Eyesight is one of our most important senses, yet it can be affected by many different conditions. Some common ones affecting people of all ages are myopia and hyperopia. These two conditions can cause similar symptoms, such as blurred vision and difficulty focusing. Still, they affect your vision in almost opposite ways.

Myopia causes blurry distant vision, while hyperopia causes nearby objects to appear out of focus. 

Both can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses, though they require different prescriptions. Your local optometrist is happy to determine your prescription with a comprehensive eye exam and provide valuable information on keeping your vision healthy.

How Do We See?

It’s helpful to know how your eyes work to understand the difference between myopia and hyperopia. The eye is composed of several parts that work together to create sight:

• The cornea is the transparent outer layer that protects the eye and helps focus light.
• The iris is the coloured part that regulates the amount of light entering the eye.
• The pupil is the black circle in the center of the iris that widens or shrinks according to the amount of light.
• The lens is a flexible structure that changes shape to adjust the focus of light on the retina.
• The retina is the layer at the back of the eye that contains millions of light-sensitive cells to convert light into electrical signals.
• The optic nerve takes these electrical signals to the brain, where they’re interpreted as images.

In a healthy eye, light rays are focused directly onto the retina. For people with myopia or hyperopia, their eyes or corneas are irregularly shaped. Myopia means your eye has grown too long or the cornea is too curved. Hyperopia means your eye is too short or the cornea is too flat.

What Is Myopia?

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is one of the most common vision conditions in the world, with 30% of the population having it to some extent. It causes distant objects to appear blurry while nearby objects remain clear.

Myopia is often first diagnosed during childhood, usually around 6–7. It can significantly impact a child's ability to learn, socialize, and enjoy activities like sports.

Several factors can increase a child's risk of developing myopia, including: 

• Having parents with myopia
• Not having enough time outdoors
• Prolonged use of electronic devices

Children with Myopia

Myopia can significantly impact children's academic performance and overall quality of life. Nearsighted children may need help to see the board clearly in the classroom, making it difficult to take notes or follow along in lessons.

This can lead to frustration, decreased motivation, and even poor academic performance. Additionally, nearsightedness can impact a child's ability to engage in sports or other recreational activities, leading to social isolation or a lack of physical activity.

It can be difficult for children to tell you if they have myopia. They may not have the language to explain what they’re experiencing or don’t realize that they don’t see correctly. Here are some signs your child may have myopia:

• Complaints of discomfort or blurred vision
• Short attention span
• Frequent blinking
• Trouble seeing the board in class
• Headaches
• Covering one eye or tilting the head to one side

What Is Hyperopia?

Hyperopia, also known as farsightedness, can be considered the “opposite” of myopia—even though it can affect your lifestyle similarly. It’s a condition in which an individual can see far away objects clearly, but objects that are close up appear blurred. This occurs because a shorter-than-normal eyeball causes light to focus behind the retina.

This condition can affect people of all ages, from young children to seniors. If you have hyperopia, you may experience difficulties reading, crafting, sewing, or doing any activity requiring close vision.

Experts are still researching the exact causes behind hyperopia. It may be inherited from your parents or caused by the environment. Many people can have some amount of hyperopia and never know it! It usually only becomes a problem if it impacts your daily activities.

Treating Refractive Errors

The most common treatment for refractive errors is corrective lenses, including glasses and contact lenses. Glasses are popular for children, as they’re relatively easy to use and maintain. Contact lenses may also be a suitable option for older children or teenagers who are more responsible and able to handle them safely.

Another treatment option is refractive surgery, which uses lasers to alter the shape of the cornea. This may be appropriate for adults whose refractive errors have stabilized. You can talk with your optometrist to learn if you’re a candidate for LASIK or PRK.

Myopia Management

One of the most significant differences between myopia and hyperopia is that myopia can progress through childhood, worsening until they reach about 20. Once the damage from myopia is done, it can’t be reversed. By slowing its progression, you can help your child avoid dangerous eye diseases later in life caused by high myopia.

Myopia management is a treatment program that can help slow myopia’s progression through prescription glasses or contacts, atropine drops, and environmental changes.

