What is Myopia or Nearsightedness? Is it seeing up close or far away?

Hi, I'm Dr. Moshe Roth. I practice at Family Eye Care in Old Bridge, New Jersey.

In this video, I'm going to address the question. What exactly is myopia?

Myopia is the medical term for near-sightedness.

Near-sightedness simply means that somebody can see better at near than often a distance. Just think of this as two separate words near sighted.

How can you prevent myopia or slow down that child's myopia?

Well, the best ways to identify Vale early, especially if the parents are very near set. That way we can help prevent its progression. Also if a child's becoming more and more near-sighted, we can prevent their progression and prevent serious eye disease later on in life.

So it's really important that you bring your child in early for an assessment by a behavioral optometrist or a developmental optometrist. The doctors can identify the underlying reason for the myopia, or if there is myopia.

Some suggest limiting the amount of time that your child spends upclose work or work on computer or reading or doing homework. However, as I've explained in the prior videos, that's not realistic and it's not practical.

Good computer work, hygiene, is important.

Making sure that the computer is properly positioned, taking frequent screen breaks can address the over focusing problem.

The 20 20 20 rule is a good thing to do.

Look across the room or through a window. That's something that's 20 feet and beyond for at least 20 seconds. Every 20 minutes that you're working on the computer.

That applies to children and to adults.

It's a good idea to encourage outdoor time for at least 90 minutes a day, preferably in the sunshine, so the kids become physically active.

The doctors that promote that as a way to prevent myopia, don't usually understand that it's not the outdoors that's preventing the myopia. Rather, it's the fact that they're not indoors on the computer or doing other near work.

In the next video we're going to address, how can you best detect if your child is becoming your nearsighted, and number two, how can we prevent myopia progression? I'm Dr. Moshe Roth, that practice and at Family Eye Care in Old Bridge, New Jersey.