How to grasp the critical period of myopia control

  Although myopia cannot be cured, it can be prevented and controlled, the key is early, early prevention, early detection and early control!  In life, many people do not take myopia seriously, the reason for this is that we do not understand the cause of myopia. Many of our relatives and friends around us suffer from myopia, which doesn’t seem to have much impact on their health, except for the fact that wearing glasses is unsightly and inconvenient. This is because most of them are moderate or low myopia, so they only show the effect on their distance vision, and the blurred vision can be solved well by wearing nearsighted glasses. What really affects the health of the eyes is the high myopia greater than 600 degrees, and after middle age, its retinal choroid will undergo atrophy degeneration, fundus hemorrhage, retinal detachment, vitreous liquefaction clouding and other fundus lesions, which will lead to low vision and even blindness, seriously affecting the quality of life!  According to the latest survey data, the prevalence of myopia in the total population is 30%, and the prevalence of high myopia is 2~3%. The prevalence of myopia has been increasing at a relatively large rate every year compared to the previous. Among patients with low vision or blindness, the percentage caused by high myopia rises to the third highest, after cataract and diabetic retinopathy! The chance of high myopic fundopathy is positively correlated with the degree of myopia and the length of the eye axis.  How can we grasp the critical period for preventing and controlling the occurrence and development of myopia?  Our eyes develop rapidly from 0 to 3 years old after birth, slowly from 4 to 14 years old, and perfectly from 14 to 16 years old. The formation and development of myopia is influenced by genetics and the environment, and is an irreversible process that is closely related to the process of our eye development. From the onset of myopia generally tends to stabilize by the age of 18 to 20. 8 to 14 years old is the period of fastest physical development and the peak of myopia development. From the detailed and comprehensive examination data, the occurrence and development of myopia has certain characteristics or high risk factors.  1. The incidence of myopia in the offspring of both parents is 6.4 times higher than that of those without myopia, and if both are highly myopic, the rate of myopic genetic appearance in their offspring is close to 100%.  2. Early myopia age, it is very common for myopia to deepen 100~150 degrees per year in elementary school.  3, the eye axis is long, longer than the eye axis of children of the same age, and even more than the length of the adult eye axis, just like the height ratio of Yao Ming and Pan Changjiang.  4, too early, too much close eye use, early childhood began to develop reading habits, excessive use of cell phones and computers. Children with the above factors have a very high probability of developing high myopia in the future.  Therefore, it is important to start consciously preventing myopia after birth, especially for children with both parents who are myopic, to avoid early and excessive near eye use, to have balanced nutrition, to eat less sweets and drinks, to develop good eye hygiene habits, and to participate in more daytime outdoor activities. School-age children, especially those aged 8 to 14, who have the above high-risk factors, should choose a scientific and reasonable treatment plan as early as possible to give timely and necessary control while developing good eye hygiene habits. At present, the consensus of international ophthalmologists that can effectively control myopia are: keratomileusis, multifocal corneal contact lenses, atropine, RGP, etc., plus the need to participate in more daytime outdoor activities on weekdays. During the high-risk period of myopia development, we can timely and effectively curb the excessive progression of myopia, avoid the formation of highly myopic eyes, and reduce the adverse effects of high myopia on the future physical and mental health of children.