Myopia (near sightedness) is a condition in which close objects are visibly clear, while distanced objects are blurred. This is understood as a refractive disorder that occurs as the eyeball elongates (gets longer). Myopia can cause exponentially more serious  complications if the refractive error is  severe, -5.00D or worse.

People with myopia have good near vision, and poor distance vision.

Gary Rodney, founder of Smart Vision Optometry and Fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), explains the different degrees of myopia and how it leads to great risk of age related blindness.

The causes of myopia traditionally include genetics and the working environment. Now we are seeing that there does not have to be any evidence of genetic tendencies and simply lifestyle can cause myopia to develop. Genetics simply makes the problem worse. The lifestyle factors include doing work focusing on close objects, like a computer screen, digital device, or book and/or less time outdoors in the daylight.

Rays of light that enter the eye, also influence the development of myopia. “Vision is made clear as light rays enter the eye through the cornea and lens, which bend the light to the retina at the back of the eye,” says Rodney. This gives a clear and sharp image. Therefore if a person is experiencing blurry vision they are experiencing a refractive error, as the light rays are not focused correctly at the back of the eye.

If not treated for prevention and not just compensation, myopia can progressively advance, causing other disorders that can result in blindness.

Low myopia

Low Myopia is the most common. Low to moderate myopia is usually measured less than -500D.

While there is no cure, vision treatment, management and control can be influenced using Smart Vision Optometry proprietary techniques with glasses, lenses or orthokeratology (Ortho-K). Ortho-K has been shown to produce a reduction in the rate of progress of myopia.

Studies have shown that children who spend long hours doing outside activities, are at a lower risk of myopia. Progressive nearsightedness/myopia can cause vision impairment, including cataracts, macular degeneration, retinal detachment and myopia maculopathy.

High myopia

High myopia can lead to blindness. High myopia can be at least -500D or worse.

High myopia, also called pathological myopia, where the abnormal elongation of the eyeball that occurs in pathological myopia stretches the tissue at the back of the eye and leads to the development of detachment, floaters and halo. The retina is more stretched and therefore much more prone to peripheral retinal tears.

Studies have shown that the higher the myopia, the bigger the risk a person has of developing glaucoma. “As myopia worsens, retinal nerve fibre layers and macular thickness charge, increases the risk of glaucoma,” says Rodney.

Common risks to blindness led by myopia include retinal detachment, cataracts and glaucoma. These disorders may lead to visual impairment and blindness.

Retinal detachment

A thinned retina can cause retinal breaks. “Retinal detachment occurs when the retina detaches from the back of the eye,” says Rodney, and “if this detachment is not repaired urgently, it can cause blindness.”

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is associated with the damage to the optic nerve caused by increased pressure in the eye chamber.

Glaucoma is found significantly in those with myopia. In some cases, the eye can stretch out of its shape resulting in a refractive error. “The cause of high myopia in patients should be examined,” says Rodney.

Cataracts

Cataracts is common among people with myopia. “This condition occurs when the eyes lens, located behind the pupil, has a cloudy appearance,” says Rodney.

Patients with high myopia can develop cataracts earlier than those with no refractive errors.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600 or the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047, alternatively book an appointment online.

October brings the month of World Sight Day and World Teacher’s day, in commemoration of both annual events, this article aims to bring awareness to blindness and vision impairment in children.

Vision impairment or loss can affect people of all ages, but it can be detected at an early age. Reduced eyesight can have minor or long-lasting effects on all aspects of life including personal daily activities and participation in school and work.

Jacqueline Gattegno, a Smart Vision Optometrist at Eyes InDesign Bondi, provides insight in identifying signs of vision problems in children.

The role of educators in detecting early signs in learner

Millions of children around the world experience signs of significant visual impairment, many of which are preventable and treatable.

Educators spend a significant amount of time with learners, therefore, they “play an important role in identifying early signs of eye problems in children,” Jacquie says. This detection reduces the risk of blindness.

There is an increase in the rate of vision-related issues in children, such as diabetic retinopathy, untreated glaucoma, un-operated cataract and myopia. These are preventable causes of blindness that can easily be attended to.

Teaching methods to accommodate such issues

Much of information and education that we receive is through vision, therefore it is important to adopt this knowledge in teaching children who are visually impaired.

Educators can play a crucial role in assisting the comfortably of a child’s learning, regardless of a child’s diagnoses of vision impairment; acute or severe. An adjustment in teaching methods and techniques can help reduce the severity of vision impairment in children.

Much of the strain of the eyes is caused by reading and focusing, particularly in the classroom and on digital screens. However there are other causes to consider that are hereditary.

Here are a few examples teachers can assist with children who experience the following conditions and diagnosis:

Retinopathy of Pre-maturity (ROP)

Retinopathy refers to the disease of the retina that is caused by an abnormal growth of the blood vessel. ROP usually affects children who are born prematurely with a low body mass.

Adaptation in teaching methods can be made by discouraging physical activity as a compulsory requirement as it may result in retinal detachment.

Albinism

Albinism is a lack of pigmentation in skin, hair and eyes. Pigment is necessary for retinal development, therefore, albinism impacts vision.

In learning environments, a high contrast of colours may be beneficial for children with albinism. For example, bright colours against dark backgrounds.

Coloboma of the eye

This is a physical defect of the eyes in children that occurs from birth. To treat this in classrooms, it is important to reduce the glare in learning environments, which can be decreased with dark curtains.

How to identify signs of myopia

The more myopic the higher the risk of screening issues that cause blindness. “It is important to know the difference between high and mild myopia as the level of severity increases the chances of blindness,” Jacquie says.

Mild myopia does not immediately increase a person’s risk of developing serious eye problems but left untreated it can.

High myopia, on the other hand, happens when a child’s eyeball grows longer than it should. If left untreated, high myopia complications can lead to blindness, so regular comprehensive visual eye examinations are critical. These are not the common sight tests offered by regular optometrists.

High myopia may raise the risk of a child developing serious conditions such as cataracts, detached retinas and glaucoma.  

Educators can identify signs of myopia in classrooms in the child has:

1. Poor school grades

2. Short attention span

3. Holding objects close to the face

4. Squinting

This month brings awareness to vision impairment and blindness. The awareness of the role teachers play in a child’s sight to reduce preventable blindness is crucial.

Vision problems such as myopia can be treated with highly successful, non-invasive, smart vision eye health treatment programmes, yet some optometrists and ophthalmologists recommend invasive laser eye surgery as the only option or quick fix. “Smart Vision Optometrists have a holistic approach to eyecare and therefore invasive surgery, which is a permanent disfigurement, is not considered a viable option and would only be suggested in extreme cases as an absolute last resort,” Jacquie said.

