Vicious myopic prescriptions worsen your kids’ and national visions

When my wife told me that my kid now in primary 4 (10 yrs old) had his myopic degree upped to 600+ by the optician, I was angry. I did not fell off my chair like most writers did. Not because it was any body’s fault but rather because it was simply a myopic (short-sighted) view of the prevailing problem here in Singapore. I scoured through the internet for any plausible answer and this is what I have found.

It seemed that my kid, perhaps the entire last three generations and even myself had all these while, perhaps, been getting unqualified advice, mostly from the ignoramus opticians that littered the various neighbourhood estates and shopping centres vying for the lucrative near-sighted market. Only when it was deemed serious enough, would a parent bring their kid or even a patient deciding to visit the “real” eye specialists (optometrists, Ophthalmologist, Vision therapist etc) . But by then, it would be mostly too late.

I stumbled across this site (http://www.preventmyopia.org/index.html) which attempts to explain why we are drawn into a vicious spiral of increasing myopic deteriorations when it could have been arrested at the early stage when a child embark on their arduous journey of spending long-hours in the “unnatural” near-sighted (less than 30cm) works, in particularly, reading to be more educated and “not left behind” in the society. (see animation explanation)

Well you see, when you visit your friendly optician. The friendly optician would kindly dispense a spectacle that would allow your kid to see FAR objects as clear as possible! In short your kid would be getting a far-sighted glasses. He would ensure that your kid would be able to see the fine print or otherwise he would not be a good optician since your kid would miss out those fine print (seen from afar) and might lose out to his nearest competitor when the teacher writes in small letterings or words.

But your kid spends 80 percent of his time in near-sighted works like writing and reading (often less than 30 cm) and this is unnatural. Wearing the “prescribed” far-sighted glasses actually helps to strain and worsen his myopic condition and resulting an elongated eyeball.

So the VICIOUS CYCLE began and your kid having been prescribed with a Far-sighted glass will definitely strain in Near-sighted works and within just a few months down the road, Hey presto! your kid would come running to you that he couldn’t see clearly on the whiteboard or blackboard or whatever.

You would then triumphantly tell your kid: ” See! I told you so… not to hold the book too close or under poor light .. or watch tv too close .. read while lying on the bed .. blah blah blah blah!!!” Your kid remained stupidified as you continue to rant. You lugged him to the nearest optician and prescribe him with another pair of FAR-SIGHTED glasses.

Everyone seemed PLEASED… The optician, your child, your child’s teacher and mostly you (as a caring parent)

But jokes aside, this is a REAL problem and we should do something about it. According to this website which I found to be quite intelligible, you may want to consider getting a sympathetic optician (willing to try new things) to prescribe a pair of READING glasses for your kid.

The optimistic view here is that if your kid’s eyesight were not too deteriorate too far and for too stupid a reason, there would be hope for the next generation. Other forms of eyecare like lasik, eyecare therapeutic devices would augur better results if the myopic deterioration is not too high. Even the present “caring” opticians would not lose out in terms of economic viability since they could NOW start dispensing READING glasses instead of FAR-SIGHTED glasses.

Better eyesight would allow our kids, ourselves to read longer and suffer lesser strain. We would be better educated and be less of a burden to society and blah blah blah blah … I should not rant too much either. Gotta go now too… argggh .. my eyes are straining .. just joking lah.. I got a Reading glass man.. heehee!!!

Mikey (with love)