Parents, please stop taking it lightly! High myopia can cause health risks to children

The myopia rate among primary and secondary school students in my country has been increasing year by year, and is showing a trend of younger age and higher severity. Once myopia occurs, it is irreversible. The earlier a child develops myopia, the higher the risk of high myopia. Many parents believe that high myopia is nothing more than a higher degree of myopia, thicker lenses, and some changes in appearance. In fact, it is not just that. High myopia can also bring many irreversible eye health crises.

01 Causes of high myopia

The so-called high myopia refers to myopia with a degree of more than 600 degrees. The formation of high myopia is the result of the combined effect of genetic and environmental factors.

In terms of genetic factors, if both parents are severely myopic, the risk of their offspring developing high myopia increases significantly; if one parent is severely myopic, their children also have a certain chance of developing the disease.

Environmental factors mainly include: the age at which myopia occurs, high-intensity close-range eye use, duration of outdoor activities, reading and writing posture, lighting environment in daily study and life, duration of use of electronic products, etc., which are all important factors that may cause the development of high myopia.

Childhood and adolescence is the "golden window period" for vision development, and we must be vigilant against high myopia at this time!

01 During the growth and development stage, the eye axis tends to lengthen

The eyeballs of children and adolescents are in the growth and development stage, and the eye axis will gradually lengthen as the body grows. Under normal circumstances, the growth of the eye axis will be accompanied by the improvement of vision. However, if children develop myopia too early during this period, they are in the learning stage, use their eyes for a long time, have bad eye habits, lack outdoor activities, etc., which may lead to excessive growth of the eye axis and accelerate the progression of myopia, thereby increasing the risk of high myopia.

02Harm to visual function development

High myopia not only causes poor vision in children, but also may affect the normal development of visual function, such as causing amblyopia, strabismus and other problems, seriously affecting the visual quality and stereoscopic vision function of children.

03Increase the risk of fundus lesions

High myopia greatly increases the risk of developing pathological changes due to excessive elongation of the eye axis and the continuous increase in refractive power. The incidence of blinding eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, myopic macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and myopic optic neuropathy is significantly higher in people with high myopia than in people with emmetropia. Retinopathy caused by pathological myopia has become the leading cause of irreversible blinding eye diseases in my country [1].

04Influence on future career choices

If a child develops high myopia, he or she may not be able to engage in some of his or her desired careers in the future due to vision problems, thus limiting the range of career options. Many parents believe that high myopia can be solved by myopia surgery, but this is not the case. For example, the 2025 Navy Recruitment and Selection Guide for Flight Cadets requires that the myopia before corneal refractive surgery should not exceed 400 degrees, the astigmatism should not exceed 100 degrees, and the naked eye distance vision should not be less than 1.0 after surgery. This also means that even if the degree of myopia is too high, it may not meet the recruitment requirements after myopia surgery.

High myopia may cause many serious complications, bring inconvenience and potential risks to life. Therefore, it is necessary to develop good eye habits from childhood to adolescence to prevent the occurrence of myopia. For children who are already myopic or have signs of myopia, timely intervention and correction should be made to avoid the degree of myopia increasing too fast and affecting their study and life.

01Get regular vision checks

It is recommended to have a vision test every six months starting from childhood, establish a refractive development file, and dynamically monitor vision changes and eye axis development. Once vision abnormalities are found, you should seek medical attention in time and choose intervention measures that are suitable for you to scientifically and effectively prevent the progression of myopia and avoid the development of high myopia.

02Develop good eye habits

Follow the principle of "one foot, one fist, one inch", and arrange study and rest time reasonably. Continuous use of eyes and electronic products should not exceed 40 minutes, and avoid long-term continuous close-range use of eyes. Maintain good indoor lighting conditions and insist on doing eye exercises to help eyes relax. Ensure adequate sleep time and eat more nutritious foods that are beneficial to vision health, such as fish, fruits, and green vegetables.

Content source:

[1]: Expert consensus on the prevention and control of high myopia (2023)

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