Myopia and your child

Can Myopia be reversed?

 Is it possible to reverse myopia? That’s a question many of those with nearsightedness have probably asked at one point or another. Glasses can correct this common refractive error but can’t turn the clock back.

Myopia can’t be reversed, but myopia control can slow its progression in kids whose eyes are still growing. Regular eye exams play a crucial role in managing myopia. They allow optometrists to monitor your eye’s progression and adjust prescriptions accordingly. While we can’t hit ‘undo’ on myopia, we can certainly take steps to manage it effectively.

What is Myopia?

Myopia, commonly known as nearsightedness, is a vision condition that affects nearly 30% of Americans. It’s a type of refractive error—a problem with your eyes that affects how you see. In a healthy eye, light rays land directly on the retina, the layer of light-reactive cells at the back of the eye. The retina sends this information through the optic nerve, where the brain turns it into an image.

Myopia occurs when the eyeball is too long, or the cornea (the clear front part of the eye) is overly curved, causing the light entering the eye to focus in front of the retina instead of onto it. This makes it difficult to see distant objects clearly, while close objects are typically sharp and clear.

What Causes Myopia?

Although myopia can affect people of any age, it usually emerges in childhood and worsens during adolescence. Genetics play a major role in determining who develops myopia; if one or both parents have myopia, their children are at higher risk of developing it as well. However, environmental factors may also increase your chances, such as:

• Excessive screen time
• Lack of outdoor activities
• Reading in poor lighting conditions

Correcting Myopic Vision

The most common treatment for myopia is prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses. Eyeglasses are available in many styles and designs, offering a stylish way to meet your unique needs. For people who prefer a more natural look, contact lenses are an alternative to glasses that sit directly on the eye.

Whatever you choose, these devices work by bending light to focus it directly on the retina, which can improve visual acuity and clarity for people with refractive errors. Your optometrist has to measure your refractive error with an eye exam to determine the correct prescription.

Myopia Control

Since myopia can worsen until a child’s eyes stabilize around age 20, myopia control focuses on slowing down the rate at which a child’s myopia progresses. Every child’s eyes are unique, so myopia control plans are individualized to meet each child’s needs.

After an eye exam, our doctors may recommend a range of myopia control methods. Be sure and discuss these with Dr Brian and Dr Boyer

(909) 596-6756 LaVerne (909) 982-0100 Upland

 www.drboyeroptometrist.com

August: Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month

August is dedicated to preventing eye injuries and vision loss and saving children’s eyesight. One of 20 children ages 3 to 5 has a vision problem that could result in permanent vision if left untreated. Despite this unsettling statistics, 80 percent of preschoolers do not receive an eye screening. Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month encourages parents to learn how to protect their child’s eyesight and save their child’s eyesight from vision threatening conditions through regular eye exams.

How Important Is It To Have An Eye Exam?

Children should have an eye exam at 6 months and this must be repeated at age 3. Once they start school, eye exams must be done regularly. About 80% of what children learn in school is taught visually, which means if a child has undetected and uncorrected vision problem, it will affect the child’s development and performances in school. Some warning signs that your child may be experiences vision problems are:

• Tilting the head or squinting to see the class board better or when watching TV
• Frequent eye rubbing when he’s trying to concentrate on something.
• Holding a book too close to his eyes or often sitting close to the TV.
• Consistently using his fingers to guide his eyes when reading.
• Closing one eye to read or watch TV.
• Excessive tearing without any tear-causing stimuli.
• Eye discomfort when using a computer or any digital device i.e digital eye strain.
• Sensitivity to light, which is sometimes accompanied by headache or nausea.
• Wandering eyes.

Special Tips on Children’s Eye Health and Safety 

Early detection of vision conditions is crucial. Red flags that a child may have a vision problem, are uneven focus, amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eyes). Lazy eye is often corrected if treatment started at an early age; however, successful treatment is rarely achieved if treatment has started after a child reaches 8 or 9 years old.

Protect your child from eye injuries by ensuring your children’s toys are age-appropriate and not a danger to their eyes. Check if your child’s toys or stuff are free of sharp or protruding parts that could accidentally poke the eyes. Fireworks are also detrimental to your child’s safety, as it can cause blindness if not handled correctly. 

Be aware that eye injuries can happen anytime, anywhere. Eye injuries are often caused by sports or physical activities, 90% could have been avoided if the child had worn protective eyewear, such as polycarbonate lenses fitted by an eye care professional. These lenses can withstand a ball traveling 90mph as it is 20 times stronger than ordinary eyeglasses.

It’s important to know that at Dr Boyer optometry we specialize in helping you keep your child’s vision healthy and obtain early diagnosis in case your child is suffering from vision problems, through a regular eye exam.  

(909)596-6756  2443 Foothill LaVerne CA 91750 

(909) 982-0100  1637 Mountain Ave Upland CA 91784  www.drboyeroptometrist.com

What is farsightedness?

 Hyperopia

Far sightedness means that ones best sight is at far. It is a lay man's term for hyperopia. Hyperopia describes an eye that is too short in length (sometimes people confuse hyperopia with presbyopia, which also causes near vision problems but for different reasons). That means that the focal length lies behind the eye. People with hyperopia might squint to see nearby objects. This is especially true for an object that is close, like a book, a computer, or a cell phone. In that case the eye must focus harder with the crystalline lens in order to see clearly. This increased effort can cause fatigue, headaches , and eye strain. 

