This medicine can help prevent eye minus from getting worse, but is it safe? : function, dosage, side effects, how to use

So far, minus eyes have been treated by recommending the use of glasses or contact lenses. But these two tools only help you to see more clearly, they don't make the minus less. What if there is a minus eye medication that can prevent your vision from getting worse?

Overview of nearsightedness (myopia)

It is estimated that around 2.5 billion people will experience myopia by 2020.

Nearsightedness or minus eye actually occurs when the eyeball is too long or the cornea is curved too steeply, so that the light that should fall right on the retina is in front of the retina of the eye. As a result, you cannot see things that are far away clearly.

Besides having a bad impact on the quality of life of the sufferer, myopia is also at risk of developing into other, more dangerous eye diseases, such as cataracts, glaucoma, and blindness.

Atropine, a minus eye medication that can prevent poor vision

Until now, the only way to cure eye minus is LASIK surgery. But it turns out that there is a drug that can prevent your eye minus from getting worse. This minus eye drug is atropine. Atropine is a drug used to treat muscle spasms. Atropine is commonly used to treat symptoms of colitis, diverticulitis, infant colic, renal and bile colic, peptic ulcers, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Atropine is available in the form of eye drops. This drug works to paralyze the accommodation muscle of the eye (the muscle that regulates the thickness of the lens of the eye) and dilates the pupil. Several studies reported that children who had eye minus and were prescribed atropine drops experienced a decrease in eye minus severity than children who were not given atropine.

Do not use atropine carelessly to cure eye minus

Until now, researchers and doctors are still trying to understand how atropine works as an eye minus drug. Therefore, this drug cannot be used carelessly without a doctor's supervision. Further research is still needed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the drug before it is widely used by the public.

Also worth considering are the side effects of using atropine eye drops. These side effects range from visual glare (25.1%), near vision disturbances (7.5%), and allergies (2.9%). A small proportion of users also reported experiencing headaches, eye infections, and side effects to other organs. The higher the dose used, the higher the risk of side effects.

With this development, it seems that we still have to be patient to wait for eye minus drugs that can actually prevent nearsightedness effectively. However, with a few improvements, it is hoped that we will be able to enjoy this drug in the future.