Eye Care for All Ages

Whether you’re living with myopia or hyperopia, keeping your eyes healthy is essential and requires regular eye checkups. Optometrists recommend children have an eye exam annually, adults over 20 have an eye exam at least every 2 years, and seniors 65+ should go back to having annual eye exams.River Heights Eye Care offers child and adult eye exams to detect refractive errors. Whether your vision is blurry up close or far away, our expert team can help you through your vision correction options. Book an appointment, and let's start caring for your eyes today.

The post Myopia vs. Hyperopia: What Are the Differences? first appeared on River Heights Eye Care.

Healthy Eyes for Healthy Gaming

It’s all fun and games until someone feels eye strain. Whether you’re a casual gamer, completionist, or professional, protecting your eyes is essential to your gaming experience. Fortunately, you can improve your eye comfort in many simple ways, from blue light glasses to the 20-20-20 rule. 

Level up your eye care skills by discovering what causes eye strain and how to protect your eyes while gaming.

How Gaming Causes Eye Strain

Gaming is far from the only activity known for causing eye strain. Digital eye strain is common in those who spend a lot of time viewing digital screens, like computers, smartphones, TVs, and tablets.

Eye strain is also commonly caused by intensive or prolonged visual tasks, such as reading or long-distance driving. However, eye strain is more typical for close vision work, as those activities tend to keep your eyes focused in a fixed or limited position for long periods. 

Imagine you’ve decided to lift weights but only perform biceps curls. If you repeat the same exercise for hours, your biceps will feel exhausted. In some cases, overexerting yourself may even cause an injury. 

Intense visual work is similar: you repeat the same exercise or action with your eye muscles. While an injury is less likely with eye strain than with bicep curls, eye strain can lead to long-lasting eye issues, like dry eyes. Dry eyes come with their own risk, like eye infections and corneal scarring.

Eye Strain Symptoms

Symptoms of eye strain can include:

• Blurry or double vision
• Burning or itchy eyes
• Dry eyes
• Eye fatigue or discomfort
• Eye twitching
• Frequent squinting
• Light sensitivity
• Poor concentration

Eye Tips for Gamers

Set your game time up for success by implementing these eye care tips.

20-20-20 Rule

The 20-20-20 rule is designed to help prevent screen time from overtaxing your vision. It takes at least 20 seconds for your eyes to relax, so focusing on an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds helps rest your eyes. It’s recommended you do this every 20 minutes.

These frequent breaks can be impractical whether you game for fun or views, but the most crucial takeaway here is to just take breaks. You may commit to looking away every time you complete a level or when your character fails. Or, on replays, try looking away during cutscenes or dialogue.

Drink More Water

The average human body is more than 50% water, so unsurprisingly, staying hydrated has multiple health benefits. 

Water is the main component of tears. Blinking spreads a thin layer of tears across your eye, cleaning away debris and providing much-needed moisture. Dehydration can impact your tear quality and cause dry eyes. Eye strain and dry eye disease often go hand-in-hand, sharing similar symptoms like eye irritation and fluctuating vision.

Staying hydrated can support tear production to help maintain healthy, moisturized eyes.

Remember to Blink

The average person blinks 12 times per minute but only 5 times per minute when viewing a digital screen. When you blink less, your eyes can dry out and tire more quickly. Remembering to blink more can be tricky when you’re focused on gameplay. 

You may find setting an alarm for stretch and water breaks helpful, but reminders to blink every minute may be irritating. So instead, try to force yourself to blink more when gaming, and add a few more blinks during your breaks. You can also try artificial tears to prevent dry eyes.

Stretch It Out

How long has it been since your last stretch break? When your head is in the game, hours can pass frozen in the same position.

Sitting for 4 or more hours—gaming or working—can lead to deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot formed in a deep vein (usually a leg). Any prolonged inactivity, even lying with your legs up in the same position, can increase your risk.

Neck, shoulder, and back pain are commonly associated with eye strain. Taking a stretch break is a chance to change the focusing position of your eyes and relieve body tension.

Try Blue Light Glasses

Blue light waves are short, high-energy light waves closest to UV light on the visible light spectrum. Fortunately, like UV radiation, our atmosphere protects us from the most powerful source of blue light—the sun. Blue light scatters in the atmosphere, making the sky look blue. 

