and they usually develop in older people. Cataracts gradually cause loss of vision, blurring, sensitivity to light, and other eye health problems. They continuously worsen, so while glasses can help for a while, you’ll eventually need surgery to remove the affected lens and replace it.