What Is Nearsightedness: Your Detailed Guide to Myopia

If you’ve ever been to the eye doctor, you’ve probably heard of two common eye impairments: farsightedness and nearsightedness.

While farsightedness can affect your ability to see things close to your face, nearsightedness has the opposite effect. Its scientific name is myopia.

In this article, we’re sharing everything you need to know about myopia, including its causes, symptoms, and how to treat and prevent it in the future.

What Is Myopia?

Myopia is an issue with your eye’s ability to refract light. It causes objects that are far away to look blurry and out of focus without affecting your up-close vision.

This condition develops when your eyeball becomes elongated over time or the cornea, the transparent protective portion of your eye, becomes too curved. When these changes occur, it becomes harder to process light rays as they enter your field of vision.

How Common Is Myopia?

About 30% of people in the US have some form of nearsightedness that requires them to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses.

It’s a common problem for all age groups, including kids — however, myopia tends to worsen with age, so most young people who are nearsighted deal with less severe vision impairment.

What Causes Myopia?

Risk factors like genetics can make you more likely to become nearsighted. If you have a family history of myopia, you’re much more likely to have trouble seeing far away yourself. In addition, looking at close-up objects for long periods can bring on myopia or make it worse.

Eye care experts believe this is one reason many children may develop pediatric myopia. Growing up looking at a screen might be one of the most significant factors in the development of nearsightedness in children.

What Are the Symptoms of Myopia?

Myopia is easy to miss at first, but the symptoms become more pronounced as the condition develops. As soon as you notice difficulty seeing far away, it’s time to visit the eye doctor to seek treatment.

Here are the most common symptoms of myopia:

Headaches

If you experience headaches after focusing on faraway objects, it may be a sign that you’re nearsighted. These headaches occur because of the effort to strain and squint while using distance vision. People with myopia often get headaches after driving or watching TV.

Blurry Vision

Blurred vision is another symptom of myopia that people tend to notice early. Without corrective lenses, blurry distance vision can make it hard to enjoy day-to-day life and get things done. With myopia, you may find it hard to read road signs while driving or recognize people and objects when they are far away.

Eye Strain

This eye condition often causes serious eye strain and discomfort. When you try to focus on objects that are far away, you can develop chronic eye fatigue, which can contribute to other symptoms like headaches. Talk to your optometrist as soon as possible if eye strain is one of your primary vision problems.

Squinting To Focus

If you need to squint to see objects that are far away, it’s a telltale sign that you are dealing with myopia. Squinting while looking at distant objects is your eyes’ way of compensating for changes in their shape, which can end up causing more problems in the long run.

While squinting may seem helpful at first —it can temporarily improve your vision by lowering the amount of light that enters your eyes — it’s not a permanent fix. The best way to achieve long-lasting, clear vision is to explore treatment options with an eye doctor.

How Is Myopia Diagnosed?

It may be tempting to self-diagnose nearsightedness, but the only way to get a definitive myopia diagnosis is with help from an eye health professional.

The diagnosis process for myopia usually starts with a visual acuity test, which an eye doctor uses to determine how well you can see at certain distances. This test serves as a vision screening for eye conditions like hyperopia, aka farsightedness, astigmatism, and more.

In addition, your optometrist or ophthalmologist will help you find the right prescription for your eyes using a refraction test. This test involves looking through specialized lenses to determine how much vision correction you need to see clearly.

Finally, an eye doctor might perform a retinal exam to see into the back of your eye. This test helps them determine your corneal health and is a standard part of regular eye exams. A retinal examination can also help your eye doctor check for eye diseases like cataracts or glaucoma.

How Is Myopia Treated?

Thankfully, there are many ways to treat and manage myopia, even in severe cases like high myopia. Here are some treatments your eye doctor might recommend for myopia control:

Glasses or Contact Lenses

The simplest way to treat myopia is to wear glasses or contacts every day. Corrective lenses adjust your vision to make it easier to see close up and far away.

While contacts can be convenient, at Pair, we’re big fans of glasses as a remedy for nearsightedness. They’re stylish, personalizable, and easy to wear. Plus, some folks have a hard time getting used to contacts, and glasses are a much more comfortable and straightforward form of vision correction.

If you need glasses for myopia, follow the full prescription your eye doctor gives you. You can import the information from your prescription card to buy a pair of glasses online to get the right lenses for your eyes.

Orthokeratology

This treatment, sometimes called Ortho-K for short, uses specialized contact lenses that you wear overnight to change the shape of your corneas temporarily. These lenses can correct refractive errors while you sleep, giving you clear vision during the day without needing glasses or contact lenses.

Refractive Surgery

Eye surgery is the longest-lasting solution for myopia but is also the most expensive. For example, LASIK, which stands for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, is a form of surgery that reshapes your corneas to correct nearsightedness.

Another common procedure is photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). Both can have long-lasting effects, so you may not have to wear glasses or contacts for the rest of your life after your operation. However, some of the impact of the surgery can reverse over time.

How Can You Prevent Myopia From Getting Worse?

Sadly, you can’t reverse the effects of myopia without corrective surgery. What you can do, however, is take helpful steps to stop your nearsightedness from getting worse. Here are some of the best ways to care for your eyes and manage myopia as you age:

Manage Your Screen Time

Screens are a part of modern life, both for business and pleasure. It’s hard to get away from your computer, phone, TV, and other digital devices, but limiting your screen time can be a helpful way to slow the progression of myopia.

Taking breaks to look at faraway objects after 20 minutes on a screen can help you avoid worsening nearsightedness. This principle is sometimes called the 20-20-20 rule: take a 20-second break to look at something 20 feet away after looking at a screen for 20 minutes. It’s a quick and simple way to protect your eyes while still using a digital device.

Spend More Time Outdoors

Another way to keep your eyes healthy is to look at faraway objects often. That usually means going outside and spending time in a larger environment.

If you’ve been staring at your laptop all week, do your eyes a favor by going to the park or walking around your neighborhood. This tip is especially impactful for kids, as research shows that spending more time outside can slow the progression of nearsightedness in school-age children.

Wear the Right Glasses

Wearing the wrong prescription can cause eye problems in the long run — not to mention that it can also be uncomfortable. Ensure you have an up-to-date, accurate prescription from your eye doctor before ordering glasses or contacts.

Your prescription will tell you whether you need single-vision, bifocal, or progressive lenses and the ideal measurements for your glasses. You can use this information to order the perfect pair online.

Eat Well

Vitamins A, C, and E, along with many more nutrients, are some of the keys to eye health. You can incorporate these vitamins into your diet through whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables. If you want to take good care of your eyes and support your overall health, cutting back on junk food and eating more nutrient-dense meals is a solid first step.

Wrapping Up

Myopia is a common eye problem that often worsens over time, so visit your eye doctor and seek treatment if needed. If you need glasses, Pair is the perfect place to get durable, stylish frames that can help you see better while leveling up your look.

Our glasses are uniquely personalizable thanks to our magnetic Top Frames, which you can use to instantly transform your look without needing a second pair of specs. Get your first Pair today!

Sources

Myopia (Nearsightedness) | Cleveland Clinic

Cataracts - Symptoms and causes | Mayo Clinic

Computers, Digital Devices and Eye Strain | American Academy of Ophthalmology

Myopia Control in Children | American Academy of Ophthalmology