May 13-18th is National Myopia Awareness Week.

Short-sightedness is a common term for myopia – an eye condition that makes distance vision blurry. It usually starts in childhood and gets progressively worse until the child stops growing.

Currently myopia affects around 80 million children around the world- however that figure is set to sharply rise by 2050. The average age of the onset of myopia is now around 8.

Signs to look out for:
– distance vision becoming blurry
– moving closer to the tv
– reduced performance at school
– complaints of headaches
– tired eyes
– squinting or screwing eyes up

In many cases there are no signs at all.

What causes Myopia?

There are 2 main risk factors which can mean your child is more at risk of developing myopia – genetics and lifestyle.

Modern lifestyles influence the development of myopia including:
– prolonged near tasks such as digital devices, reading, gaming
– low levels of outdoor activity
– poor lighting levels

Genetically if a parent has myopia the child is at a higher risk of also developing it.

If you would like your child assessed for Myopia, or would like to find out more about our Myopia Management advice please give us a call on 97961966