Otherwise known as nearsightedness, myopia occurs when the eye grows too long from front to back. Instead of focusing images on the retina—the light-sensitive tissue in the back of the eye—the lens of the eye focuses the image in front of the retina. People with myopia have good near vision but poor distance vision. People with myopia can typically see well enough to read a book or computer screen but struggle to see objects farther away. Sometimes people with undiagnosed myopia have headaches and eyestrain from struggling to clearly see things in the distance. Myopia also can be the result of a cornea – the eye’s outermost layer – that is too curved for the length of the eyeball or a lens that is too thick.
80% of Lebanese. adults use digital devices for over 2 hours per day
67% use 2+ devices simultaneously
55% view a digital device screen in the first hour they’re awake
80% say they use digital devices just before going to sleep
23% children report “playing on digital device” as their favorite activity
I’ve been prescribing more contacts, glasses, and myopia control methods now than when I first started practicing. And I’m noticing what we call “myopia creep” going faster, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down as much as it used to.
Usually we see myopia creep start to slow down at around 16, and we’re just not seeing that anymore. And, we’re seeing young adults getting late-onset myopia. So, the patterns are really starting to change quite a bit.
EB: Other than genetics, what’s causing the modern prevalence? Studies are showing that not spending as much time outdoors as we used to is having an effect [on young eyes].
Everything we are associated with now is electronic and is in our near-vision zone almost exclusively. We’re just not getting outside for as long as we used to and using our distance vision, especially in early childhood when the eye is doing a lot of its growth. We know the eye muscles want to relax as much as possible. If your eye is looking at something near-point all the time, it’s in a constant state of accommodation. The eye becomes encouraged to grow to match that near-point task that you’re now using all the time so that it doesn’t have to work as hard.
The more time you spend on digital devices is the less time you spend doing those distance-vision activities, and that may be contributing to the early development of myopia.
EB: How do you treat high myopes? Orthokeratology as a first choice. Second is a soft contact lens with a peripheral defocus to see if we can control that growth but also give patients nice clear vision. And, the third is using atropine drops to slow down that growth of the eye. And, I’m hearing of some glasses that are being developed, but not in use yet, that can help slow down that progression.
EB: What’s your advice for myopes regarding digital screens? You’re not going to stop people from using them. Kids and young adults do basically everything on devices and laptops. Everything related to school is increasingly digital. You can’t avoid it. But you can try to limit their time best you can and kick them outside. Make sure they are doing other activities that use their distance vision in addition to all of their near-vision work.
