Recently, the State Council’s report on the promotion of children’s health shows that the overall myopia rate among children and adolescents in my country is still at a high level. Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia, children’s home and online classes have increased, sports activities have decreased, and the exposure time in front of electronic screens has been prolonged, resulting in aggravation of myopia in many children and adolescents. Experts say that the prevention of myopia starts with a certain degree of hyperopia reserve in childhood.
“Vision develops and matures with the development of the refractive system and retina. The age of 0-6 is a critical period for children’s vision development, and it is also the stage with the fastest changes in eye refraction.” National Children’s Medical Center, Beijing Children’s Hospital Li Li, chief physician of the Department of Ophthalmology, introduced that the newborn’s eyeball is small and the axial length of the eye is short, and the eyes are in a state of hyperopia at this time. With the growth and development of children, the eyeball gradually grows, the axial length of the eye becomes longer, and the degree of hyperopia gradually decreases and tends to be emmetropia.
Li Li explained that the ideal situation is for children to develop from hyperopia to emmetropia after the age of 12. Most of the hyperopia before emmetropia is physiological hyperopia, which is a kind of “hyperopia reserve”, which can be understood as a “buffer zone” for “opposing” the development of vision to myopia.
“The real hyperopia reserve degree can only be accurately measured after mydriasis.” Yao Yufeng, an expert in the National Health Science Expert Database and chief physician of Run Run Shaw Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine, said that insufficient hyperopia reserve refers to normal uncorrected vision and mydriasis. Although the refraction state after optometry did not meet the standard of myopia, the degree of hyperopia was lower than the physiological value range of the corresponding age group. The hyperopia reserve is normally distributed in the overall population, there is no absolute standard, and the reference value of hyperopia reserve is different for different ages.
Experts say that if a child’s farsightedness reserve is lower than the value for the corresponding age group, it means that their farsighted reserve is too much, and myopia may appear earlier. A certain degree of hyperopia reserve is reasonable, but the more hyperopia reserve is not the better, too much hyperopia reserve is more likely to become pathological hyperopic refractive error, thus affecting the normal development of children’s visual function.
“The farsighted reserve is like a fixed reserve in a bank account opened when a child is born, and this reserve is a fixed amount, which will only be gradually consumed instead of having a value-added function.” Yao Yufeng said that the long-term closeness is too long. Distance use of eyes, lack of outdoor activities, unbalanced diet, etc. are all bad habits that excessively consume hyperopia reserves.
Experts suggest that to preserve hyperopia reserves, children, families and schools need to work together to cultivate and urge children to develop good eye hygiene habits and establish correct eye-care behaviors. For example, standardize reading and writing posture, pay attention to eye time, do eye exercises, strengthen physical exercise, and regularly screen vision. (Reporter Li Heng)
(Xinhuanet)