A Somerset mum, Verity Chancellor, is drawing attention to the rising occurrence of myopia in young children, after her two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with the condition and received specialized treatment.
Verity noticed her daughter had a lazy eye and took her to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton for an eye examination at just one year old. The diagnosis of myopia in a child of this age is exceptionally rare, as it is typically only observed in children over the age of six. Her daughter has since been provided with state-of-the-art lenses from the Specsavers Taunton store in an effort to significantly slow down the progression of her myopia.
The innovative lenses, introduced by Specsavers only last year, utilize light to reduce the elongation of the eyeball, thus decelerating the advancement of myopia.
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A recent report from the British Journal of Ophthalmology revealed a concerning deterioration in children’s eyesight, with one in three now experiencing short-sightedness or difficulty seeing distant objects clearly. The report also predicts that by 2050, 40% of children will have myopia.
Verity expressed, “We were told that there’s no existing research focusing on myopia in children of such a young age. However, it is known that early detection of myopia in children is vital to implementing preventative measures. If it hadn’t been diagnosed early, it could have significantly worsened by the time she starts school.”
The report from the British Journal of Ophthalmology indicates that the prevalence of short-sightedness tripled between 1990-2023, with a particularly notable surge following the Covid pandemic. Myopia typically initiates during primary school years and tends to worsen until the eye has completed its growth, around the age of 20.
Damien Reavey, an optical director at Specsavers Taunton, emphasized the success of the new lenses for Verity’s daughter, noting his personal and professional interest in myopia as a parent of a myopic child and a short-sighted individual. He highlighted the significance of managing progressive myopia in children at an early stage to prevent serious vision issues in later life, underlining the specialized design of these lenses to slow the progression of myopia in children of any age while providing clear and comfortable vision.