Is it the fault of the phone that children are myopia? Don't ignore these issues!

Author:Ke Shipeng[1]Li Xu[2]

Reviewed by Tan Liming[2]

Units:[1] The Second Clinical College of Nanchang University [2] The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University

12-year-old Xiaowen responded to his mother sitting in the back seat can not see the blackboard clearly, came to the hospital to check the vision, the test results showed that the naked eye vision of the left eye is 4.5, the right eye 4.6, after the doctor's mydriasis examination diagnosed as myopia. Xiaowen's mother believes that it must be due to Xiaowen's long-term use of electronic products for online learning at home during the epidemic, and hopes that the school will reduce the online learning time and encourage students to use books to read.

I believe that many parents have the same idea as Xiaowen's mother, most of them think that as long as they use books instead of electronic products, they can effectively reduce the occurrence of myopia. So is this really the case?

In recent years, with the continuous increase in the rate of myopia among adolescents on the mainland, the prevention and control of myopia has gradually become a hot topic in society, and it has received more and more attention at the national level. According to the statistics of the National Health Commission in 2020, the overall incidence of myopia among adolescents in the country is 52.7%, of which 35.6% are primary school students, 71.1% are junior high school students, and high school students have reached a staggering 80.5%, far higher than the global average of 28.3%. The problem of myopia and young age in mainland China is becoming more and more serious, and myopia not only seriously affects the quality of personal life, but also brings a great burden to the physical and mental health and learning life of adolescents. This article will take you to quickly understand the causes and preventive measures of myopia, and answer the questions that most people are concerned about.

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Question 1: Is myopia mainly caused by the use of electronic products?

Not necessarily. To be precise, with the popularity of electronic products, especially portable smartphones, in recent years, the probability of people using their eyes at close range for a long time has increased, which has indeed promoted the occurrence of myopia. However, the most important cause of myopia is not the use of electronic screens, but the habit of using eyes at close range for a long time. In other words, if the electronic screen is replaced by a book for reading at the same time and distance, the incidence of myopia will not change significantly, and books cannot fundamentally delay the occurrence of myopia. Therefore, the most important point to prevent the occurrence and development of myopia in adolescents is to correct incorrect eye habits, reduce the time spent on daily eyes, and maintain good eye hygiene.

In addition, myopia is also related to many genetic factors and many environmental factors. For example, among the factors that affect the incidence of high myopia, genetic factors are the most important influencing factors, and the incidence of myopia in children is also significantly higher than that of ordinary societies in families with high myopia. In terms of environmental factors, ambient light intensity is also importantly related to the occurrence of myopia, compared with natural light, indoor light intensity is low, often in the indoor low light environment will cause adverse effects on vision. Conversely, high-intensity light is extremely helpful in preventing myopia by slowing down the elongation of the eyeball and shifting refractive light to hyperopia, especially in children with a family history of myopia. In addition, myopia is also related to many factors such as sleep, poor eating habits and environmental pollution.

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Question 2: Why are adolescents and children susceptible to myopia?

The statistical results of many current studies show that the incidence of myopia in adolescents increases with the increase of school age, and the degree of myopia gradually deepens. The reason is that students in the primary and secondary school stages, the body and eyes are in a period of rapid development, 8 to 15 years old is the fastest growth stage of myopia, if allowed to develop it is easy to develop into a high degree of myopia. However, at the same time, the gradual heavy burden of schoolwork and the use of electronic products have increased the frequency and time of adolescents and children's eyes, and the incorrect posture of reading and writing, the lack of lighting environment, lack of sleep and outdoor exercise time, etc., have accelerated the occurrence of myopia in adolescents, making the occurrence of myopia appear young. Studies have shown that the younger the age at which myopia occurs, the greater the change in the structure of the eyeball, and the easier it is to develop into high myopia. Therefore, it is particularly urgent and necessary to intervene in low-age groups of children to prevent the occurrence of myopia.

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Question 3: What are the symptoms of myopia?

Myopia is a kind of refractive error, and its pathogenesis is that the parallel light enters the eye and focuses on the retina, so it is mainly manifested as blurring the object at a distance, and the distant target often squints unconsciously. As the degree of myopia increases, especially with pathological myopia or with fundus lesions, it is accompanied by a number of other visual symptoms, such as:

Visual fatigue: overlapping, dry eyes, eye swelling, headache, etc. after excessive use of the eyes.

Eye changes: the eye axis becomes longer and manifests as a protrusion of the eyeball.

Visual occlusion: The field of vision changes, causing the visual occlusion. Especially when the retina is detached concurrently, there can be a large amount of obscuration when looking at things.

Photoperiopathic abnormalities: pathological myopia may reduce the sensitivity of the eyes, from the strong light environment into the dark place of the eyes for a long time blurred vision, and even different degrees of night blindness.

Floaters: The feeling of black shadows fluttering in front of the eyes, it seems that there are mosquitoes flying in front of the eyes, which can increase with age.

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Question 4: How to correctly treat myopia?

At present, many merchants on the market are under the banner of "myopia buster" and "reducing the degree", claiming that their instruments or technologies can cure myopia; parents are also eager to ask whether there is a best way to treat myopia. In this regard, the National Health Commission clearly replied: Under the current medical conditions, myopia cannot be cured. Myopia can only be prevented and corrected according to the stage of adolescent development and personal characteristics, and the most important methods of myopia correction are wearing glasses, corneal contact glasses (contact lenses) and refractive surgery. For adolescents who have just discovered myopia, the treatment is mainly to control the progression, such as wearing glasses with appropriate degrees (including contact lenses), or under the close guidance of the doctor, wearing orthokeratology (OK mirrors) to delay the progression of the eye axis length and slow down the growth of myopia. For myopia patients over the age of 18, when the degree of myopia tends to be stable, the degree of myopia can also be corrected by refractive surgery after professional examination by an ophthalmologist.

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Question 5: Does wearing glasses deepen the degree of myopia?

Many parents will have such concerns: wearing glasses will increase the burden on children's eyes, making the degree of myopia further increase, which is not conducive to the development of the eyeballs. In fact, this is a fictitious claim; from a scientific point of view, wearing glasses is to help objects clearly image the retina through the refraction of light. Wearing glasses with the right degree can reduce eye muscle fatigue, thereby slowing down the increase in myopia, and in fact, it is beneficial to reduce the burden on the eyes.

So when is it appropriate to wear glasses? At present, there is no clear conclusion in the academic community on the timing of the matching. Judging from the results of clinical practice, it is generally believed that the degree of myopia is higher than 200 degrees or 300 degrees, which will affect normal work and learning, and glasses should be worn. For adolescents, who use more eyes and vision is in the development stage, it is recommended that glasses should be worn for more than 200 degrees to reduce visual fatigue by correcting vision.

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Finally, due to the incurability of myopia, the main task is still to focus on prevention. In this regard, the advice given by ophthalmologists is:

1. Change various bad eye habits, reduce eye time, maintain eye distance, and pay attention to eye hygiene.

2. Eat a balanced diet, control a high-sugar and high-fat diet, and maintain a normal body mass index.

3. Ensure adequate sleep time and good sleep quality every day.

4. Increase outdoor activity time and ensure that no less than two hours of outdoor sports are guaranteed every day.

5. Strengthen myopia education for parents and children, and popularize ophthalmology related knowledge.

6. Conduct regular eye examinations every year to pay close attention to changes in children's vision, and to find and solve problems as soon as possible.

Editor: Ren Mileage Reviewer: Xiao Ran