Myopia—A Global Health Crisis: What Treatment Options are Available?

Myopia is one of the most prevalent vision issues, especially in children—set to become a global health crisis.

Myopia, also known as the short-sightedness, is a very common eye condition. Here the patients who view the objects at a distance may not be able to see clearly with their naked eye. Luckily, myopia treatment is available, after getting it diagnosed through a simple eye exam. An eye exam may consist of a refraction assessment followed by an eye health test. A refraction assessment will help in determining whether a person suffers from myopia.

Different types of instruments may be used on a patient, along with trials with various types of lenses so that the close-up vision and the distance test can be performed correctly by an eye doctor. The pupils can be dilated using an eye drop so that wider eye views can be seen by the specialist to arrive at a conclusion of proper treatment.

The different types of treatments are listed here for complete understanding.

Eyeglasses

It is perhaps the simplest type of myopia treatment so that far objects can be seen with ample clarity. There can be many types of eyeglasses depending upon suitability and some of the most common among them may include bifocals, trifocals, single vision, and progressive multifocal. They can also be available in many types of frames so that a correct facial appearance can be recreated for a user.

Contact Lenses

A contact lens is worn by a user right inside the eye and can be available in a plethora of choices. Contact lenses can have many types of advantages as well as some disadvantages. Getting in touch with an eye doctor can be the best to determine one that suits an eye and that can help in seeing objects clearly from a distance. Contact lenses are very popular corrective measure as they do not need much of maintenance and does not cost much.

Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileuses (LASIK)

It is a refractive surgery process for myopia treatment in which light, hinged flap is made in the cornea. The laser is further used to remove the inner layers so that the dome shape gets flattened. It is a very quick process and recovery can also be quite fast. Compared to other types of eye surgeries, it can cause the least discomfort to a patient.

Laser-Assisted Subepithelial Keratectomy (LASEK)

It is a type of refractive surgery in which the outer layers of the cornea are reshaped to flatten the curve and a thin flap in the cornea’s epithelium is created and replaced by a laser. This type of myopia treatment can be suitable for many types of patients to get rid of the problem. However, here you will see that the recovery from the same may not be as fast as the LASIK procedure. Do not take the recovery time as a drawback.

Peripheral Defocus Modifying Contact Lenses

This type of lenses keeps the eyes uniformly focused on the sides of the retina so that nearsightedness can be treated successfully. Some studies have shown that this type of myopia treatment can be helpful to negate the advancement of nearsightedness and people can, therefore, benefit from these lenses. Not everyone is brave enough to opt for surgery.

Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK)

It is a type of refractive surgery in which the cornea is reshaped, and the outer protective layer is completely removed. When a new protective layer re-grows, it confirms to the new shape of the cornea so that a myopic vision gets treated and a person can get rid of shortsightedness.

Apart from all these types of myopia treatment processes, an interested person can also go for Orthokeratology, use an eye drop, atropine or spend increased amounts of time in natural light. All these methods can be very helpful for the treatment of myopia.