“If a child has any of the above symptoms then a comprehensive vision skills assessment is recommended immediately,” Jacquie concludes.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600, alternatively book an appointment online.

Myopia, or shortsightedness as it is commonly known, is on the rise. It’s the most common eye disorder in the world, and the biggest cause of visual impairment, especially in children. The facts are there for all to see. In 2010, an estimated 27 percent of people were struggling with a significant level of myopia, and by 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 52 percent.

The fact that myopia is linked to genetics is not disputed. However, genetics alone would not be enough to account for the rising incidence of myopia, and it’s now believed that environmental factors also play a role. Whatever the reasons for the rise of myopia, there have also been advances in its treatment. According to Australian behavioural optometrist Jacqueline Gattegno, reducing the progression of myopia is a real possibility – provided that intervention happens soon enough.

Myopia Control Treatments

Jacqueline says that contrary to popular belief, Myopia is a childhood problem. “It’s related to an increase in the axial length of the eyeball which results in poor focus on the retina. The progressive lengthening of the eyeball occurs during growth, with the eyes generally stabilising around the age of twenty. If myopia’s progression is to be slowed, treatment must occur during this time,” says Jacqueline. “Various non-surgical, drug-free methods have been explored, with the greatest successes coming from orthokeratology and the use of peripheral defocus lenses.”

Atropine drops appear in a lot of the research literature, but Jacqueline isn’t convinced that their use should be attempted or that they will result in the best possible outcomes. “There are side-effects,” says Jacqueline, “and the drops only seem to offer myopia control benefits during their first year of use. Following excellent results in early trials, it’s now widely believed that atropine drops don’t have sufficient long-term benefits to justify their use. Orthokeratology is drug-free and it works. There’s no reason to use a drug-based treatment.”  

Efficacy of Orthokeratology in Myopia Control

Studies support Jacqueline’s confidence in orthokeratology for myopia control, and the treatment itself is remarkably simple. Optometrists carefully map the eye and then create hard contact lenses that gently mould the cornea to allow for better light focus on the retina. The lenses aren’t worn by day. Instead, they’re worn during sleep, and the eye maintains the correct shape during waking hours.

Research shows that orthokeratology, or Ortho-K, can slow the progression of myopia in children by 36 to 56 percent. “It’s known that the higher the level of myopia in people of any age, the greater the risk of certain ocular pathologies that can lead to vision loss,” says Jacqueline, “so reducing myopia in childhood not only offers a good chance of better vision during adulthood, but may even prevent conditions like retinal detachment and age-related blindness’ later on.”

Myopia Control at Home

There’s at least one other therapy that can help children in slowing the progression of myopia – and parents can practice it for free at home. “Tell the kids to go and play outside,” says Jacqueline. “There have been some remarkable studies that have shown that just spending more time outdoors reduces the risk of rapid myopia progression. There was a measurable reduction in axial elongation and myopic shift during trials in Asia, and some experts even theorise that reduced time outdoors might be at least partially to blame for the myopia epidemic that’s currently being witnessed.”

It’s Time the World Started Talking About It

Jacqueline believes that the combination of orthokeratology and a healthy, active lifestyle can make a difference in combating the rise of myopia but is concerned that myopia control isn’t more widely talked-about. “Many parents have never heard of ortho-K or myopia control. They know about glasses and contact lenses, and they bring their children to get prescription eyewear. That provides an opportunity to tell them about treatment options, but it isn’t ideal.”

“Myopia control should be headline news. It’s exciting. The benefits are beyond price. It’s time the world started talking about it because we’re rapidly heading towards a situation in which half the world’s population is myopic with high myopes facing further risks to their vision,” concludes Jacqueline.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600, alternatively book an appointment online.Written and syndicated by: YDMA News, YDMA Group

The fact that myopia is linked to genetics is not disputed. However, genetics alone would not be enough to account for the rising incidence of myopia, and it’s now believed that environmental factors also play a role. Whatever the reasons for the rise of myopia, there have also been advances in its treatment. According to Australian behavioural optometrist Jacqueline Gattegno, reducing the progression of myopia is a real possibility – provided that intervention happens soon enough.

Myopia Control Treatments

Jacqueline says that contrary to popular belief, Myopia is a childhood problem. “It’s related to an increase in the axial length of the eyeball which results in poor focus on the retina. The progressive lengthening of the eyeball occurs during growth, with the eyes generally stabilising around the age of twenty. If myopia’s progression is to be slowed, treatment must occur during this time,” says Jacqueline. “Various non-surgical, drug-free methods have been explored, with the greatest successes coming from orthokeratology and the use of peripheral defocus lenses.”

Atropine drops appear in a lot of the research literature, but Jacqueline isn’t convinced that their use should be attempted or that they will result in the best possible outcomes. “There are side-effects,” says Jacqueline, “and the drops only seem to offer myopia control benefits during their first year of use. Following excellent results in early trials, it’s now widely believed that atropine drops don’t have sufficient long-term benefits to justify their use. Orthokeratology is drug-free and it works. There’s no reason to use a drug-based treatment.”  

Efficacy of Orthokeratology in Myopia Control

Studies support Jacqueline’s confidence in orthokeratology for myopia control, and the treatment itself is remarkably simple. Optometrists carefully map the eye and then create hard contact lenses that gently mould the cornea to allow for better light focus on the retina. The lenses aren’t worn by day. Instead, they’re worn during sleep, and the eye maintains the correct shape during waking hours.

Research shows that orthokeratology, or Ortho-K, can slow the progression of myopia in children by 36 to 56 percent. “It’s known that the higher the level of myopia in people of any age, the greater the risk of certain ocular pathologies that can lead to vision loss,” says Jacqueline, “so reducing myopia in childhood not only offers a good chance of better vision during adulthood, but may even prevent conditions like retinal detachment and age-related blindness’ later on.”

Myopia Control at Home

There’s at least one other therapy that can help children in slowing the progression of myopia – and parents can practice it for free at home. “Tell the kids to go and play outside,” says Jacqueline. “There have been some remarkable studies that have shown that just spending more time outdoors reduces the risk of rapid myopia progression. There was a measurable reduction in axial elongation and myopic shift during trials in Asia, and some experts even theorise that reduced time outdoors might be at least partially to blame for the myopia epidemic that’s currently being witnessed.”

