What to do if myopia in a child gets much worse? – breaking latest news

My 7-year-old son had an eye examination in which he was diagnosed with bilateral myopia of -1.25. He was prescribed permanent glasses for one year; but after only 9 months the defect doubled and this worries us. What can we do?

He answers Andrew Lemboophthalmologist, San Giuseppe Multimedica Hospital, Milan (VAI AL FORUM)

The developmental myopia – which can develop in children even from the early school years – a phenomenon that is constantly increasing, so much so that it has become a subject of great study, with the daily search for new therapies. Beyond the hereditary transmission, the increase in close work (between the study, the abuse of electronic devices and the continuous use of the computer) seems to be closely related to the increase in short-sighted young people. Today about 30% of Europeans are short-sighted and it has been estimated that by 2050, half of the world‘s population will wear glasses. Time spent outdoors, playing sports or walking in the sunshineinstead appears protective against the progressive worsening of myopia: for this reason, the latest guidelines of the Wspos (World Society of Pediatric Ophthalmology) recommend at least two hours of exposure to daylight a day.

In addition to a correct lifestyle, daily treatment with diluted atropine eye drops widely used in leading children’s hospitals and dozens of scientific reports confirm its effectiveness. For this reason, for several years, the treatment has been used to slow the progression of myopia in younger people. More recently advent on the market the new peripheral defocus lenses (the first treatment study on the European population came out just this year) seem to play an important role in the containment of the myopic defect. These are glasses (or contact lenses) aesthetically identical to those we usually wear, with an internal reverse geometry treatment: the lens has numerous defocusing segments that stimulate the retina in its periphery in different ways, without losing the central focus.

The blurring of the periphery should cause the eye to grow less. The data collected so far in children who constantly wear Dims lenses (the English acronym to define them) are comforting and the prescription of these lenses is spreading more and more in our country as an alternative in the management of myopia. Returning to the question about your son, we could think of a combined treatment (diluted atropine + Dims): the summation effect would be a good choice in the presence of rapidly worsening myopia.