Artificial sources of blue light, including digital screens, light bulbs, and LED technology, emit significantly weaker amounts of blue light, but we often use these sources of blue light for long periods and at close range. 

Some eye health experts have concerns that blue light may increase the risk of digital eye strain and macular degeneration. As blue light scatters more easily than other light wavelengths, it can be challenging for your eyes to focus. As a result, your eyes work harder and feel tired more quickly when exposed to blue light.

Currently, there is no clinical evidence that blue light causes harm to your eyes, but studies are limited, and we don’t know the long-term health effects of digital screens. The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends limiting children’s exposure to blue light. They also recognize there may be accumulated eye damage from long-term exposure, resulting in adult eye problems.

Adding blue light filters or wearing blue light glasses can limit your exposure and possibly reduce your eye health risks. They can also help prevent late-night screen time from affecting your sleep.

Adjust Your Set Up

The position and distance of your screen relative to your eyes can negatively impact your eye comfort. While PC gamers can be more at risk, platform users should also be wary of sitting too close to their screens.

Your monitor should be about arm’s length from your eyes. The top third of your screen should be eye level, with the bottom no further than 30 degrees below eye level. Rest your upper back on your chair with shoulder blades pulled in and towards each other. Armrests should allow a 90-degree elbow position with arms close to your sides.

Get Outside

Like the 20-20-20 rule, getting outside helps change your visual focus. Indoor activities tend to be predominantly close tasks. Whether you’re a tabletop or digital gamer, your eyes need time to exercise long-distance visual skills. A 20-second break resets your focus in the moment, but you can enjoy more long-term relief by regularly giving your eyes more to look at.

Try adding outdoor activities or games with an emphasis on farther distances. It can be as simple as looking ahead while taking a walk. Sports and other outdoor hobbies can also offer a chance to stretch your visual skills, so you have a go-to break idea when you experience eye strain.

Discover More Eye Care Tips

Our team at River Heights Eye Care is committed to providing the best possible eye care to Cochrane families. Visit us when you have an eye problem or if it’s time for a routine eye exam. We take the time to get to know your and your vision needs.

Book an appointment today for personalized, compassionate care.

The post How to Reduce Eye Strain While Gaming first appeared on River Heights Eye Care.

Protecting Your Child’s Far Vision

You want the best for your child, and protecting their health is part of that. Children’s eye exams can help protect their sight and their eye health. Regularly visiting an optometrist is crucial for detecting eye conditions impacting their lifelong vision, such as myopia.

Myopia is a leading cause of legal blindness. Moreover, its global prevalence is steadily increasing, with health experts predicting a rise from 27% to 52% by 2050. So what options are available for myopia management? 

What Is Myopia?

Myopia (nearsightedness) is a refractive error causing blurry distance vision. The condition occurs when the eyeball is too long or the cornea (clear front of the eye) is too steeply curved. As a result, when light enters the eye, it can’t effectively reach the retina(light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye).

Myopia can cause various vision and eye health problems, depending on severity. Mild Myopia may cause slightly blurry vision with the ability to complete most daily tasks without corrective lenses. People with moderate to severe myopia have greater difficulty seeing distances, from details on a movie screen to faces across the room.

There are also significant eye health risks associated with higher degrees of myopia. Although the conditions may not develop until a person is over 40 years old, these eye problems can occur earlier—even in childhood. High myopia increases the risk of developing:

• Cataracts
• Glaucoma
• Myopia macular degeneration
• Retinal detachment or tears

As vision develops in childhood, myopia is commonly diagnosed around school age. Vision usually stabilizes around age 20–21when the eyeball stops growing (lengthwise). However, medical conditions or environmental factors can cause vision changes in adulthood, including worsening myopia.

Can Myopia Be Reversed?

Myopia cannot be reversed. Traditional vision correction methods, such as glasses or contact lenses, can enhance vision but do not cure myopia. Adult candidates for refractive eye surgeries, such as LASIK, can experience better vision by reshaping the eye's surface. Although not reversing the condition, vision correction surgery can (in some cases) provide a long-term fix for nearsightedness. However, not all people are candidates for refractive surgeries, partially patients with high myopia or severe astigmatism. The surgery also does not eliminate factors that contribute to myopia development.

