If you’ve had difficulty focusing on distant objects for most of your life without the help of your glasses, you probably have myopia. It’s an extremely common refractive error that makes it difficult to focus on distant objects without the help of a pair of glasses or contacts. Fortunately, your optometrist can help treat this condition—but can myopia be reversed?
For younger children, myopia can’t be reversed, though its progression can be controlled to some extent. For adults who have had a stable prescription for more than 2 years, laser eye surgery can help reverse myopia. However, not everybody is a candidate for laser eye surgery—you’ll need to schedule a consultation appointment with your optometrist first.
What Is Myopia?
When your eye is shaped properly, light enters through the clear front lens. It refracts to a small focal point located on your retina, which lets you begin building an image of your surroundings. The light gets sent through the optic nerve to the brain to interpret as full, clear images of what you’re seeing.
But what happens if your eye is shaped differently? This would cause light to refract to the wrong point. Instead of reaching the retina, it focuses somewhere else, and the brain gets scattered, blurry images at different distances. This is a refractive error.
When the eye is too long, or the cornea is curved incorrectly, that’s myopia, or nearsightedness as it’s more commonly called. Everybody with myopia experiences blurry vision a little differently—some people can see clearly for a few dozen feet while others can’t make out objects more than a few inches from their face.
Myopia is a progressive condition that typically develops around early school age. It continues progressing as the eye grows before stabilizing in early adulthood—usually around the age of 20 or so.
The Signs & Symptoms of Myopia
The most common symptom of this condition is the difficulty it causes when trying to focus on something distant. If you can clearly see a few feet in front of your face, but can’t focus on anything more than a few feet away, you likely have myopia.
Other common signs and symptoms of myopia include:
- Squinting to see more clearly
- Headaches
- Frequent blinking or eye rubbing
- Poor low-light vision
- Poor depth perception
- Light sensitivity
If you notice any of these symptoms or know a loved one experiencing any of them, it’s time to book a comprehensive eye exam with your optometrist. They’ll be able to determine whether or not you have myopia.
Can You Fix Myopia?
If you receive a proper diagnosis for your myopia, the next step is treatment. Fortunately, this condition can be treated with a pair of glasses or contact lenses. These adjust the light as it enters the eye to make it much easier to focus.
But they aren’t a universal answer—you’ll need to get your prescription before getting a pair of either. And it’s important to note that they aren’t a permanent fix; while you can wear them for the rest of your life, they don’t cure myopia in any way.
Further treatment depends on your age. For children beginning to develop myopia, there may be a long-term solution: myopia control.
What Is Myopia Control?
Remember: myopia is a progressive condition. When an optometrist talks about myopia control, they’re talking about a range of noninvasive methods designed to slow how quickly myopia progresses. Usually, they’ll recommend one of a few options:
- Abiliti™ 1-Day contact lenses offer a cutting-edge solution for slowing myopia progression in children. These soft disposable lenses feature RingBoost™ technology, allowing clear vision while delivering high treatment power. As a non-invasive and convenient first-line treatment, Abiliti™ 1-Day shows promise in managing progressive nearsightedness in pediatric patients.
- MiSight 1 day contact lenses, a type of contact worn during the day that’s designed to slow the elongation of the eye. These can reduce myopia progression by up to 60% over 3 years or more.
- MiYOSMART lenses, a type of eyeglasses lens that provides clear vision while slowing the elongation of the eyeball. These can help slow myopia progression by up to 60% over 6 years or more.
- Low-dose atropine eye drops that can help temporarily paralyze eye muscles and slow elongation. These work well when used together with other methods of myopia control.
It isn’t just about preserving vision, though. Reducing how far your child’s myopia progresses can actually reduce the likelihood of developing further complications later in life!
But what about adults looking for a more permanent solution?
The Basics of Laser Eye Surgery
If you’re over the age of 20 or so, your eyes have likely stabilized. This means that traditional myopia control methods may not work—you can’t slow down the growth of your eye if it’s already grown. So, what do you do if you’re looking for a permanent fix for your myopia?
It all starts with a visit to your optometrist for a laser eye surgery consultation. This is a type of corrective surgery that helps to reshape your cornea, allowing it to properly refract light without the need for contacts or glasses.
The most common type of laser eye surgery is laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, more commonly called LASIK. To qualify for this surgery, you need to:
- Be over the age of 18, but preferably older
- Have a stable eye prescription, meaning it hasn’t changed in at least 2 years
- Have healthy corneas thick enough to withstand the surgery
If you’re younger than 18, have a prescription that is still changing, or have a history of eye infections or other conditions, you may not be an eligible candidate for corrective surgery. That’s why it’s so important to schedule a consultation—it lets your optometrist thoroughly examine your eye to determine whether or not it’s a suitable choice for your needs and eye health.
Get Help for Your Myopia
If you or a loved one are living with myopia, come talk to our team at Bayside Eye Care. Whether you want to talk about myopia control, updating your prescription, or a laser eye surgery consultation, we can help with it all. Don’t let myopia control your life; book an appointment with our team today!
