Experts talk about eye health for children and adolescents: Bathing your eyes in the sun gives your children a clear future

"Preventing and controlling myopia among children and adolescents is no trivial matter. If pathological myopia is not treated properly, it may cause blindness or disability." In order to further call on the whole society to pay attention to the eye health of children and adolescents, Wang Ningli, head of the National Technical Guidance Group for Blindness Prevention and director of the Ophthalmology Center of Beijing Tongren Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, recently gave detailed answers to netizens on the phenomenon of myopia among children and adolescents and how to correct it.

Myopia in children and adolescents cannot be ignored

In recent years, the myopia rate among children and adolescents in my country has remained high, and myopia is becoming increasingly serious at younger ages and with more severe degrees, seriously affecting children's physical and mental health.

Why do people become myopic at such a young age?

Wang Ningli pointed out that myopia is mainly related to genetic factors and environmental factors. Simple myopia is also called "school myopia", which is generally caused by environmental pressure. High myopia is often related to genetics, and there are also some myopias with obvious complications.

Wang Ningli reminds that if the following situations exist: both parents are myopic, one parent is myopic, or one parent is severely myopic, then more effort should be put into caring for and taking care of the child's eyes than others.

Understanding simple myopia and pathological myopia

It is understood that there are many types of myopia, which are generally divided into three categories in medicine: low, moderate and high. Less than 300 degrees is low, moderate is 300-600 degrees, and more than 600 degrees is high.

Wang Ningli introduced that there are some problems with the above classification method. Pathological myopia and simple myopia are actually issues that parents, teachers, society and medical institutions should pay more attention to.

He said that although myopia of more than 600 degrees has entered the ranks of high myopia, it is still simple myopia when there is no pathological change in the fundus. Once myopia causes changes in the anatomical structure of the eyeball, choroidal atrophy, new blood vessels, lattice degeneration of the peripheral retina, and even retinal splitting, etc., it is called pathological change.

It is worth noting that pathological changes will turn myopia from nearsightedness to a disease. Wang Ningli further explained that myopia is a state, but pathological myopia is a disease. If it is not prevented or treated at this time, it may cause disability or blindness.

Myopia should be detected and corrected as early as possible

"90% of eye diseases have early intervention measures as long as they are detected early. Ophthalmic diseases are most suitable for group prevention and control at the public health level," said Wang Ningli.

So, how can we detect children’s myopia problem as early as possible?

Wang Ningli said that "nearsightedness" means that you can't see clearly at a distance, but you can see very well at close range. If you know this, you can help your child check himself. For example, if a child always squints to see things, this may be the beginning of myopia or myopia plus astigmatism. In addition, if a child has strange phenomena such as frequent blinking and looking at things closer and closer, parents should pay close attention to it.

Wang Ningli suggested that once children and adolescents start wearing glasses, they should go to a hospital or a national optometry and glasses fitting center for a refractive power check every six months or a year.

In response to the issue of myopia prevention that parents are generally concerned about, Wang Ningli suggested that parents can take their children to outdoor activities more often to "bathe their eyes" in the sun. This can not only prevent children from myopia, but also delay the increase of myopia in children who already have it. At the same time, he reminded that outdoor activities should have both "outdoor" and "activity". You cannot replace outdoor with indoor, nor can you be outdoors without activity. Both are indispensable.