According to studies from the School of Optometry at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the prevalence of myopia (short-sightedness) for different age groups is shown below:
- Age 6 – 7 ： 30%
- Age 10-11： 60%
- Age 16-17： 74%
- Age 19-39： 71%
It can easily be seen that the problem of myopia is very serious in Hong Kong.
According to other studies, currently one third of the world population is myopic and by Year 2050, half of the population will be myopic, equivalent to 5 billion people worldwide. Of these people, 1 billion of them will be of high myopia.
Myopia will become the most common cause of blindness.
More and more evidence has shown that myopia, high or low, will increase the risk of visual impairments and is higher for higher myopia. Myopia results in an elongation of the eye which causes the retinal and choroidal tissues to become thinner leading to a higher chance of retinal detachment and myopic maculopathy (disease of the macula). High myopia may also increase the incidence of cataract and glaucoma.
Researchers from a sample of 21,000 patients were able to demonstrate that for every increase of 1.00 dioptre in myopia, the prevalence of myopic maculopathy would increase by 67%.
Myopia management aims to control or slow down the progression of myopia by means of different methods or procedures in order to prevent future visual loss or blindness.
Therefore, myopia prevention and control are much more important than just correcting for it. In other words, when a child starts to develop and/or progress fast in myopia, myopia management strategy should be considered, in addition to a proper eye examination.
One or more of the following means can be considered for myopia control:
- D.I.M.S. optical defocus spectacle lenses (MyoSmart)
- Other optical defocus spectacle lenses (MyoVision)
- Progressive spectacle lenses (Myopilux)
- DISC-1 Day daily disposable soft contact lenses
- Other optical defocus daily disposable soft contact lenses (MiSight)
- Orthokeratology
- Atropine eye drops
(NB：This centre does not provide atropine eyedrops)
