Myopia - Management

Management

Eyeglasses, contact lenses, and refractive surgery are the primary options to treat the visual symptoms of those with myopia. Lens implants are now available offering an alternative to glasses or contact lenses for myopics for whom laser surgery is not an option. Orthokeratology is the practice of using special rigid contact lenses to flatten the cornea to reduce myopia. Occasionally, pinhole glasses are used by patients with low-level myopia. These work by reducing the blur circle formed on the retina, but their adverse effects on peripheral vision, contrast and brightness make them unsuitable in most situations.

Glasses may have the potential to make the eyes worse, as they increase the accommodation needed by the eyes to focus. Evidence of this can be seen when people with higher prescriptions have a harder time with activities like reading because their eyes grow tired faster. Stronger prescriptions require a higher accommodation by the eyes to focus through them, which can, over time, worsen eyesight, requiring yet another prescription, in a continuous but quickening cycle. Contact lenses of equivalent prescription may not result in the same effect as eyeglasses, as they are closer to the eyes and may require less accommodation. This form of myopia is attributed to the use of the eyes for close work during the school years.

Glasses work by using optical lenses bringing the image a viewer closer so that it can be focused by their myopic eyes. Large amounts of near work while wearing glasses can be very detrimental to the eyes and can be a cause of worsening nearsightedness. However, the eyestrain caused by not wearing glasses when they are needed can also be a risk factor. The best way to avoid needing new lenses is by reducing the amount of near work, which forces the eyes into a continuous near-focusing position that eventually causes or increases myopia, by taking frequent breaks from near work, and by only wearing glasses when they are needed. Reading glasses can also be worn during near work to decrease the strain on the eye, especially when already wearing corrective lenses, as they work in the opposite fashion to normal lenses. Using this practice may have the potential to prevent nearsightedness or slow its progression.