600 million people are myopic, half of them are teenagers! Catch the "early warning signs" before children become myopic

There are about 600 million people with myopia in China, of which about 320 million are teenagers, accounting for more than 50% of the total number of myopia, ranking first in the world. Myopia is prevalent among Chinese students and is occurring at a younger age, which seriously affects the physical and mental health of children.

The Secret of the Eye

The eyeball is a precision instrument, composed of multiple tissue structures. The upper eyelid is close to the eyelashes. Conjunctivitis will cause the cornea and iris to turn red, and the upper eyelid may swell. The pupil is the black eyeball. The retina is very important. Once the optic nerve is damaged, the consequences are serious. Among the organs donated or transplanted by the human body, only the cornea does not need to be matched, and once damaged, it cannot regenerate. The image is refracted, passes through the pupil, ciliary muscle, and cornea, and finally forms an image.

"Myopia" refers to the situation where parallel light rays are focused in front of the retina after passing through the eye's refractive system when the eye is relaxed. A normal eye is similar to a ping-pong ball, hyperopia is like an upright egg, and myopia is like a lying ellipse. Most children are born with hyperopia, and then gradually develop normally. If not paid attention to, they may develop myopia. The degree of myopia is closely related to the length of the eye axis.

Development and early warning of myopia

Emmetropia, myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism are collectively referred to as refractive errors. The normal axial length of the eye is 24, and if it is greater than 24, it may be myopia. Starting from normal vision, it may be pseudomyopia in the early stage. Due to excessive use of the eyes, the ciliary muscle causes short-term adjustment spasm, and the axial length of the eye remains unchanged. It can be restored through reasonable adjustment and medication. If it is allowed to develop, it will become true myopia. Children will have warning signs before they become myopic, such as squinting, blinking, rubbing their eyes, tilting their heads, frowning, getting close, not seeing things clearly, skipping lines when doing homework, etc. Parents need to observe carefully and take their children to a regular hospital for examination and intervention in time.

Causes of Myopia

1. Environmental factors : behavioral habits, living habits and exercise habits, such as long-term close-up use of the eyes, such as reading while lying down, walking, reading in the car, playing games for a long time, etc. Small screens are harmful to the eyes, so projection is relatively the most suitable.

Using the eyes at close range for a long time can easily cause eye fatigue, and looking into the distance at the right time is a good way to relieve fatigue. For example, in school, each class is 45 minutes long, and there is a 10-minute break between classes. These 10 minutes are a good time for children to relax their eyes. Encourage children to go to the balcony and stare at something five meters away, which can effectively relax the eyes. The key significance of going outdoors is to increase the distance between eyes. Indoors, it is generally only about five meters, while outdoors it can reach 50 meters or even more than 500 meters. In this way, alternating between looking near and far can give the eyes a full rest.

Sufficient sleep is essential for eye health, and this applies to both children and adults. Children should try to go to bed before 10 p.m., because 11 p.m. to 1 p.m. is the detoxification time for the gallbladder, and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. is the detoxification time for the liver, and the liver and gallbladder are closely related to the eyes. Staying up late or not getting enough sleep can not only cause eye fatigue, but also affect vision because toxins in the liver and gallbladder cannot be discharged. Nowadays, many people have the habit of lying in bed and browsing their phones after turning off the lights, which can easily lead to eye fatigue and may even cause liver inflammation. If you can't sleep and want to look at your phone, you might as well turn on a desk lamp to keep a certain brightness in the room, which can protect your eyes.

2. Genetic factors: Children with myopic parents may not necessarily be myopic, but the probability of high myopia (over 600 degrees) being inherited increases. If both parents are highly myopic, the probability of the child being myopic is almost 100%, and you can go to the hospital to register the child as soon as he or she is born.

3. Nutritional and physical factors : Children are picky eaters and love sweets. Unbalanced nutritional intake may accelerate the occurrence of myopia. They should eat less candy and high-sugar foods.

How to prevent myopia

1. Ensure that children have enough sleep. **It is recommended that primary school students sleep ten hours a day, junior high school students nine hours, and high school students eight hours. Sufficient sleep can give the eyes a full rest.

2. Improve lighting conditions. Place the desk near the window so that there is plenty of natural light for reading and writing during the day. Use both the desk lamp and the ceiling light at night to read and write. Avoid placing glass plates or other objects that easily produce glare on the desk.

3. Ensure the correct reading and writing posture. The height of the child's desk and chair should be adjusted properly. Keep the "three ones" when reading and writing: the hand holding the pen is one inch away from the tip of the pen, the eyes are one foot away from the book, and the chest is one fist away from the desk.

4. Avoid using electronic products for long periods of time. It is recommended that the time for using electronic products for non-learning purposes should not exceed 15 minutes each time, and no more than one hour per day in total. After 30 to 40 minutes of online learning, you should do 10 minutes of distance jumping or do eye exercises. In addition, preschool children under the age of six should not use electronic products.

5. Sufficient outdoor exercise can prevent and control the occurrence and development of myopia. Children should be guaranteed at least two hours of outdoor activities every day. Flying a kite is a very beneficial sport for the eyes. During the kite flying process, the eyes need to follow the kite that is getting farther and farther away, which can exercise the eye's ability to adjust and relax the eyes in the constant adjustment of distance, thus preventing myopia.

6. Eating habits should be scientific. It is recommended to have a balanced diet, eat less sweets, sugary drinks and fried foods, pay attention to a diversified diet, and guide children to eat more vegetables and fruits.

7. Check vision regularly. Parents are encouraged to pay close attention to changes in their children's vision and signs of eye abnormalities, and take their children to regular medical institutions for vision checks regularly to achieve early detection, early intervention, and early correction.

Myopia Misconceptions and Treatment

Myopia will not get worse the more you wear glasses. Not wearing glasses or wearing glasses with inappropriate degrees will lead to poor accommodation ability, difficulty in improving corrected vision, and accelerated myopia growth. When fitting glasses, you must choose the right degree. You cannot deliberately wear glasses with low degrees because you are worried about worsening myopia. For example, if you have 500-degree myopia but only wear 400-degree glasses, your eyes will always be in a relatively blurry and tired state. Compared with fitting glasses correctly, this is more likely to cause myopia to grow rapidly. It is not uncommon for it to grow by 100 degrees a year. Only by wearing glasses with the right degree correctly can you have comfortable vision and better protect your eyes.

Children cannot be given glasses directly when their eyesight is poor for the first time. They need to distinguish true from false myopia. Myopia cannot be cured. Any institution that claims to be able to cure myopia is a liar. Myopia refractive surgery is not a means to completely cure myopia. Even if people with high myopia undergo surgery, the risk of myopia still exists.

Children under 12 years old can be treated with atropine. Children over 8 years old with mild myopia can use orthokeratology lenses (OK lenses) or myopia defocus glasses. Children should insist on two hours of outdoor activities. If a child is myopic, he or she should go to the ophthalmology department to establish a file, follow up and review every year, and change bad behavior habits.

(Author: Shu Meiling, Director of the Office of the Ophthalmology Center of Zhejiang Medical Health Quzhou Hospital and Head of the Quzhou Eye Health Science Museum Lecture Group)

This article is based on the Thursday night school content of Zhejiang Science Popularization Federation