It’s Time the World Started Talking About It

Jacqueline believes that the combination of orthokeratology and a healthy, active lifestyle can make a difference in combating the rise of myopia but is concerned that myopia control isn’t more widely talked-about. “Many parents have never heard of ortho-K or myopia control. They know about glasses and contact lenses, and they bring their children to get prescription eyewear. That provides an opportunity to tell them about treatment options, but it isn’t ideal.”

“Myopia control should be headline news. It’s exciting. The benefits are beyond price. It’s time the world started talking about it because we’re rapidly heading towards a situation in which half the world’s population is myopic with high myopes facing further risks to their vision,” concludes Jacqueline.

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600, alternatively book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by: YDMA News, YDMA Group

Most stereotypes are based on prejudice, but occasionally, one pops up that’s based on fact – even if only remotely. “Smart kids wear glasses” could be among them, at least up to a point. Australian behavioural optometrist Jacqueline Gattegno sheds light on what is known regarding the intriguing link between myopia and IQ.

Studies Show that a Higher Percentage of Myopic Children do Well at School

The results of a 1958 study are tantalising. US-based researchers reported that children with myopia are inclined to have a higher IQ. Czech, Danish, and Israeli researchers were among those to corroborate the finding. This may seem like an open-and-shut conclusion, but nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Related research showed that myopic children, regardless of IQ, tended to do better at school. With this piece of information to digest, it might seem that studying harder, better results, and myopia are all linked.

Long hours of study can certainly cause eye strain, this can lead to elongation of the eyeball which is myopia. Additionally, there’s a clear link between too much time spent indoors and myopia, indicating that the absence of natural light is also a problem for studious children.

However, researchers were alert to the question of whether higher IQs and myopia were related, and their investigations continued. Subsequent studies published in 2004 and 2006 by Professor Seang-Mei Saw and colleagues concluded that children with myopia really did tend to have higher IQs regardless of how much time they spent reading and studying.

Why Myopia and IQ are Linked

Given that research had shown the link between Myopia and higher IQ regardless of time spent hitting the books, the next question to address would be why children with myopia tended to have higher IQs. Unfortunately, the answer to that remains a matter for scientific speculation.

Professor Saw and her team of Singaporean researchers observed that there might be a link between the genes determining a predisposition to myopia and a higher IQ with the same sets of genes influencing both traits at once. They added the thought that genes affecting eye size and growth, which are linked to myopia, may also influence neocortical size, a factor which may be associated with IQ.

Many Kids with Myopia Can Live Without Glasses

“There seems to be a grain of scientific truth behind the myth that smart kids wear glasses,” says Jacqueline, “but advances in myopia control may change that. Already, children who are developing myopia are going without glasses or contact lenses. They are seeing perfectly thanks to orthokeratology, a non-surgical treatment that uses night-time wear of hard contact lenses.”“They reshape the cornea, not only eliminating the need for day-to-day correction for myopia, but also its progression. This type of treatment is already widely used. It is to be hoped that in time, there will be further advances in this field, and that children all over the world will have access to myopia control treatments. As a result, children with a predisposition towards myopia may not have to live with short-sightedness and may not need corrective eyewear at all. That will certainly be a happy ending.”

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600, alternatively book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by: YDMA News, YDMA Group

Studies Show that a Higher Percentage of Myopic Children do Well at School

The results of a 1958 study are tantalising. US-based researchers reported that children with myopia are inclined to have a higher IQ. Czech, Danish, and Israeli researchers were among those to corroborate the finding. This may seem like an open-and-shut conclusion, but nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Related research showed that myopic children, regardless of IQ, tended to do better at school. With this piece of information to digest, it might seem that studying harder, better results, and myopia are all linked.

Long hours of study can certainly cause eye strain, this can lead to elongation of the eyeball which is myopia. Additionally, there’s a clear link between too much time spent indoors and myopia, indicating that the absence of natural light is also a problem for studious children.

However, researchers were alert to the question of whether higher IQs and myopia were related, and their investigations continued. Subsequent studies published in 2004 and 2006 by Professor Seang-Mei Saw and colleagues concluded that children with myopia really did tend to have higher IQs regardless of how much time they spent reading and studying.

Why Myopia and IQ are Linked

Given that research had shown the link between Myopia and higher IQ regardless of time spent hitting the books, the next question to address would be why children with myopia tended to have higher IQs. Unfortunately, the answer to that remains a matter for scientific speculation.

Professor Saw and her team of Singaporean researchers observed that there might be a link between the genes determining a predisposition to myopia and a higher IQ with the same sets of genes influencing both traits at once. They added the thought that genes affecting eye size and growth, which are linked to myopia, may also influence neocortical size, a factor which may be associated with IQ.

Many Kids with Myopia Can Live Without Glasses

“There seems to be a grain of scientific truth behind the myth that smart kids wear glasses,” says Jacqueline, “but advances in myopia control may change that. Already, children who are developing myopia are going without glasses or contact lenses. They are seeing perfectly thanks to orthokeratology, a non-surgical treatment that uses night-time wear of hard contact lenses.”“They reshape the cornea, not only eliminating the need for day-to-day correction for myopia, but also its progression. This type of treatment is already widely used. It is to be hoped that in time, there will be further advances in this field, and that children all over the world will have access to myopia control treatments. As a result, children with a predisposition towards myopia may not have to live with short-sightedness and may not need corrective eyewear at all. That will certainly be a happy ending.”

Smart Vision Optometry clinics are located in Sydney. Book a Smart Vision Comprehensive Vision Skills Assessment or Advanced Eye Health Test for any child or adult by calling the Bondi clinic (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic (02) 9969 1600, alternatively book an appointment online.

Written and syndicated by: YDMA News, YDMA Group

The Gift of Sight: How Eyes and Brain Work Together

Sight begins in the eyes. But it doesn’t end there. The brain is needed to process and interpret data from the eyes. It’s not a simple process. One part of the brain conjures up an image based on the data it receives from the eyes. Other parts of the brain interpret it. The gift of sight involves much more than just the eyes. Gary Rodney, a behavioural optometrist and an expert in the field of myopia control guides us through a complex process that is often taken for granted: seeing.

The Brain’s Role in Vision

It all begins when a person decides to look at something. A part of the brain stem known as the “pons” tells the eyes to move towards the object, setting the surprisingly complex process that is vision into motion.

The brain is clearly divided into lobes, and the first part of the brain to process visual information is the occipital lobe which is situated at the back of the brain. The occipital lobe’s role in vision is proven and not just a matter of conjecture. When people suffer damage to this part of the brain as a result of illness or injury, they may experience visual disturbances, or even lose their sight completely.