Fortunately, there are many methods for slowing myopia progression in children. Myopia control can prevent worsening vision and reduce risks for related eye problems.

Myopia Management

Managing myopia in childhood gives children the best chance of lifelong healthy vision. Regular children’s eye exams are crucial for the early detection of myopia so that children can receive treatment as soon as possible.

Atropine Eye Drops

Optometrists can prescribe low-dose atropine eye drops to relax the eye muscles and block receptors in the retina and sclera, limiting eye growth. For most children, atropine treatment can slow myopic progression by about 50%.

The composition of low-dose atropine eye drops varies, including 0.01%, 0.025%, and 0.05% concentrations. The low dose helps maximize benefits and minimize possible side effects, such as eye irritation, redness, or swelling.

Multifocal Contact Lenses

Multifocal contact lenses are a soft contact lens option that contains multiple prescriptions in the same lens. The design features 2 zones:

• The centre corrects distance vision (similar to traditional contact lenses)
• The outer ring focuses peripheral light to slow eye growth

MiSight contact lenses are daily disposable multifocal lenses for children ages 8 and up. Many children benefit from the comfortable fit and easy maintenance, as there's no need to clean or store the lenses. Additionally, a 3-year study showed that MiSight lenses reduced myopic progression by up to 59%. 

Orthokeratology

Orthokeratology (ortho-k) is a rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lens option. Ortho-k can significantly slow eye growth to prevent worsening myopia and enhance vision.

 While the child sleeps, the ortho-k lens gently reshapes the cornea to improve vision. Then, the lenses are removed in the morning, and the child experiences improved vision for the day. 

Vision improvement can last up to 2 days after removing the lenses. However, the best effects are achieved if the child consistently wears the lenses at night.

Multifocal Eyeglasses

While contact lenses can offer children freedom from glasses, some kids may not be comfortable wearing them or may have difficulty with lens hygiene. Multifocal eyeglasses work similarly to multifocal contact lenses, with a centre zone for correcting vision and an outer zone for focusing peripheral light.

An example of multifocal eyeglasses is MyoVision lenses. The myopia management eyeglasses are intended for kids ages 6–12. There are 2 lens designs:

• A central zone for correcting distance vision and an outer edge for focusing peripheral light
• An upper zone for correcting distance vision and a bottom zone for supporting close vision tasks & refocusing peripheral light

Environmental Changes

How your child interacts with the world can influence their visual development. Although children are more likely to inherit myopia from a parent, engaging predominantly with close-vision work is a risk factor. Too much indoor time focused on screens, books, or other close-work activities can worsen myopia.

Parents should encourage a balance of outdoor and indoor activities.

Visit Us for Myopia Control

Detecting and managing myopia as early as possible gives children their best chance. Myopia can interfere with their daily life and influence their lifelong eye health. Our caring, knowledgeable team is dedicated to providing personalized solutions to help your child feel comfortable and confident about their vision.

Visit River Heights Eye Care for comprehensive, trustworthy services for the whole family. Book an appointment today!

The post Can Myopia be Reversed in Children? first appeared on River Heights Eye Care.

Myopia is a common refractive error that can worsen with time, increasing your child’s risk of eye disease. You can protect your child’s vision and eye health with help from your eye doctor, but what should you expect from myopia treatments? 

Continue reading to learn more about myopia management, including what to expect and what treatments are available. 

What Is Myopia? 

Did you know over 30% of Canadians have myopia? 

Myopia is a common refractive error where someone has blurry vision from far distances, but close-up objects appear clearly. Light entering the eye doesn’t bend properly, causing it to focus in front of your retina.  

Myopia typically develops in childhood, where it progresses until early adulthood. In rare cases, myopia may continue to progress in adulthood.  

Your child may have several signs they’re experiencing vision problems. However, children may assume everyone sees as they do, so watch for signs of myopia in your child, such as: 

• Squinting excessively
• Having headaches 
• Having strained eyes
• Blinking persistently 
• Seeming unaware of far-away objects
• Rubbing their eyes frequently 
• Sitting close to digital screens or in the front of the classroom

How Does Myopia Develop? 

