Myopia

What is myopia?

Myopia is characterised by an overly long eye, which forms a blurred image in front of the retina. It is therefore the opposite of hyperopia. This problem is more common in adolescents, but it is increasingly developing in young children. The shape of the cornea, which is too curved, can also cause myopia.

What are signs of myopia in children?

Does your child squint when he looks into the distance? Do they not follow people or objects moving in front of them with their eyes? It is possible that their far vision is affected and thus that they have developed myopia. This will also cause blurred far-vision, which cannot be overcome with visual effort. The greater their myopia, the more your child will feel the need to approach objects to see them clearly. However, the child’s vision is clear at close range.

How can myopia be screened for in children?

From an early age, we advise you to have your child’s eyesight checked by their paediatrician, an eye care professional, or an ophthalmologist. To avoid amblyopia, early screening and management of refractive disorders in children is essential.

Amblyopia is a difference in visual acuity between each eye. One is what we call the “lazy eye”. For example, it will ignore images, which could gradually lead to vision loss. 

Doctors detect myopia by examining visual acuity first and then refraction. More specifically, the ophthalmologist will first apply cycloplegiant drops in the eyes of children in order to temporarily paralyse the focusing power of the eye and therefore its accommodation. This examination makes it possible to specify the type of myopia, and then to evaluate its intensity.

What are treatments for myopia?

There are several possibilities for correcting myopia in children:

• Concave corrective lenses:by consulting your ophthalmologist, wearing glasses with corrective lenses can correct this problem.
• Contact lenses: depending on the child’s age, a prescription for contact lenses is also possible.
• Eye drops: in children, the progression of myopia can in some cases be slowed down by the instillation of very diluted Atropine eye drops.
• Ophthalmic surgery: only possible in adulthood, refractive surgery carried out by a laser surgeon can reduce the curvature of the cornea and therefore offer a long-term solution.
• Orthokeratology: a technique allowing the patient to wear contact lenses during sleep. These lenses have the ability to restore a good curvature to the cornea and thus reversibly reduce the optical defect.

What are the risk factors?

• Heredity: the presence of myopia in the family is a risk factor. If both parents are myopic, their child is 8 times more likely to develop myopia.

• Screens and artificial light: in recent years, there has been a significant increase in myopia in young people. This is probably linked to the importance of time spent indoors in artificial light, as well as the use of screens in increasingly young children. Recent studies show that children who are more often outdoors, in contact with natural light, have a lower risk of becoming myopic.

The simplest recommendations to reduce the risk of developing myopia are to encourage your child to spend a minimum of two hours outside each day in natural light, and to avoid reading or looking too closely at their smartphone. A reading distance greater than 30 cm is recommended. For all these reasons, it is strongly recommended to avoid screens before the age of 3, the period of vision development, and to limit its use thereafter.

What are complications related to myopia?

Strong myopia can be complicated by retinal detachment, glaucoma, macular problems, or early cataracts. Regular ophthalmological monitoring of the child is therefore essential.

How can I limit the risk of myopia in my child?

The adoption of a good lifestyle is essential to curb myopia. 3 simple rules to reduce the risk:

• Children should expose themselves to natural light, outside, two hours a day
• To avoid too close vision, it is recommended that they make a habit of placing their book or their screen more than thirty centimetres from their eyes, which is the distance between the eye and the bent elbow.
• It is also advisable to adopt the “rule of 20”: every 20 minutes, look out the window at more than 20 metres for 20 seconds.

Find out more about children's visual disorders

Do you want to learn more about a particular visual condition? Discover our pages on eye allergy, astigmatism, colour blindness, hyperopia, and strabismus. We explain these visual disorders and tell you how to treat them to preserve your children’s visual acuity.