Struggling to see things from a distance is an indication that you have nearsightedness or myopia. Myopia is a common eye condition that occurs when your eyes become more prolonged than usual from the front to the back. Your ophthalmologist, Dr. Melanie Frogozo, may recommend ways to help manage the ailment and prevent it from advancing. Failure to get treatment early on, myopia may result in retinal detachment and glaucoma.
How can your doctor help you manage myopia?
Though there is little your eye doctor can do to reverse myopia, there are several treatments the medical professional can recommend to help slow down nearsightedness progression. The therapies will induce changes in your eye’s structure and focus, minimizing stress and fatigue resulting from the condition’s development and progression. Treatments your healthcare provider will likely recommend to help slow down myopia include:
. Atropine eye drops
Your ophthalmologist will suggest topical atropine during an eye exam to dilate your pupils and temporarily paralyze your eye’s focusing mechanism. However, your doctor may not recommend it when you have frequent eye concern dilation because the eye drops have long-lasting effects which may take more than a week to resolve. The eye specialist will recommend the treatment to help minimize eye pain and slow down the condition’s progression.
. Orthokeratology (Ortho-k)
The temporary correction of myopia entails using gas-permeable lenses at night while sleeping to correct myopia and other eye concerns. Ortho-K flattens your cornea as you sleep, suppressing axial elongation of your eye. The gentle pressure the lenses exert on your cornea causes temporary molding of your outer layers, giving you a lens-like effect.
. Multifocal contact lenses
The lenses have different powers in different areas and your ophthalmologist may use them to correct myopia and presbyopia. Thanks to its varying areas of focus, the center of the lens corrects a blurry distant vision as the outer parts of the lens blur your side vision. Since there are different brands of contact lenses, the eye expert will help you pick the brand that will best suit your needs.
. Multifocal eyeglasses
The progressive lenses of the multifocal eyeglasses are on the lower margin of your pupil, unlike the single vision lenses to help give your eyes a different prescription for near and distance. The glasses may also be an option when your child has esophoria and feel like he is too young for contact lenses or eye drops.
Why should you control myopia in children?
Myopia control in children is crucial as it prevents your child from future eye conditions. For instance, slowing down the progression of the eye problem minimizes the risk of your kid developing increased levels of nearsightedness that might need thick corrective glasses. Additionally, untreated myopia may cause the child to have severe eye concerns like a detached retina later in life. Therefore to help your child slow myopia progression, your ophthalmologist will advise you to let the kid play outdoors, minimizing the number of hours spent indoors. You may also need to balance screen time to limit the eye condition and protect his vision as he develops.
Schedule an ophthalmology appointment to know more about myopia control.
