Myopia in Children – How to spot if your child is short-sighted
Is your child running into a wall or squinting at objects further away from them? Then there may be a chance your child needs to have their eyes checked.
Myopia is a very common condition in children, and when diagnosed in time, it can be corrected with glasses in most cases. However, depending on the reason behind your child’s myopic condition, advanced treatments such as surgery might be required.
In this article, we’ll break down what myopia in children means and how to spot if your child is short-sighted and needs to visit the optician to correct their vision.
But, first.
What is myopia?
Myopia, otherwise known as short-sightedness is a very common cause of impaired vision where you will struggle to see distant objects clearly. But the closer the object is to you, the clearer your vision becomes. That’s why very short-sighted people (like my dad) tend to take off their glasses to look at microscopic objects very close to them, but need their glasses to talk to the person in front of them.
What are the symptoms of myopia?
To make the first step you will need to spot there’s an issue in your child’s vision, however, you should aim to get them to the optician as quickly as possible for an eye test to checks for signs of a refractive error, which is the most common cause behind myopia, as well as other eye conditions, like hyperopia, blurry, distorted vision, and presbyopia.
What causes myopia?
Myopia typically begins in childhood and occurs when the eyeballs are elongated, which causes the to light rays focus at a point in front of the retina rather than directly onto the surface of the eye. Myopia can also occur when the cornea and/or lens is too curved for its eyeball length. Children are more likely to be short-sighted if their parents are too, but will in most cases stabilises once they hit early adulthood.
Signs to look out for in children who may be short-sighted
To spot whether your child might have myopia, watch out for the following signs.
Squinting
Squinting is an assured sign of myopia if your child is doing frequently and especially while he/she is trying to focus on something that is at a distance. Teachers should be able to notice whether your child is struggling to see the board properly, so ask your child’s teacher to find out whether there have been any issues with squinting. If you see your child squinting or your teacher has noticed your child is struggling to see the board, make an appointment with the optician straight away.
Milky Eyes
If your infant child has milky or cloudy eyes without an eye infection, it is almost an assured fact that he/she is a victim of birth cataracts or congenital cataracts. The condition is rare, but not completely unlikely either. If a cataract is indeed the reason behind his/her myopia, your child will need cataract surgery as soon as possible. Without timely surgery, their vision just won’t be able to develop properly, due to the absence of adequate light exposure. This can lead to other complications such as topographical disorientation (inability of the brain to map and record terrain info), lazy eye, and in worst-case scenarios, permanent loss of partial or full vision.
About 30% of the children in the US suffer from myopia due to a number of underlying conditions. This is why doctors recommend getting a child’s eyes checked for the first time after the first 6 months post-birth. If no issues are found, another check at 3-years of age is advised.
*Collaborative feature post*
