Parents - especially those who are short-sighted and had to wear glasses in childhood - often worry about the causes of myopia and the possibility that their children are also destined to be short-sighted. If you feel identified, try not to worry too much.
Myopia is a common refractive error, easily treatable with contact lenses as well as glasses, and is not necessarily hereditary. On the other hand, the fact that the child is short-sighted does not usually affect his academic performance or cause any delay. In fact, there is evidence that short-sighted children tend to perform better in school, compared to peers with normal eyesight.
What causes myopia in children?
While the exact reason why some children become short-sighted and others do not is well known, it seems that inheritance is a factor, but not the only one. In other words, if both parents are short-sighted, there is a higher risk that their children will be too. However, it is not possible to predict who will become short-sighted by simply studying the ancestry of the family.
In my case, my parents and my two older brothers have perfect vision. I am the only one in the family that is short-sighted. Imagine yourself. When I was little I loved to read (I still love it); To my brothers, not so much. Some researchers think that fatigue from focusing, from excessive reading or from holding a book too close to the eyes for extended periods of time can increase the risk of myopia in children, although no one knows for sure.
Although the cause (or causes) of myopia remain a mystery, researchers have recently discovered something about the progression of myopia that is very interesting: it is possible that conventional glasses and contact lenses indicated for years to correct the Myopia actually increases the risk of making it worse!
Many of these researchers are studying new lens designs to see if they can develop contact lenses or glasses that can control myopia and stop or slow their progression in children.