The Eye Practice

Myopia (Short-sightedness or Near-sightedness) historically has been felt to be primarily a genetic issue.  Even though this is true - myopic parents are more likely to have myopic children, over the last few years, more and more evidence seems to suggest that myopia is a result of not enough outdoor activity and excessive reading.

Eastern Asian countries seem to have an epidemic of children becoming myopic, many of them significantly worse than their parents.  Up to 20% of Eastern Asian children are now classified as severely myopic!  

Time magazine recently published a story on how keeping children indoors is ruining their eyesight. 

Myopia is not classified as an eye disease. It is normally referred to as a vision disorder that can be easily corrected with glasses, contact lenses or laser eye surgery. 

Luckily in most cases this is true but...

When myopia progresses to a higher level (which seems to occur with children that are indoors excessively), all sorts of eye diseases become significantly more prevalent.

People that have high myopia are more prone to:

• Retinal detachment
• Glaucoma
• Lacquer cracks in the macula
• Earlier onset of cataracts

This is such a problem in Asian countries now that it is likely to be classified as a health disaster if something is not done to try and arrest this problem.

So what can be done?

At present it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what is the real cause.  Being outdoors seems to be protective.  Is this because:

• Outdoor activity means you read less?
• Outdoor activity means you are exposed to more Vitamin D?
• Outdoor activity means you look in the distance much more?
• Possibly it is multifactorial involving all of the above and other things we are ignorant to?

With the above in mind it seems wise to get our children outdoors.  Get them to play.  Why have we become so obsessed with academic progress?  Do children really need to learn how to read from 2 years of age?  What is the advantage to them in adulthood?

If a child becomes myopic and requires glasses to see properly, consideration needs to be given to a procedure called Orthokeratology.  This has been shown to significantly slow down the progression of myopia.  More on Orthokeratology can be found HERE. You can see a number of videos about this fascinating procedure.  Even an Eye Surgeon in the USA has preferred to have orthokeratology rather than wearing glasses or having laser eye surgery.

At The Eye Practice we have been using this procedure to slow down and in many cases apparently stop any further progression in myopia for over 15 years now.  Children then seem to be able to continue with their academic lifestyle and still be somewhat protected from getting worse.  Imagine if we could incorporate significant outdoor activity with Orthokeratology - the Myopia epidemic could be over!

If you are worried about your child's vision - this is especially true for myopia during puberty, make an appointment now and see whether they would be suitable for orthokeratology.  They will need to be at least 8 years of age and keen to have a go.

CLICK HERE to book an appointment ONLINE or phone 9290 1899.

Contact Lenses have been around in some form since the late 1800's.  In those days they were made of glass and were very large. They are called scleral lenses. A similar type of lens is still prescribed for a small subset of patients but these days they are made of rigid gas permeable polymers.

At The Eye Practice we commonly prescribe these very complicated scleral lenses for patients that cannot wear glasses or have any surgery to see.  We discuss scleral lenses in greater detail in a future post.

There has been massive contact lens innovation over the years, to the point that we now have lenses that we can dispose of every day to lenses that we can sleep in, which re-mould the eye into a shape that can give clear vision all day.  The amazing thing with these types of lenses is that they are actually removed as soon as you wake up and the eye can maintain its new shape all day.

This amazing technology is called Orthokeratology.  It's history dates back as far as the 1960's, but studies in the 1980's showed that it was not particularly effective and it was discontinued as an eye treatment.

In the mid-1990's new materials and new machinery was developed, which in turn resurrected Orthokeratology.  Dr Jim Kokkinakis has been prescribing this great vision treatment since around 1995.  In fact in 1998 he was interviewed by Channel 9 (Good Medicine) about the procedure.  Over the years there has been much research and progress in Orthokertology, to the point it has been shown in a number of studies to slow down the progression of Myopia or Short-sightnedness.  More detail about Orthokeratology can be found on The Eye Practice's website: CLICK HERE.

Orthokeratology is capable of correcting myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism.  Where it seems to have its greatest therapeutic use is in an age bracket between 8 and 18 years.  In the developed world we seem to be have an epidemic of myopia.  Even though there definitely is a genetic predisposition, there also seems to be a significantly increased prevalence due to reading, computer work, computer games and smart phones.

During puberty children seem to be most vulnerable to develop myopia (short-sightedness).  Orthokeratology, if implemented when myopia first exhibits itself in this age bracket, seems to slow down its progression dramatically.

In future posts we will talk about both peer reviewed studies and anecdotal observations by Dr Jim Kokkinakis.