Unlike myopia, which is determined by genetic factors, some school-age children will develop so-called school myopia (accommodative myopia). Children who unabashedly use smartphones and tablets, i.e. electronic devices with small monitors that require the eyes to be brought to a short distance, initially develop so-called “myopia. myopia apparent, which can be attempted to control, for example, with drops that relax the eye muscles.
However, if a child doesn’t stop spending his leisure time “with his nose in a smartphone,” apparent myopia can turn into a permanent condition.
Why sitting “with your nose in a smartphone” is harmful
Chronically tense intraocular muscle, which is responsible for the following Sitting too long in front of a computer, tablet or smartphone screen, is the most important, but not the only reason why the eye is at risk of developing myopia.
The overuse of electronic devices is also accompanied by the abandonment of outdoor activities, thus reducing the supply of natural daylight to the eye and giving up the opportunity to adjust accommodation – when looking at a screen, the child keeps his eyes focused on objects close to the eye, while when playing with peers outside he has the opportunity to flip his gaze to different distances.
The earlier a child gets his hands on a smartphone, the worse it bodes for the future. Pediatricians believe that a toddler should not be exposed to digital devices at all before the age of two-three.
School-age children not only use computers and smartphones as devices to facilitate learning, but also as major leisure time enhancers. Teenagers’ social lives often take place almost exclusively online! Even in-person meetings of peers involve everyone looking at their phones, and face-to-face conversations are replaced by exchanging information about what someone is seeing and reading online. The correct distance of a smartphone from the eyes is 40-70 cm. Rarely does any child adhere to this rule, making the intraocular muscles of the eyes tense like strings for most of the day!
School shortsightedness can become entrenched and worsen
School shortsightedness, which appears, as the name suggests, most often when a child goes to school (usually around age 10-12), is induced m. in. By the already mentioned excessive accommodative effort when using digital devices, and by:
- A paucity of outdoor physical activity,
- The inability to flip the eye between objects located at different distances from the eye,
- A dramatic reduction in the supply of natural daylight to the eye, and thus a deficiency of vitamin D3.
As mentioned, school myopia can become fixed and start to worsen. Since the eye of a young person has a high accommodative capacity, the ophthalmologist’s diagnosis may be postponed – because we will not connect the complaints observed in the child with vision problems. Therefore, when a student complains of:
- concentration problems,
- Inability to focus on reading (because “letters skip”),
- headaches,
- Weaker vision in poor lighting,
It is worthwhile to start the search for the causes with a visit to an ophthalmologist. Let’s look at our children: myopia also makes them squint, rub their eyelids and turn their head, for example, when watching movies, because they can’t “catch the focus”. Just as much maneuvering occurs when reading, when they fail to find the optimal distance for a book.
Myopia correction
A proper diagnosis – myopia – entails wearing either corrective glasses or contact lenses. The defect should be corrected quickly and completely. It is not true that in children less correction than required should be used to “give the eye a chance to work.” Short-sightedness will not decrease from this, the defect will continue to develop, the child’s life comfort will not improve, and additional discomforts and difficulties at school and in social life will arise.
Uncorrected myopia accelerates the progression of the defect, and the higher it is, i.e. the more diopters in the glasses or lenses, the greater the risk of complications in adulthood (retinal detachment, cataracts, glaucoma, macular disease, etc.).
A child diagnosed with myopia must be under the constant care of an ophthalmologist. Adherence to follow-up appointments makes it possible to correct the progression of the defect and, for example, catch astigmatism, which likes to accompany myopia.
If a child is already old enough to wear contact lenses, he or she should be constantly reminded of the hygiene rules associated with their use. Improper care and use not in accordance with the rules (for example, too long in relation to the time recommended by the manufacturer) can lead to serious complications such as keratitis, which in turn can contribute to irreversible deterioration of visual acuity.
Sometimes orthocorrection (orthokeratology) is used in children as part of myopia correction. It involves the correction of myopia with rigid high-gas-permeable lenses of inverted geometry, applied overnight. Worn at night, the lenses cause a change in the shape (flattening) of the front surface of the cornea, so that during the day, one sees sharply without glasses for a while. Such correction has only a temporary effect – when the lens is removed, the vision problems sooner or later return.
This is not a method to cure the defect. There is also a risk of corneal hypoxia. Some specialists believe that even high gas permeability does not guarantee ideal oxygenation of the eye.