There’s a difference between having an image and understanding it, and the occipital lobe can’t help with the latter. Instead, visual information requires further processing, and different parts of the brain do the work.

Visuospatial cognition takes place in the parietal lobe. This part of the brain is the seat of depth perception and helps with the coordination of movement based on data such as direction and distance. Reaching for, and successfully grasping an object, for example, requires several pieces of information. Recognising the object is a good start, but if it is to be handled, its location in relation to the body is a vital piece of information.

But recognition doesn’t take place in the parietal lobe. For that, the temporal lobe must contribute its share to the process of vision. It’s the seat of memory and it’s able to turn an image into something that’s recognisable based on prior experience.

Until quite recently, experts believed that the frontal lobe wasn’t involved in processing visual information, but it’s now believed to have a rather important role. The theory is supported by information from MRI scans that showed frontal lobe activity during the performance of certain visual tasks.

It’s believed that this part of the brain “focuses” on specific objects. To illustrate this, imagine a room full of various objects. A person is looking for his or her car keys, but plenty of other things are in view. The frontal lobe might be the part of the brain that helps with spotting those car keys among the clutter of other objects in view.

Super-Quick Communication Through a Neural Network

In order to transfer information from the eyes to the different parts of the brain that use and interpret visual information, a super-fast information highway is needed. The retina of the eye has special light-sensitive cells called rod and cone cells. When light strikes one of them, it sends a nerve impulse through the optic nerve to the occipital lobe which processes the information to make up part of an image.

But the image is without any meaning until the occipital lobe is able to match it with a memory. If there’s no match, this part of the brain will store it as a new memory, or it will still retain the memory, if only temporarily, categorising it into understandable information that can be used like “Oh that’s where the car keys are!”

It’s remarkable how quickly this all happens. Some researchers have equated the “speed of sight” as being equivalent to that of a good Ethernet connection, but that’s rather conservative as estimates go. It can be even faster. It’s theorised that the brain prioritises information and works a little more slowly when it deems information less than vitally important, saving its top speed for urgent data – like that obtained from rapidly approaching objects.

Behavioural Optometry: When Eye Tests are About More Than Just Eyes

With so much more than eyes involved in vision, it should come as no surprise that some optometrists do much more than just test the physical ability of the eyes to see clearly. “There’s a lot more to vision than just seeing,” says Gary. “That’s why behavioural optometrists test for visual skills as well as visual acuity. When visual skills need to be developed, it’s more than just a matter of prescribing glasses, but proven therapies can often help with vision problems that go beyond mere eyesight.”

For more information on vision therapy and how it works, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

“AFL star Danyle Pearce is a good example,” says Jacqueline. “His poor ball handling skills were holding him back – until a visit to an optometrist uncovered the fact that his vision was to blame for the faults in his gameplay. All it took for this player to reach the top of his game was a good pair of contact lenses.”

Olympic swimmer and gold medallist Mark Horton is yet another short-sighted athlete. In his case, prescription swimming goggles make it possible for him to see clearly in the water. Once out of the pool, he dons his regular glasses again. Cricketer Chris Rodgers is yet another famous sporting myope, as is New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is also among the world’s most famous contact-lens-wearing athletes.

Glasses and Sports Don’t Always go Well Together

There’s no denying that wearing glasses and playing sports don’t always go well together, and that’s why athletes are rarely seen wearing glasses. “It limits their peripheral vision, and in contact sports, broken glasses could lead to a bad accident,” says Jacqueline. “But just because people don’t see athletes wearing spectacles doesn’t mean that there aren’t short-sighted athletes.”

“Some of them, like the golfer Tiger Woods, opt for surgery to correct myopia, but that’s a big step. Contact lenses are safe for use in most sports, and they aren’t the only non-surgical option. Ortho-K lenses that reshape the cornea while people sleep are suitable for many patients, and if they use them, they don’t need to wear glasses or contact lenses during the day to enjoy perfect vision.”

In some sports, eyewear isn’t particularly limiting. For example, runners and cyclists often choose prescription sports eyewear. There are snugly-fitting frames that don’t easily slip or jostle out of place, and Jaqueline adds that the addition of UV protection will protect their eyes against sun damage.

Sports-Specific Solutions

For those who are short-sighted and eager to participate in sports, there are many options available, and the one that suits them best will depend on the type of sport they want to play. The best place to begin is with a visit to an optometrist with experience in sports vision assessment and training. 

“Training the eyes and improving visual skills can ultimately give people an advantage over athletes with perfect eyesight but less well-developed visual skills,” says Jacqueline. “At the same time, professional and amateur athletes can investigate their eyewear options based on sports-specific recommendations. If there are fewer people with myopia playing sport than are found in the general population, it’s only because many of them still believe that being short-sighted means they can’t play sport. That simply isn’t true.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Jacqueline Gattegno – Changes in Eyesight Due to a Rise in Stress Levels

For more information on eye health, visual skills and therapy, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Jobs Requiring Near Work and Screen Time

It’s long been believed that jobs requiring very detailed, fine work or close-up work can adversely affect the eyes. However, it’s more a case of eye-strain than vision loss. Nevertheless, eye strain and its consequences are uncomfortable enough to have a very negative impact on one’s work and daily life, so it should certainly be classed as an occupational hazard.

“Eye strain is a real problem for people who do a lot of near work and computer-based work. There are studies that suggest that prolonged screen time could cause permanent damage to eyes. However, the generally accepted view is that digital eye strain is like other forms of eye strain: it can cause symptoms like blurry vision or even double vision, but once the strain is relieved, the symptoms go away,” says Jaqueline. “At Eyes in Design, eye exercises, computer glasses that reduce the effects of blue light, or both are suggested. It’s also worth looking at workplace ergonomics and simple ways in which workers can reduce the risk of straining their eyes.”

Jobs in Which Foreign Objects or Chemicals can Injure Eyes

For those who work in an environment where there’s flying debris, no matter how small, eye protection is a must. “Foreign bodies in the eye can lead to corneal abrasions, even when they are quite small,” says Jacqueline. “Chemicals can be even more dangerous. The bottom line is that workplace health and safety protocols should indicate which jobs require eye protection, and when they do, compliance is key.”

“You may want to visit an optometrist and find out about industrial safety glasses. They don’t replace protective eyewear, but they don’t break as easily on impact, and some designs allow for the addition of side-shields that allow the glasses to be used as protective eyewear for certain tasks.”

