It’s a sad fact that myopia – or short-sightedness – is on the rise. Half of UK teenagers are believed to be myopic and it is estimated that about 200 million people around the globe have the same condition.
So, what is myopia and what causes it to progress? When your eye is too long and the focusing power of your eye is too strong, distant objects are focused in front of the retina. Wearing minus (-) glasses moves the focal plane backward, which focuses the image on the retina.
Parents will naturally be keen to protect their children’s eyesight and being aware of potential hazards early on could help. Staring at screens – including computers, tablets, TVs and mobile phones – can exacerbate the problem, so taking a break from modern life and spending lots of time outdoors may help to reduce myopia in young people.
While this is useful advice for all of us, genetics can also play a role in determining who will develop myopia. So, once the damage is done, can myopia be cured?
There is the option to manage your vision using glasses. But if you don’t want the ongoing, life-long cost and inconvenience of wearing glasses, there are treatments available that offer you long-term vision correction.
Laser eye surgery is a good choice for people aged between 20 and 50 – more than 50 million people are now enjoying the benefits of blade-free LASIK and LASEK laser vision correction. For the over-50s, lens replacement surgery – or refractive lens exchange – is a better option to challenge the impact of the ageing process on your vision.
Here at Laser Eye Surgery Birmingham, we’ve been changing lives with these treatments for many years, offering people freedom from glasses for an affordable price. Get in touch with us today to find how you could see a brighter future.
