Myopia: why it is increasing and how to slow it down

Myopia, together with hyperopia and astigmatism, is a refractive error — an optical condition in which images are not correctly focused on the retina. In the myopic eye, the eyeball is slightly too long, or the optical system too powerful, and rays coming from far away converge in front of the retina instead of on it: this is why distant objects appear blurred, while near vision remains clear. It is also known as “short-sightedness.”

Myopia is not just a nuisance to be corrected with a pair of glasses: it is increasingly also a public health phenomenon. Estimates point to a genuine rising wave: at the current pace, it is projected that by 2050 around half of the world’s population could be myopic. Such a rapid increase cannot be explained by genetics alone and points to our lifestyle as a contributing factor.

Excessive near-work activity on smartphones and tablets promotes the progression of myopia.

Why it is increasing

Indeed, alongside family predisposition, two factors linked to modern habits play a significant role, especially in children. The first is excessive near-work — books, but above all smartphones and tablets held just a few centimeters from the face for many hours. The second, its mirror image, is a lack of time spent outdoors: natural light, intense and rich, appears to play a protective role in eye development. Myopia typically appears and progresses during the school years, while the eyeball is still growing.

Controlling myopia in children

Precisely because myopia tends to increase during childhood and adolescence, we now have strategies available to slow its progression, grouped under the name “myopia control.” These include special glasses and contact lenses with peripheral defocus, very low-concentration atropine drops, and orthokeratology — the overnight use of rigid contact lenses that temporarily reshape the cornea, leaving the eye free and in focus during the day. They do not “cure” myopia, but they can slow its progression, and this matters: more contained myopia also means a healthier eye in adulthood.

Time spent outdoors has a protective effect on the development of myopia.

Not just diopters: high myopia

Unfortunately, myopia is not entirely harmless. Severe forms, beyond 6 diopters, involve a longer eye with thinner, more “stretched” tissues, and over time are associated with a higher risk of certain conditions: retinal detachment, myopic macular degeneration, and glaucoma. This is why a person with high myopia is not simply someone with a significant defect to correct, but an eye that deserves periodic retinal checkups.

How it is corrected

In everyday life, myopia is corrected with glasses and contact lenses. In adulthood, once the defect is stable, refractive surgery comes into play: laser treatment (PRK, femto-LASIK, SMILE) for mild-to-moderate myopia, and the ICL (Implantable Collamer Lens) — a lens inserted inside the eye — for higher degrees of myopia or for corneas not suited to laser treatment.

In conclusion

Myopia now affects a very large portion of the population, and precisely for this reason it deserves not to be taken for granted. In children, a timely eye exam allows it to be corrected and, when needed, slowed down; in myopic adults, especially those with high myopia, periodic retinal checkups are the simplest form of prevention. Seeing well at a distance, in short, is just as important as safeguarding, over time, the health of the eye that makes it possible.