Outdoor Jobs

Working outdoors in the sunshine might sound like a pleasant prospect, but it has a few downsides, and the sun itself is one of them. The harmful effects of UV light can cause or contribute to a range of eye problems ranging from corneal sunburn to cataracts and macular degeneration. “If you work outdoors, you should wear polarised sunglasses or choose glasses with photosensitive lenses that darken in sunlight,” says Jaqueline. “There is a very real risk of permanent damage to the eyes from excessive sun exposure, and they need protection.”

Shift Work or Sleep Deprivation

The mental and physical demands of a job that makes inroads into a person’s sleep patterns are many, and their eye health will suffer too. Dry eyes are common in those who don’t sleep enough, but that’s probably the least of their concerns. “Insufficient sleep has been linked to glaucoma which can cause total vision loss,” says Jacqueline. “Dry eyes may sound more uncomfortable than vision-threatening, but dry eyes are also more susceptible to infections. It’s important for your overall health to get enough sleep, and if you’re not able to sleep properly, you need to look for solutions to rectify that.”

Risk is Part of Life, but Risk Mitigation Should be Too

Risk is an ever-present part of life and risk avoidance isn’t always possible. However, risk mitigation is almost always possible, and safeguarding one’s vision should be given priority. “If you’re concerned about the way in which your work affects your vision, visit a behavioural optometrist who will not only look at how well you can see, but also the visual demands of your job,” Jacqueline concludes.

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Jacqueline Gattegno – Changes in Eyesight Due to a Rise in Stress Levels

For more information on eye injuries and impairments, and how they can be treated, or to make an appointment for a regular eye check, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

“One in five children will have undetected vision problems in documented research, and there is more to vision than just being able to see clearly. Behavioural optometrists look beyond the potential for clear eyesight and examine how the eyes are being used. They will use special tests to see if the eyes work well together, if they are able to change focus easily, if they can track systematically from one object to the next, analyse the information they’re getting from their eyes well, and coordinate physical movements based on visual information. Our research has shown with the increased use of screens and technology it is now more unusual to find a visual system with no problems when we look at all the vision skills and not just clarity of sight” says Gary.

“The branch of optometry that looks at the way in which visual skills are developing is also known as developmental optometry, and the term is appropriate since visual skills can be developed.”

Improving Children’s Visual First Experience of Study

It’s Gary’s opinion that examination by a behavioural optometrist should occur before children begin with school. “Struggling with school is inevitable when there are visual or visual skills problems,” says Gary. 

“Early experiences can have a lifelong effect on a child’s perception of learning and his or her abilities in learning environments. When children struggle with vision, it’s unlikely that they will articulate the real problems they are experiencing. As far as they’re concerned, the way they see and experience the world is normal.”

Detect and Control Myopia

Shortsightedness in children is more common than most parents realise – and it’s on the rise. What’s even less well-known is that the progression of myopia, the seemingly inevitable process in which every new pair of glasses is stronger than the last, can be controlled. It’s even possible for shortsighted kids to go without glasses or contact lenses during the day and still see perfectly. 

The advance that makes this possible is known as Orthokeratology, and it’s among Gary Rodney’s special interests. “Orthokeratology or Ortho-K means wearing custom-made hard contact lenses that reshape the cornea at night. In the morning, the contacts are removed, and no glasses are needed. The potential impact is huge. Myopia doesn’t progress as it otherwise would, and that means better eyesight in adulthood too.”

An Early Start for a Better Life

A simple visit to a behavioural optometrist or better still a Smart Vision Optometrist has the potential for far-reaching effects. “It’s hugely motivating that there can be lifelong benefits from the work done with children at Eyes in Design,” says Gary. “To kids and parents, it may seem like nothing much – just a super-comprehensive eye test. But if issues with vision are resolved, it’s the start of a better life, better academic and sports performance, better self-image, and ultimately, a happier and more fruitful adulthood.” 

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on behavioural optometry, perceptual vision and vision therapy, or to book an eye exam, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

She says the consequences of staring at smartphones too much and too long go far further than temporary “computer fatigue”, currently describing the side-effects of screen overtime and the short wavelength blue light screens emit. And not even those who’ve passed the standard 20/20 eye test with flying colours, and show no clear signs of vision problems, are totally immune to it. 

“In spite of this, children are still owning smartphones and using them far more than an hour a day. Instead they are using them almost all the time, whether they’re at school, at home, or even after getting into bed at night. And sometimes those whose eyesight is still developing, have not yet started school, and are still in prams or pushchairs, are doing the same,” Gattegno said. 

New Research Reveals Smartphone’s Threats

According to Gattegno, new research and statistics have suggested smartphones could be contributing to the epidemic levels of myopia, the shortsighted refractive error predicted to affect the vision of 50% of the global population by 2050. And other research has reported finding imbalances similar to those seen in people with mental illnesses in the brain chemistry of young smartphone users who spend a large amount of time staring at them. 

Other studies have linked even one hour a day spent staring at a smartphone screen with a significant rise in anxiety and depression among children. Gattegno says it’s also been associated with a drop in children’s curiosity about the world around them, and an increase in the amount of bad behaviour like bullying, short attention spans, and low performance at school, with most of these attributed to the instant gratification and constant streams of information, sound and colour, provided by mobiles, which could overwhelm the brain and distort the children’s perceptual vision skills.

Tips on How to Lower the Risks

Gattegno says that the best way to avoid these threats, is to reduce the time spent staring at screens by setting boundaries on the time young eyes spend focused on them. 

The smartphones themselves provide some assistance in the form of anti-glare screens and settings which reduce the emission of blue light, which studies now show may actually damage the cornea and impact badly on vision. It’s also possible to adjust the brightness and contrast, as well as the size of the text, all of which go some way towards reducing potential harm to the eyes. Keeping the screen clean and clear of blotchy fingerprints, and teaching children to blink frequently when watching the screen, will help protect their eyes from getting dry and help reduce eye strain, as will ensuring the screen is at least 16 inches away from their eyes while they are watching.

Gattegno says it’s also wise to involve children in other activities which will help their eyes and at the same time distract them from the screen.  Time outside, engaging with nature under natural light and doing some exercise, is the best answer. It also creates an opportunity to implement the 20/20/20 rule of eye care, which recommends that every 20 minutes children should look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds, and take a 15-minute break from any type of screen every 50 minutes.

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on screen usage, behavioural optometry, perceptual vision and vision therapy, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

He welcomes both the annual international Myopia Awareness Week in May, and the World Council of Optometry (WCO) Board of Directors decision to approve a resolution which advises optometrists to incorporate a standard of care for myopia management in their practices. This includes three approaches aimed at advising parents and patients on risk factors in order to delay the onset of myopia; regular eye tests which, when possible, include measuring the myopia refractive error and axial length; as well as a management programme based on correcting and controlling myopia with an eye to patients’ future eye health and quality of life.