Someone with myopia has differently shaped eyes than someone without a refractive error. Myopic eyes are typically too long or have a steep curvature, causing light to bend incorrectly as it enters the eye. 

Besides eye shape, other factors may contribute to myopia, including: 

• Reduced time spent outdoors
• Increased time in front of screens
• Family history

The eyes continue to grow as your child does, which can cause myopia to worsen with time. 

High Myopia 

Myopia can worsen as your child grows, causing them to need heavier prescriptions as an adult. When myopia progresses into a more severe form, it becomes high myopia. 

High myopia increases your child’s risk of significant eye diseases in adulthood, including: 

• Cataracts 
• Glaucoma
• Retinal detachment 
• Myopic macular degeneration

Myopia can progress significantly as your child grows. However, specialized treatments can help slow or prevent myopic progression. 

What Is Myopia Management & What Should You Expect? 

While there is no cure for myopia, your eye doctor can help control its progression. Myopia control focuses on slowing eyeball growth to prevent this condition from worsening. Standard single-vision glasses can only help your child see better, so other treatments are necessary to help control myopic progression. 

Many myopia control treatments are easy to adapt to, coming in contact lenses, glasses, or eye drops. Your optometrist can recommend the best treatment for your child’s vision needs. 

Myopia Control Treatments 

There is no wrong choice when choosing a myopia control treatment for your child. Your eye doctor will provide their recommendations on the most effective options for your child. 

Myopia control treatments include specialized eyewear, contact lenses, atropine drops, and environmental changes. 

Specialized Eyewear

Several types of specialized eyewear exist for controlling myopic progression. A common treatment option is the use of MyoVision glasses.

MyoVision lenses help correct and control myopia, helping your child see better while slowing eyeball growth. They utilize peripheral defocus to help peripheral light focus on the retina instead of behind it. Changing how this light focuses slows eyeball growth because the eye isn’t trying to accommodate peripheral light entering the eye. 

Contact Lenses

Different contacts ranging from soft to rigid gas permeable lenses can help correct and control myopic progression. These lenses include multifocal contacts, MiSight contact lenses, and orthokeratology (ortho-k) lenses. 

Multifocal contact lenses contain multiple prescriptions in the same lens, providing clear vision from multiple distances. The centre of the lens can help correct vision, while the outer rings of the lens help focus peripheral light rays, slowing down eye growth. 

MiSight contact lenses help manage myopic progression with their unique design. They’re daily disposable lenses your child replaces every day, making them easy to get used to. 

A centre zone helps correct your child’s vision while alternating rings surround the lens centre to help slow myopia progression. These lenses help slow eyeball growth—a 3-year study found these lenses reduce myopic progression by up to 59%. 

Orthokeratology (ortho-k) contact lenses are reshaping lenses your child wears overnight. These rigid contacts gently shape the cornea as your child sleeps, helping them see clearly the next day without the need for glasses or contacts. Additionally, these lenses help slow myopic progression.

Atropine Drops

Low-dose atropine eye drops can help slow myopic progression by almost 50%. It works by interacting with the eye’s receptors that control eye growth in different tissues. 

Many doses of atropine exist, but the most commonly used doses for myopia control are 0.05% to 0.01%. These doses minimize the risk of side effects while helping slow myopic progression. 

Environmental Changes 

Your child’s lifestyle can affect myopia. Children who spend more time outside can reduce myopic progression. Aim to have your child spend a couple of hours outside every day.

Another possible cause of myopia is time spent on digital devices. The amount of time your child spends using these devices may affect myopic progression. Speaking with your eye doctor about your child’s digital device usage can help. 

Help Protect Your Child’s Vision

Myopia can seem insignificant at first, but it can significantly affect your child’s vision and eye health. Without proper treatment, your child risks a prescription-heavy future and an increased risk of eye disease. You can protect your child’s vision with help from your eye doctor. 

Contact River Heights Eye Care if your child has symptoms of myopia. 

The post What to Expect & Treatments Options for Myopia Management first appeared on River Heights Eye Care.