Half the world’s population nearsighted by 2050? Eye experts warn of growing myopia epidemic

DEDHAM, Mass. — Madison Timmons took a common route to discovering she had myopia. For the 11-year-old, it all started in 5th Grade social studies class, where she sat in the back.

“Usually, I can see properly when I’m in the back of a class,” she said. “But I could not see anything. It was all blurry everywhere.”

She hoped sitting closer to the front would help. “But sometimes it didn’t help when she was presenting stuff, because the words were too small and I couldn’t read them,” Madison said.

Madison’s Mom, Patricia, noticed something was off, too. At the grocery store, her daughter had trouble reading signs.

“I knew that reading was not the problem, because she was an excellent reader,” Patricia said. “But I just noticed she was having trouble reading certain signs from a distance.” She also noticed that Madison was struggling with certain subjects, suddenly -- and struggling on the soccer field, where she plays defense.

“She was doing really good in soccer when she was like in the second and third grade,” Patricia said. “By fifth grade, the ball was going to the left, she was going to the right. Like she just couldn’t see the ball.”

Madison could see the ball, alright -- but only when it got too close to do anything effective about it. Myopia, or nearsightedness, affects the viewing of objects at a distance.

“Myopia is when the eye is elongated,” said Ben Lickteig, D.O., a licensed optometrist and owner of Lickteig Family Eyecare in Dedham and Natick.

Lickteig explained that in myopia, light rays hit in front of the retina rather than where they should be hitting ON the retina. The condition is easily corrected by the use of glasses or contact lenses -- at least in most patients.

“When somebody has significant or severe myopia it can actually damage the eye,” Lickteig said. “They can develop cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachments.” That is due, in part, because the elongation of the eyeball puts mechanical stress on sensitive structures, such as the optic nerve.

For some time now, optometrists and ophthalmologists have been sounding the alarm about the growing problem of myopia -- with some saying it has already reached epidemic proportions. In fact, the International Myopia Institute estimates half the world’s population will have myopia by 2050 -- with ten percent afflicted with severe or ‘high’ myopia.

While myopia is a progressive disorder, most cases stabilize by adulthood. But a fraction of cases continue to worsen -- and that’s got eye specialists concerned about what might be coming in the next couple of decades.

“We know that the ramifications of myopia as it progresses into adulthood, once it becomes severe, can have major implications on the overall health of the eyes,” Lickteig said.

Why is myopia on the rise? It’s not entirely clear. Lickteig said blame has fallen on the increased time the world spends staring at electronic screens of one type or another. But he notes that no studies have solidly backed that up.

“What we do know is that the lack of children being outside has a direct cause on developing myopia,” Lickteig said. While the reason for this is not clear, either, it seems to be connected to the intensity of outdoor light versus indoor light.

Despite the uncertainties, Lickteig recommends following a 20/20/20 rule when doing computer or other screen work.

“Every 20 minutes take a 20 second break and look out the window 20 feet away from you,” he said. “That’s not going to slow myopia down. But what it will do is let the eyes and the focusing system relax, which will resolve eye strain at the end of the day.”

Lickteig said not only are cases of myopia increasing, but he’s seeing an alarming change in the age of onset.

“When I first started practicing, it would be pretty common to see a pre-teen start to develop myopia,” he said. “Now we’re seeing patients as young as four, five or six who are coming in for the first time developing myopia.”

What’s troubling about this trend is that myopia tends to progress through childhood -- so this just gives the condition more time to get worse.

Given the growing number of very young children diagnosed with myopia, Lickteig recommends screening early. He participates in a program called InfantSEE, which provides free eye exams to infants and children 6 to 12 months of age, regardless of income or insurance.

“If things are healthy at that type of visit and there’s no other sort of concerns with the pediatrician, we usually recommend a full, comprehensive eye exam when they go to preschool,” he said.

Madison Timmons is now in middle school and she’s seeing clearly once again. First, she was fitted with glasses but now wears contact lenses.

“I can see big things far away,” she said. “And it’s not blurry anymore.”

Her Mom said you can see the effects not only in the classroom -- but on the soccer field, where Madison has once again returned to top form on D.

“It was just a miraculous thing how this set of contact lenses changed the whole trajectory of her life,” Patricia Timmons said.

International Myopia Awareness Week is May 22-26. For more information visit: https://bhvi.org/myopia-calculator-resources/myopia-awareness-week-2022/

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