Getting Myopia and its Management Under Control

Rodney says he is hopeful that these and other similar programmes, together with a new generation of myopia treatments might stop the existing lack of consensus as to ways to treat and manage this so-far incurable vision problem, which has been increasing its prevalence at epidemic level year after year, and impacted on more and more people’s sight and lives.

“A considerable increase in awareness and consensus on treatment and management of this vision error could show some light at the end of its blurry tunnel. It’s just sad that reaching this point has taken almost as many years as it’s taken for myopia to increase from affecting a small and manageable number of children to a point at which it’s projected to affect every second person by 2050. And even sadder, is that we have still not found a cure for myopia,” Rodney says. 

He said a recent global survey revealed that 82% of eye care professions expressed concern that their young patients would face the impact of serious eye health and myopia issues as they got older. But what was troubling to him, was that more than half of them laid the problem at the door of parents’ lack of awareness. Yet, according to another survey in Australia, many of them were themselves not taking advantage of the new methods of myopia treatment and control. 

According to Rodney, more than half of the respondents said they were still using single vision distance glasses to treat child myopia, and providing new and stronger glasses each year as the myopia continued to progress, despite their being aware of newer approaches and treatments that were proving to be more successful. 

And, at the same time, more and more eye specialists and scientists were agreeing that single vision glasses, the accepted method for treating myopia for many decades, do little more than clearing distance sight with a series of increasingly strong lenses, and may actually increase the progression of the vision error.

Why Myopia Management is So Important

He says that nearsightedness develops when either the cornea or the eye’s lens have an abnormal shape, or the eyeball is too long. This can cause the focus of messages carried into the eyes to be in front of the retina rather than on it, resulting in blurred distance vision. But many people are unaware that myopia is about far more than this. 

Rodney says It has been linked to the world’s largest causes of vision loss, cataract, glaucoma, macular degeneration and retinal detachment, and according to its level of severeness, puts people with myopia at greater risk of getting them. With moderate myopia the risks of glaucoma double, cataract triples, retinal detachments are nine times greater, and macular degeneration ten times more likely. If myopia is allowed to progress to the high myopia level, the risks rise to three times higher for glaucoma, five times for cataract, and the chances of a detached retina increase by 21 times, while the risk of macular degeneration rises to 40 times more. 

Moves Away from Standard Glasses for Myopics

While myopia treatments have mostly moved towards the use of specially-designed contact lenses of various types, including both multi-focus and single distance lenses, when it comes to Orthokeratology the contact lens is part of an overnight treatment programme. This contact lens is gas-permeable and temporarily reshapes the cornea, and if properly used on a nightly basis, has been shown to enable myopes to not have to wear glasses during the day.

Two new ideas have entered the myopia treatment sector recently, one of which is a is a single-day contact lens clinically proven to slow myopia progression when used early enough in the progression. The other, Rodney says, returns to the idea of ordinary single-vision glasses. However, this new pair of spectacles is not ordinary, instead using spectacle lenses which have either slightly or highly aspherical lenslets. 

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia and Smart Vision’s approach to myopia management, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

“400 years down the line, and facing the annual international Myopia Awareness Week in May, we are dealing with an epidemic predicted to affect at least every second person globally by 2050. And while various ways to manage and control its progression have been developed, we are still battling to fully understand this mysterious refraction error,” Rodney says.

Myopia’s Impact on Vision and Life

Myopia, which doesn’t only affect distance vision, but is also linked to serious threats to eyesight like cataracts, non-age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and retinal detachment, all of which can end in blindness or seriously affected vision if not treated.

At the same time, and even at its lower levels, myopia can also impact on people’s lives by affecting their attitude and reaction to the world they see around them, which they know is not the same as the one seen by others who see it clearly and without a blur. This understanding of their “difference” can affect their self-image as well as how they function and perform emotionally, in learning and during social interaction, Rodney says. 

What Causes Myopia

Discussions and studies are still underway as to whether the refractive error which causes the eyes to only focus clearly on close objects is the result of genetics, an argument based on the three time increase in risk of children with one myopic parent, and six times more likely where both have the vision problem, or the result of the urban lifestyles adopted by those parental myopes and other city dwellers. And there’s an increasing movement towards the idea that it might be a bit of both.

What is known, Rodney says, is that the refractive error is definitely caused by changed shape and or length of the eyeball which leads to the eye focusing short of the retina and affecting the processing connection between eye and brain.

Myopia Progression

“This vision problem starts on young eyes which are still developing, becomes stronger as they go through their school years unless carefully controlled, and depending on its level of seriousness, normally slows this rapid progression to near stability during the 20s.”

However, he says that the ‘stability” is not a given. Not all children experience myopia in the same way. Factors such as the age of onset; degree and speed of change in the shape of the eye; and the speed and intensity of the myopic progression, can result in the more common mild myopia reaching its high, degenerative or pathological levels. And if growth does slow in the 20s, myopia can resurface in older myopes, bringing with it more serious eye conditions, some of which can lead to vision loss.

The Importance of Awareness

Rodney says these varied patterns and outlooks, and the refractive error’s increasing impact with age, underline the importance of global efforts by eye health organisations to increase awareness of this mysterious eye problem with an annual day or week during May every year. And in 2021, these awareness efforts, initially introduced in response to the epidemic rate at which myopia is racing through populations in most developed countries, is even more vital. 

Recent studies carried out on young children under Covid-19 lockdowns during 2020 have revealed results which suggest that the 2050 number could be reached a lot sooner. The studies also showed faster and higher progression levels, and a big rise in onset among 6-year-olds, an age-group previously seen as being unlikely to fall prey to the refractive error.

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia and Smart Vision’s approach to myopia management, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Rodney says the quality of the information provided by senses like the eyes is vital to the creation of an understandable overall picture of what is seen and experienced. It can help the person viewing it to perceive it, react to it, and understand it in a way that the information it supplies enables them to function and fit into their surroundings. 

However, this data can be easily compromised if the information sent to the brain for processing, is distorted in any way, or the processing systems are not functioning correctly. 

A Ray of Hope for Myopics

Rodney said the positive results of a study which showed that perceptual learning used in neural processing could make up for at least some of the problems caused by optical defects like myopia, and is a welcome addition to the toolbox of treatments currently being used to manage this fast-spreading refraction error. These include specially-designed single, and multi-focal contact lenses, as well as the Orthokeratology overnight treatment which uses gas permeable contacts.