Seeing comfortably

What can be confusing about hyperopia is one would pass a vision screening with an eye chart and even report that they're able to see a book clearly. Yet, they definitely benefit from reading glasses. In this case the glasses are more about seeing comfortably than clearly. This is one reason that yearly eye exams are recommended starting at school age. Most of our learning is visual and reading glasses can make a huge difference in that person's life. 

Treatment options

Treatment options include eyeglasses, contact lenses, and surgery such as LASIK. 

Don't forget a yearly eye exam for you and your family. (909) 596-6756  2443 Foothill LaVerne CA 91750 (909) 982-0100  1637 Mountain Ave Upland CA 91784 www.drboyeroptometrist.com

Should we be concerned about blue light exposure?

 

What is blue light? 

We’ve all found ourselves tired and irritable during the workday. Sitting for long hours staring at our computer screens, can leave us tense, unfocused and sometimes with a pounding headache. Blue light may sound pretty innocent, but without using some kind of blue light blocker, it's actually pretty bad for us.

What we see – the visible spectrum of light – consists of a range of colors, from blue-violet on the lower end to red on the higher end. Light on the lowest end of the visible spectrum has the shortest wavelengths; light on the highest end has the longest wavelengths. Since shorter wavelengths emit more energy, blue light is also known as High Energy Visible (HEV) light. This is what’s filtered out by blue light glasses.

What we see – the visible spectrum of light – consists of a range of colors, from blue-violet on the lower end to red on the higher end.

How are we exposed to HEV or blue light?

We all know the dangers of sun exposure. That glorious bright sunny day that most of us love is the primary culprit in blue light exposure. But even those who would rather stay indoors watching Netflix or playing video games are not safe from blue light because we're also exposed to "unnatural" blue light from our smartphones, TVs, computer screens, and artificial lighting. Although our digital devices emit only a fraction of the HEV light emitted from the sun, the number of hours we spend using our devices can have both an immediate and a cumulative effect on our health.

Should we be concerned about blue light exposure?

The short answer is yes. Blue light is a bit like salt, our bodies need it but our modern diet of processed food has us eating enough to make it harmful. So while exposure to blue light does have some positive benefits, our modern digital world has overexposed us to it. Blue light glasses help reduce harmful overexposure.

Eye Strain 

Medical studies suggest that prolonged exposure to blue light may cause permanent damage to our eyes. We've all experienced digital eye strain from staring at a computer screen for long periods of time. And these days it's even more pronounced, as we spend a significant portion of our workday looking at our smartphones, tablets, computer screens. Even while relaxing, we play video games, read on a tablet, or watch TV. All of these activities expose us to artificial blue light. 

How does blue light cause eye strain?

Our eyes are not built for our modern digital world. The eye's cornea and lens aren't good at filtering HEV light from reaching our retina, the thin layer of light-receiving tissue that lines the back of the eye. Over time, this can cause damage to its light-sensitive cells. As we age, this damage can make us more susceptible to eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts. Young children are even more sensitive to blue light exposure since the lens of their eyes are even more transparent than adults, allowing more HEV light to pass through. 

A scientific explanation is because High Energy Visible (HEV) light has such a short wavelength, it scatters in the eye, reducing contrast and making it difficult to focus. Over time, our eyes begin to feel tired. It can also cause pain in or around the eyes, blurred vision, headache, or sometimes even double vision.

Some helpful tips.

To protect your eyes and maintain a healthy sleep schedule, you should:

•  Expose yourself to natural daylight
• Whenever possible, take frequent breaks from viewing devices
• Protect your eyes in daylight using sunglasses
• Avoid the use of digital devices right before bedtime
• Protect your eyes from excess artificial blue light with blue light blocking computer glasses

What is Astigmatism?

First. Astigmatism is quite common. 75% of us have astigmatism. That is, most of us have some small amount. Often, in smaller amounts, astigmatism doesn't cause problems and requires no correction. However, in larger amounts, astigmatism can cause blurry vision both close up and far away. 

Astigmatism means that the cornea, the front of the eye, is warped. It's not a disease and does not cause blindness but the warped cornea causes distorted vision that can result in headaches and eye strain. It's easily corrected with spectacles but soft contacts won't correct for astigmatism. However, rigid gas permeable contact lenses and soft toric lenses will work.

Also, LASIK can correct for astigmatism. 

Often, a young person and some adults with significant astigmatism will pass a vision screening. Another reason why yearly eye exams are important starting at school age.

Schedule your family’s eye exams with Dr Boyer Optometrist 

When should I have my child's eyes examined?

This is an important question that needs to be explained. A simple answer to your question is really anytime. We even examine infants' eyes here at the office. If there's a history of strabismus (eye turn), high astigmatism, myopia, or hyperopia we will often do an eye exam around 2 to 3 years of age.

More routine exams should start around 4 to 5 years of age. Sometimes parents may confuse a visual acuity screening with an eye exam. This is where the child will be asked to read the letters on a chart at the doctors office or at a school screening. This is not an eye exam!  While this is useful and good it primarily picks up myopia. About 1 in 3 cases that need glasses will be missed. These missed cases include things like astigmatism or hyperopia. These are problems that can definitely affect your child's performance at school.

I think an easy rule of thumb to remember is, if your child is old enough to go to school they should get an eye exam every year. If there's a history of unusual eye problems in the family bring your child in sooner.

Take advantage of summer break--get your child's eyes checked so they can start the new school year with perfect vision at Drboyeroptometrist.com