Winter vacation is coming, don't forget to give your eyes a rest

Experts summarize those "stubborn pits" about myopia remember to take a detour

　　With the change of the epidemic prevention and control situation, the school has started the winter vacation mode one after another.

While letting go of yourself, parents should not forget to let their children take a break for their eyes.

The ophthalmologist reminds that the winter vacation is short. If your child has symptoms such as blurred vision, tilted head, and squinting, please take him to a regular hospital for treatment as soon as possible.

Mydriatic optometry and pupil recovery take time. Don't wait until school starts to see a doctor in a hurry, which will affect your child's learning progress after school starts.

　　At the same time, when it comes to the prevention and control of myopia, parents are sometimes in a hurry, begging for fish, and there are still some "stubborn pits" that everyone will always step on.

Today, ophthalmologists come to bring parents to fill the hole together.

　　Pit 1:

　　Children need to have their eyesight checked after school

　　Many parents think that after children go to primary school, they need to check their eyesight only after they use their eyes more.

In fact, after the age of 3, after learning to recognize the eye chart, most of the children can cooperate with the visual acuity test, and can carry out a preliminary visual inspection.

It is recommended to conduct vision screening for children every three months to six months. Schools or parents can purchase standard vision charts and hang them on the wall to allow children to identify them at a distance of 5 meters.

　　In daily life, parents should be vigilant if they find that their children are looking sideways, tilting their heads, squinting, rubbing their eyes, or watching TV and books very close, it may be because of vision problems.

Parents should take their children to regular medical institutions in time to establish refractive development files for their children.

The best time to start the examination is no later than 3 years old, which is helpful for the early detection of eye diseases and refractive abnormalities such as myopia, astigmatism, high hyperopia, strabismus amblyopia, etc. intervention.

　　Pit 2:

　　Small child + low degree = pseudo myopia

　　When many parents hear that their children are short-sighted, they often blurt out: "Is it fake or real?" Many people believe that the child is small and the degree is not high, it is fake myopia, which is reversible.

In fact, pseudo-myopia refers to the temporary loss of vision caused by overuse of the eye at close range and the tension of the ciliary muscle of the eye. After rest or the application of cycloplegic eye drops, the vision can return to normal.

However, in the routine hospital examination, if the myopia has been dilated and the degree of myopia is detected, it is no longer pseudo-myopia.

Even if the child is young and the degree is not high, it is no longer a pseudo-myopia that regulates tension.

　　Therefore, when the child has vision loss, it is very necessary to go to the regular hospital for dilated optometry in time.

Pseudo-myopia can be ruled out through mydriasis. For most myopic children, fast mydriasis optometry that can recover on its own within 4 to 6 hours can be selected.

　　Pit 3:

　　Wear glasses to see far and see near

　　Both normal eyes and short-sighted eyes with glasses (appropriate degrees) need to adjust their eyes when they see close. By adjusting and changing the focal length of the eyes, the focus of the light is moved from a distance to the close-up objects we are looking at, so that we can see clearly.

　　In the case of myopia without glasses, the focal length of the eyes is close, and the eyes can be lazy and can see clearly without adjustment.

But long-term lazy eye accommodation will decline, and it will also affect the ability of the eyes to cohere.

　　Under normal conditions, the eyes will face inward to a certain extent when looking at the near distance, which is the cohesive function.

Unless the doctor has a special account, it is not necessary to wear glasses. At other times, it is recommended that children with myopia wear glasses for both distance and near-sightedness.

　　Pit 4:

　　The more you wear glasses, the faster your myopia deepens

　　If true myopia is detected after dilation, it is irreversible.

Most of myopia is caused by the growth of the axial length of the eye, which refers to the distance from the front surface of the cornea to the retina of the fundus on the light path entering the eyeball, which is like the "height" of the eyeball.

In children who are still in the physical development period, the eye axis will continue to increase with the physical development without intervention.

Therefore, the degree of myopia will not only not decrease, but will continue to deepen.

　　We cannot make a developing eye grow back any more than we cannot make a taller person shorter.

Therefore, myopia is not deepened because of wearing glasses.

　　Moreover, not wearing glasses will increase the burden on the eyes, which may further stimulate the increase of myopia.

Therefore, it is necessary to wear glasses of the appropriate degree to correct vision.

And with the growth of the eye axis, the degree of myopia increases, it is necessary to replace the appropriate glasses in time, and it is recommended to have an optometry examination every six months.

　　Pit 5:

　　Laser surgery can cure myopia

　　Some parents think that myopia is not a serious disease and can be cured by laser surgery after adulthood.

　　From a visual point of view, no matter how much myopia is, it cannot be ignored.

Because more than 85% of people's information acquisition comes from the visual system, medium and low myopia will affect vision, and wearing glasses will bring inconvenience to life.

High myopia, especially pathological myopia, should be paid more attention. The retina of the eye may have lesions, which may lead to irreversible damage to vision, and some patients may even become blind because of this.

According to statistics, pathological myopia is one of the main causes of blindness among people over 50 years old.

　　The public may deify the effect of laser myopia surgery: first, it cannot cure all myopia, and corneal laser surgery cannot be performed for high myopia beyond a certain degree, and other treatment methods may be considered, such as phakic intraocular lens (ICL) implantation into surgery.

Secondly, not all patients with suitable degrees can do laser myopia surgery, they must pass a series of preoperative examinations such as cornea and ocular surface.

　　More importantly, myopia surgery actually cures the symptoms but not the root cause. The surgery can only remove the glasses, but cannot change the fundus. On the surface, the degree of myopia disappears, but the risk of fundus lesions in high myopia will not be reduced.

Therefore, myopia should start from the baby, don't take chances, wait until you grow up before doing myopia surgery, prevent children's myopia, and control the increase of degree is more important.

　　Pit 6:

　　Vision training cures myopia

　　Many vision training institutions exaggerate the effect of training, claiming that it can completely cure myopia, but in fact, by training children's ability to recognize images, they create the illusion that vision has returned to normal.

　　In fact, the increased eye axis, the degree of myopia, and the thinned retinal retina cannot be reversed. It may also increase the child's close-range eye intensity due to overtraining and accelerate the development of myopia.

　　Many parents don't miss any opportunity for their children's eyes, but they may be in the opposite direction and fail to adopt the correct intervention and treatment plan, which delays their children's eyes.

　　Pit Seven:

　　No time to rely on "OK mirror" outdoors

　　Research data at home and abroad have confirmed that the "three axes" of myopia prevention and control - orthokeratology lenses (OK lenses), low-concentration atropine eye drops, and 2 hours/day of outdoor light - are indeed effective.

But now children are under a lot of pressure to study and cannot guarantee sufficient outdoor time, so parents will rely on OK glasses and low-concentration atropine eye drops to prevent and control myopia.

　　In fact, OK lenses and low-concentration atropine are not suitable for every child. It is necessary to check the corneal morphology, ocular surface status, and adjustment function, and only after passing the examination can they be used under the guidance of a doctor.

　　The mechanism of the occurrence and development of myopia is still unclear. Good behavior and sufficient outdoor lighting are the most fundamental prevention and control methods.

In fact, most myopia can be prevented.

Through good behavior habits, reduce the use of electronic products and close eyes, increase outdoor time, let children run in the sun, why not do it?

　　Text/Xu Qiong (Peking University People's Hospital)