When the References are Faulty

He said vision processing in the visual cortex uses memories and information accumulated from reactions to various stimuli like light, colour, construction and location as reference, and this is where perceptual learning has stepped in. Where these references have been distorted by poor vision or a glitch in the way the brain makes use of them, studies are suggesting that perceptual learning can change how people see using vision task performance training. 

However, most studies like the myopia one are still focusing only on specific aspects of the problem. In this case the study reported a significant amount of improvement in both contrast sensitivity and visual acuity in adults with myopia who had perceptual learning. 

Rodney, while welcoming these results, like many other eye doctors and researchers, is hoping that future studies will take a wider approach to the problem, and bring about even more positive results with regard to improving myopic vision and reducing its impact on their perception of the world around them. 

How Myopia Impacts on Vision

“Distortion of data and how it’s processed is one of the worst consequences of myopia for the billions who have this progressive refractory error. It’s the difference between good perceptual vision (or insight) and blurred plain sight. The compromised data collected any more than a few feet away won’t only be visibly blurred, but will not be pure and accurate enough for the brain to be able to create a clear picture of it ,” Rodney says. 

“And myopia also impacts on how the data is processed into signals that are sent to the brain for further processing into a final thought image. This happens because myopia causes the light rays which carry the initial data to land short of the retina instead of on it, so impacting on how this receptor and processor of the data functions.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia prevention and management, perceptual vision and vision therapy and its importance, or to book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

The Debate Goes On

He says there has been a great deal of debate about the effects of screens on children’s eyes, and the Computer Vision Syndrome caused when screens are watched for too long, which is said to cause poor eye-teaming, eye fatigue, blurred vision and dry eyes. 

However, Rodney says other factors are now entering the discussion as eye experts become increasingly aware of the growing impact on vision caused by technology and lifestyle, in some cases as a result of studies-based experience during Covid-19 lockdowns. 

Far Beyond Fatigue

These have led to suggestions that long spells of screen watching at one focal distance could adversely impact on children’s distance and peripheral vision (side vision) as well as their depth and perceptual vision skills, and affect their understanding of what they are seeing; and it might even contribute to the epidemic levels of myopia (shortsightedness) currently affecting one in three people globally.

He says this is supported by researchers studying myopia (nearsightedness), and its growth to epidemic levels along with the speedy growth of technology, close work, and urbanisation, which has resulted in largely indoor and screen-dominated lifestyles. 

“Taking children’s natural tendency to mimic their parents’ habits into consideration, many of these researchers are increasingly focusing on this type of lifestyle when looking for a cause for myopia, instead of focusing entirely on parental genes. And their move in this direction has, in turn, been supported by studies showing a significant growth in myopia during lockdowns, particularly in young children,” Rodney says.

Cutting the Connection with Learning

According to Rodney, while technology, and specially screens, provide quick access to knowledge, and even faster answers, there is no real connection created between the viewer and the information or two-dimensional image on the screen. Nor is there a tangible one with the computer that delivers it. And as quickly as it is delivered, it can be deleted from the screen, and even from the viewer’s memory. 

This lack of connection or engagement can impact considerably on children’s perceptual vision, the skill that enables them to understand what they are seeing on the screen, and its relevance in their lives. It can also lead to a loss of curiosity about knowledge, and shorter attention spans when it comes to learning. 

“Studies have shown that children learn best when engaged on a person- to-person basis, whether that’s with a parent or a teacher. Perhaps it’s a throwback to a time long ago, when most children learned from their parents about how to function, behave, and survive in the real world, and learning was, more often than not, the result of demonstration, participation, observation, and practicality,” Rodney says.

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia treatment and management, as well as to learn about vision therapy, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

According to Rodney, the homeschooling approach to learning, with its flexibility in regard to the curriculum and free choice in terms of how, where and at what rate it’s supplied, provides an ideal opportunity, often not possible in public schools, to include some important extras in the home curriculum which will both protect children’s visual perception  and, at the same time, allow parents to keep their own eyes open to any signs of vision problems, and take action if they do so.  However, not taking advantage of this opportunity could have the opposite result. 

Learning by Seeing, Doing and Experiencing

Recommended steps include controlling screen time spent on both learning and entertainment; ensuring that regular physical exercise is part of the homeschool day; providing opportunities for children to focus on real objects at various distances; and taking frequent breaks outdoors engaging with the natural world under natural light. 

Specially when it comes to young children, Rodney recommends that learning tools such as puzzles, building blocks, and other educational toys should be used. Demonstrations, participation, and discussions on learning subjects should be included, to make learning fun, and real, and so assist in the development of children’s visual perception skills, which are vital for making what’s seen or read meaningful and usable in their lives.

Clues Provided by Lockdowns

“The lockdowns, in addition to providing parents with a trial run on homeschooling, also supplied researchers with data regarding the side-effects of indoor lifestyles and schooling on children’s sight and vision health, and on their attitudes, behaviour and performance when learning, as well as how much they participated and connected with the process,” Rodney says.

“Results were both positive and negative. On the one hand, academic outcomes seemed better than those produced in the classroom. However, the researchers also saw a significant decline in homeschoolers’ levels of applied thinking, engagement, application, and interest in the process, so lessening their understanding regarding what they saw on screens.” 

He says studies also showed a considerable rise in the number of very young children with myopia (shortsightedness), a refractive error which affects children’s ability to see anything that isn’t very close to them. And some researchers linked this directly to screen time during which the eyes maintain the same short focal length for long periods and viewers tend to forget to blink.

How the Visual Process Works

Sight is considered the most important of our senses as it collects about 80% of the information people need to respond to threats, understand the world around them, how to function in it, and where they fit into it. However, this information is initially received in an unusable “raw” state in the form of data provided by light rays which land in the eyes.   

“It’s the very complex visual system lead by the brain that’s responsible for processing this data from electrochemical signals into meaningful information that can be understood and used by those who ‘saw’ it,” Rodney says. 

To achieve this the brain relies mostly on built-up memories of shapes and sizes, construction, textures, colours and locations, to transform this data into thought processes which put it into perspective by setting it in context and giving it a meaning the viewer can understand, respond to, and apply. 

Information Mustn’t be Compromised

If the eyes, the original data, the processing system, or the processed information provided by the brain in the form of a thought image, is compromised in any way, including by how, when, and where it’s delivered and experienced, this can impact on sight, vision, behaviour, and physical and social activity. 

