How do I manage myopia during summer vacation?
Jul 22, 2024
The number of pediatric patients complaining of myopia symptoms is increasing as they pass the COVID-19 period. During the growing season, the eye axis, which is the length of the eyeball before and after the eyeball, is also lengthened, and it is easy to focus on the front of the retina, so it is recommended to use the vacation period to check and actively treat it.
According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, as of 2023, the number of children and adolescents under the age of 19 was 662,107, accounting for about 59% of the total number of myopia patients. Myopia refers to a phenomenon in which an object's image is formed in front of the retina and a close distance is visible, but an object at a long distance is not visible. If a child frowns or blinks frequently and looks forward with his or her head tilted, he or she may suspect a child's myopia.
Myopia progresses rapidly at the age of 6 to 10, and if proper treatment is not provided at this time, the effectiveness of treatment decreases and it is easy to lead to high myopia. If it progresses to high myopia, active management is needed because the prevalence of eye diseases that can cause blindness such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal detachment can increase after adulthood.
A common way to correct myopia is to wear glasses. There are guardians who are worried that wearing glasses will make their eyesight worse if they wear glasses early, but wearing glasses does not reduce their eyesight, and it is recommended to wear glasses that fit the frequency so that the correction vision is about 1.0. In the case of nearsightedness, wearing glasses can lead to poor vision, and each individual has a different period of replacement of glasses, so it is necessary for elementary school students to have regular eye exams about once every six months and consult with an ophthalmologist.
More active myopia suppression treatments include corneal refractive correction lenses called 'Dream Lens' or atropine, a controlled paralysis agent.
Dream lenses are special contact lenses that correct myopia and astigmatism by changing the shape of the cornea by wearing them during sleep. Unlike regular lenses, the middle part is flatter than the surrounding part, so it lowers the refractive power of the cornea by pressing the center of the cornea when sleeping. The day after sleeping after wearing it for more than eight hours, your eyesight is temporarily improved, so you can live without glasses, and the effect of improving your eyesight is better maintained when worn steadily. Although there are no restrictions on the wearing age group, it is often used in elementary schools that can meet sleep time as it can slow myopia progression by about 30% when used in children and adolescents. On the other hand, due to the nature of the hard lens, it may be inconvenient to use due to the need for adaptation time, and if the lens is not worn for more than six months, the length of the eyeball or corneal shape may change in the meantime and the lens may not fit, so it is recommended to have a detailed examination with an ophthalmologist every three to four months. In addition, the younger the age, the easier it is to wear and manage the lenses on your own, so it is necessary for the guardian to take good care of the cleanliness of the hands and lenses.
Atropine treatment is an eye solution that slows myopia progress by inhibiting the growth of eye length. Since it does not have a temporary vision correction effect like Dream Lens, it is necessary to wear glasses or lenses normally, but using atropine for children aged 6 to 10 who have the fastest nearsightedness can more effectively alleviate the speed of nearsightedness. Depending on the drug condition and concentration, it is easy to use because it is only administered to the eye once a day, but there may be discomfort such as glare or blurring of things, and failure to eyeball on time may reduce the effectiveness, so it is better to consult with an ophthalmologist and decide.
Kim Dae-hee, a specialist at the Sashi & Pediatric Eye Center at Kim Ophthalmology Hospital, advised, "It is important to treat myopia after the age of 6 to 10 because the effectiveness of myopia treatment decreases after the age of 12 when the progression is slow." "The younger you are, the more uncomfortable you may not recognize and may not express it, so it is better to have regular eye checkups during vacation for early detection of myopia."
According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, as of 2023, the number of children and adolescents under the age of 19 was 662,107, accounting for about 59% of the total number of myopia patients. Myopia refers to a phenomenon in which an object's image is formed in front of the retina and a close distance is visible, but an object at a long distance is not visible. If a child frowns or blinks frequently and looks forward with his or her head tilted, he or she may suspect a child's myopia.
Myopia progresses rapidly at the age of 6 to 10, and if proper treatment is not provided at this time, the effectiveness of treatment decreases and it is easy to lead to high myopia. If it progresses to high myopia, active management is needed because the prevalence of eye diseases that can cause blindness such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal detachment can increase after adulthood.
A common way to correct myopia is to wear glasses. There are guardians who are worried that wearing glasses will make their eyesight worse if they wear glasses early, but wearing glasses does not reduce their eyesight, and it is recommended to wear glasses that fit the frequency so that the correction vision is about 1.0. In the case of nearsightedness, wearing glasses can lead to poor vision, and each individual has a different period of replacement of glasses, so it is necessary for elementary school students to have regular eye exams about once every six months and consult with an ophthalmologist.
More active myopia suppression treatments include corneal refractive correction lenses called 'Dream Lens' or atropine, a controlled paralysis agent.
Dream lenses are special contact lenses that correct myopia and astigmatism by changing the shape of the cornea by wearing them during sleep. Unlike regular lenses, the middle part is flatter than the surrounding part, so it lowers the refractive power of the cornea by pressing the center of the cornea when sleeping. The day after sleeping after wearing it for more than eight hours, your eyesight is temporarily improved, so you can live without glasses, and the effect of improving your eyesight is better maintained when worn steadily. Although there are no restrictions on the wearing age group, it is often used in elementary schools that can meet sleep time as it can slow myopia progression by about 30% when used in children and adolescents. On the other hand, due to the nature of the hard lens, it may be inconvenient to use due to the need for adaptation time, and if the lens is not worn for more than six months, the length of the eyeball or corneal shape may change in the meantime and the lens may not fit, so it is recommended to have a detailed examination with an ophthalmologist every three to four months. In addition, the younger the age, the easier it is to wear and manage the lenses on your own, so it is necessary for the guardian to take good care of the cleanliness of the hands and lenses.
Atropine treatment is an eye solution that slows myopia progress by inhibiting the growth of eye length. Since it does not have a temporary vision correction effect like Dream Lens, it is necessary to wear glasses or lenses normally, but using atropine for children aged 6 to 10 who have the fastest nearsightedness can more effectively alleviate the speed of nearsightedness. Depending on the drug condition and concentration, it is easy to use because it is only administered to the eye once a day, but there may be discomfort such as glare or blurring of things, and failure to eyeball on time may reduce the effectiveness, so it is better to consult with an ophthalmologist and decide.
Kim Dae-hee, a specialist at the Sashi & Pediatric Eye Center at Kim Ophthalmology Hospital, advised, "It is important to treat myopia after the age of 6 to 10 because the effectiveness of myopia treatment decreases after the age of 12 when the progression is slow." "The younger you are, the more uncomfortable you may not recognize and may not express it, so it is better to have regular eye checkups during vacation for early detection of myopia."
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