Hyderabad: Ophthalmologists say that that myopia (shortsightedness) is on the rise, especially among schoolgoing children owing to the time they spend indoors. They say that glasses may also be doing more harm than good to the eye because it doesn’t help the peripheral part of the eyeballs. About a decade ago, schoolgoing children didn’t have mobile phones and other gadgets though they still spent more time in classrooms than in playgrounds.
A study of myopia prevalence recently in rural Mahbubnagar and urban Delhi found a much higher prevalence of myopia in Delhi because the children hardly spent time outdoors. “In Mahbubnagar it was quite low but in Delhi the prevalence was high. We looked at all the factors that could be driving this difference and found ‘near-eye work’ to be the factor that made a big difference,” said ophthalmic scientist Dr Srinivas Marmamula, who has carried out an extensive study on myopia.
Near-work and closed classrooms mean eyes are constantly under stress. Doctors often prescribe an hour of outdoor activity each day to give the eyeball more exercise. Scientists also say wearing eyeglasses may not exactly help in correcting myopia and in turn could be causing problems. “We always thought that the central part of the eye matters in myopia correction but it has been increasingly shown that even the peripheral parts of the eye matter.
But our eyeglasses don’t help the periphery so they may actually be doing a lot of disservice,” Dr Shrikanth Bharadwaj, associate director of Optometry at LV Prasad Eye Institute, explained. He also thinks that though Indians are not genetically predisposed, factors such as increased use of mobile phones, tablets and computers could be trigger factors.
But scientists have no way of estimating the exact prevalence of shortsightedness in our population. “There is no direct measure. But definitely, of late, there are more children wearing glasses,” Dr Srinivas said. Prevalence is as high as 70 per cent in South East Asian countries but, scientists say that is because they have a genetic predisposition to shortsightedness.
Meaning, most will become myopic no matter how much precaution they take.
