Myopia (nearsightedness): symptoms, causes, to treatment

Definition

What is myopia (nearsightedness)?

Myopia or nearsightedness is a disorder of the eye that causes you to be unable to see objects at a distance clearly.

This condition is also known as minus eye. The most common symptoms of myopia include blurred vision, difficulty reading from a distance, and headaches.

Nearsightedness can develop slowly or quickly. Often times this myopic visual disturbance begins to feel from childhood and then gets worse into adulthood.

How common is this condition?

Minus eye is very common. Myopia usually begins to appear around the age of 8-12 years, but can appear at any age. Nearsightedness can be overcome by reducing the factors that increase a person experiencing minus eye.

What are the types of myopia?

According to the American Academy of Opthalmology, based on the cause, myopia can be divided into two types, namely:

1. High myopi

High myopia is a form of nearsightedness with a more severe condition in which the eyeball becomes longer than normal. If this eye minus has been experienced since childhood, this condition can improve in general 20-30 years.

Apart from making it difficult for you to see objects from far away, this condition also increases your risk of developing other conditions, such as a torn retina, cataracts, and glaucoma.

2. Degenerative myopia

This condition, also known as malignant myopia, is a rare type of nearsightedness that is usually inherited from parents. In this condition, the eyeball elongates very quickly and causes severe nearsightedness, which usually occurs in adolescents or early adults.

This type of nearsightedness can get worse with age. Apart from having difficulty seeing objects far away, you are also at high risk for myopic complications such as detached retina, abnormal blood vessel growth in the eye (choroidal neovascularization), and glaucoma.

Symptoms

What are the signs and symptoms of myopia (nearsightedness)?

The characteristics of nearsightedness in general are:

• Blurred vision when looking at objects at a distance
• Must squint or partially close eyelids to see clearly
• Headache due to eye fatigue
• Trouble seeing when driving, especially at night

Nearsightedness is usually detected since childhood and diagnosed during school age to adolescence. Children with minus eyes may experience the following symptoms:

• Constantly squinting
• Have to sit closer to the television, big screen, or in front of the class
• Seemed oblivious to distant objects
• Excessive blinking
• Continue rubbing your eyes

When to go to the doctor

If you have difficulty seeing things that are far away or the quality of your vision has decreased, this condition can interfere with your daily life. You should immediately get your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist.

If you experience any of the following symptoms of visual disturbances, be sure to get emergency medical help right away:

• Looks like small floating spots that interfere with your vision
• There is a flash of light in one or both eyes
• Experiencing light or shadow attacks that cover part of the area of ​​vision.

The above symptoms are a sign of retinal detachment, a complication of myopia. However, this complication is rare.

Cause

What causes nearsightedness (myopia)?

Myopia is a type of refractive error. Normally, light that enters the eye will be transmitted by the cornea and focused to fall right on the retina.

Well, the cause of minus eyes is that the light entering the eye is not focused and falls right on the retina, but on the front of the retina. This occurs because the distance between the cornea and retina becomes too far. As a result, objects that are close are clearly visible, while objects that are far away appear blurry.

The retina is a light-sensitive tissue that is located behind the eye and is responsible for delivering signals from light to be processed into images by the brain.

Risk factors

What are the risk factors for myopia (nearsightedness)?

The following are some of the risk factors that cause someone to have minus eyes:

• Family history
  This condition tends to run in families. You are more at risk if one or both of your parents also have nearsightedness.

• Wrong reading habits
  People who read a lot, use gadget, and doing work at the computer is more at risk of developing nearsightedness. Especially if you often read books and look too closely at screens and are in low light places.

• Environmental conditions
  Some studies suggest that lack of time to do activities outside the home can increase the risk of myopia. The reason is, the light in the room is more limited than outside.

Complications

What complications may occur due to myopia (nearsightedness)?

There are several things you may experience after suffering from myopia, namely:

• Reducing the quality of life
  Nearsightedness can affect the quality of your life. You may not be able to do all the activities as expected. Your limited vision will also reduce your enthusiasm for your daily life.

• Eyestrain
  The minus eye condition may also cause fatigue in your eyes as it tries to maintain focus. This can increase the risk of eye fatigue and headaches.

• Threatening safety
  Your own or others' safety may be impaired if you have vision problems. This can be a serious problem if you drive a car or operate heavy machinery without the aid of glasses.

• Financial loss
  The cost of lens repairs, eye examinations, and medical care will add to your expenses. Moreover, if you have chronic nearsightedness.

• Other eye problems
  Severe nearsightedness will increase your risk of developing other eye problems, such as a torn retina, glaucoma, and cataracts. The tissue in the long eyeball will expand and thin out due to tears, inflammation, weak blood vessels and bleeds easily, and injuries.

Diagnosis

How to diagnose this condition?

You can be diagnosed with nearsightedness through an eye exam. In a complete eye exam, you may have to undergo a series of tests.

The benefit of an eye exam is to find out your vision abilities and to know the right type of glasses or contact lenses.

One of the tests performed is the eye vision test. This test can be done in an ophthalmologist or in optics. The doctor or officer will ask you to read a chart viz Snellen chart.

During this check, you are asked to name the letters on the chart that have various sizes. Checks will be carried out on both eyes.

Treatment

The information described is not a substitute for medical advice. ALWAYS consult your doctor.

How to treat myopia (nearsightedness)?

To treat minus eye, you must train your eyesight to help focus light on the retina, namely with the help of corrective lenses or through refractive surgery.

1. Using glasses or contact lenses

Using corrective lenses can help you reduce the increase in corneal curvature or eye length. This prevents your minus eye from getting worse.

You can try glasses with different types of lenses, such as bifocals, trifocals, and reading glasses; or contact lenses that are worn directly in the eye.

2. Operation

If you don't want to wear something that helps your nearsightedness, you might consider corrective eye surgery. This method helps reduce or even eliminate dependence on glasses or contact lenses.

There are 2 methods of surgery that are commonly performed to correct minus eyes, namely:

• Photorefractive keratectomy (use of a laser to remove a layer of corneal tissue)
• Lasik eye

What are the lifestyle changes that can treat myopia (nearsightedness)?

You can do the following lifestyle and home remedies as a way to treat nearsightedness (myopia):

• Have your eyes checked regularly to the doctor even if you feel fine.
• Controlling chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension.
• Wear anti-radiation glasses to protect your eyes from UV rays.
• Prevent eye injury, by wearing eye protection when undergoing certain activities.
• Eat foods that are good for the eyes, such as green vegetables and fruits and fish that contain omega-3 fatty acids, such as tuna and salmon.
• Quit smoking.
• Using proper corrective lenses.
• Prevent eye fatigue by looking away from the computer, or while reading, every 20 minutes, for 20 seconds, and looking at other objects that are 6 meters away.
• Reduces eye fatigue. After a few minutes of using the computer or reading, you should turn away so that your eyes can relax.

If you experience sudden vision loss without feeling pain, blurry or double vision, see a doctor immediately.