Rodney says where problems could arise is if homeschoolers are allowed to spend too much time studying on computers or spend most of their time indoors, as both have been shown to impact on vision health and visual perception. 

He says the jury is still out as to how much the single and short focal distance involved in screen viewing affects the data received by the eyes and brain. But concerns exist that because the screen information is not real, remains static (even if it’s supposedly moving), has no depth, and therefore no association with the brain’s memory bank, it may not fully meet the brain’s processing requirements, and therefore not be presented as information which is fully understandable and usable.

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia prevention and management, perceptual vision, or to book an appointment for a visual perception test online, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

He says that a British survey by the College of Optometrists showed that overall one in three people who responded to the survey believed their vision had worsened during lockdowns, and 42% of those in the 18 to 34 age group had attributed the eye deterioration to screen time and digital eye strain.

How Lockdown Impacted on Vision

“The escalation in eye problems since the pandemic started in 2020 isn’t surprising. Lockdown regulations and the virus itself led to increased stress and anxiety levels; mandatory indoor lifestyles, and less exercise and outdoor time. It also brought about a huge increase in the frequency and length of exposure to cell phones and screens, as more and more people worked, taught their children, or sought entertainment, while “staying at home”. And all of these factors are known to contribute to eye problems,” Rodney says.

“Treatments and regular eye check ups were also disrupted. This is partly due to a reluctance to go to eye clinics for fear of Covid-19 infection, which research shows affected close to 60% of people surveyed. And many hospitals postponed eye surgery, especially with regard to cataracts, one of the biggest causes of eye impairment and vision loss in those over 40, and even more so in those over 60.” 

Lockdowns’ Effect on the Myopia Epidemic

Rodney says that pre-Covid-19, nearsightedness was already affecting billions of people worldwide, and predictions were that by 2050 it would be impacting on every second person globally. But Rodney says the results of an on-going study, which has gathered data on myopia since 2015 from more than 120,000 Chinese children between 6 and 13 years old, paints a dim picture of what’s now being called “quarantine myopia”. And this may lead to the 2050 prediction being raised considerably higher. 

The 2020 data showed a more than three times faster increase in the number of children between 6 and 8 who had myopia or were likely to get it, when compared with data collected in the previous five years. When compared with 2018 data, the numbers for six-year-olds rose from 5.7% to over 20%; from 16.2% to 26.2% in seven-year-olds; and from 27.7% to 37.25% in those who were 8. The study also detected an acuity shift of 0.3 diopters (or units of refractive power) towards the refractive error.

According to Rodney, myopia doesn’t stop at causing severe loss of distance vision, and allowing clear sight only when objects are seen close up. It also impacts on myopics’ learning abilities; mental, physical and psychological health; and increases the progress and severity of the world’s worst eye diseases, including cataract; glaucoma; retinal detachment; non-age-related macular degeneration; as well as blindness in the elderly.

For more information on vision problems, or to make an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Turning Lives and Function Upside Down

Brought about by a glitch in the visual processing system, spatial relation problems can quite literally turn children’s lives around, upside down, and back to front; as well as leading to a number of actions and responses which might be labelled mistakenly as bad behaviour; physical and social clumsiness; or learning difficulties (especially when it comes to maths, reading, and writing).

Rodney says spatial relationship problems can affect the way children stand, how they walk, dance, or play; as well as their ability to concentrate, solve problems, recognise shapes, and make sense of numbers and letters.

“Children who haven’t fully developed their vision-spatial relationship skills have a lot in common with those who try to identify, place and join together the pieces of a puzzle game. If placed together correctly, the puzzle pieces would provide a beautiful picture. If it’s never finished, and instead is left partly completed on the table, the resultant picture will continue to be confusing, disorientating, and isolating for as long as it lies there.

For those with vision-spatial relation difficulties, the table is the world, the unfinished picture is their place in that world, and the missing pieces represent their lack of understanding of where they and objects around them fit into the picture, how close they are together, and what shape they are. And this creates more and longer-lasting confusion together with a feeling of being isolated from the world around them,” Rodney says.

A Glitch in the Toolbox

According to Rodney, deficiency in visual-spatial relations is not really a vision dysfunction, but rather a missing gap in the toolbox of vision skills which ensure that all the necessary data the brain needs to process the information is sent to it by the eyes.

The brain, more than half of which is devoted to processing information, relies on its “libraries” of previously processed data to confirm or challenge the accuracy of new messages from the eyes. Special attention is paid to the construction, colour, location and environment involved, so as to give the finished image a meaning that’s relevant and understandable.

However, Rodney says that is precisely the sort of information those with visual-spatial and perceptive vision problems are unable to provide. This is because of their inability to understand shapes and their differences; locations and movement-based activities; the distance between objects, and directions like up and down, as well as left and right. And because of that, neither can they understand how to organize groups of objects, words, letters or numbers in a synchronized way, any more than they can “organize” their physical or mental relationship with them.

For more information on visual skills and their importance, and their therapy, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

However, according to Australian behavioural optometrists Jacqueline Gattegno and Gary Rodney, many don’t realise that the lack of sleep can have far more serious effects on their eyesight and vision than merely spoiling their aesthetics or their mood, or that some even lead to vision loss.

Why A Good Night’s Sleep is Necessary

According to Rodney, a master of optometry and fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), regularly having the correct amount of the right sort of sleep leads to better and clearer eyesight, vision, and eye function. The recommended amount is 7 to 8 hours at night for adults, longer for teenagers, and still more for young children whose eyes are still developing.

These extended sleep periods provide adequate time for restoring and renewing the cells, lubricating the eyes, and improving the health of the tissues, nerves and muscles in and around the eyes. Not giving the eyes this vital time for maintenance can result in nothing more than a little discomfort in the short-term, but it can also seriously affect the eyes and visual system, and can sometimes lead to impaired vision or blindness, says Gattegno.

How Lack of Sleep Can Affect the Eyes

• The Eye Spasms and Twitching experienced after a short or restless night’s sleep, probably won’t harm vision permanently, but they can be extremely irritating and distracting at the very least. Rodney says they may also affect the ability to focus, and influence the ability to perform everyday functions such as driving, working on the computer, or reading.
  
• Dry Eye Syndrome is caused when the eyes don’t produce enough tears (or they evaporate too soon) to clean and lubricate the eyes. While this can occur naturally, Rodney says it is also associated with too much time spent watching screens with a fixed focus, and little blinking or eye movement. And it can also result from too little sleep.

He says all these habits limit the tears eyes build up during blinking or sleeping, and affects their ability to circulate them in order to keep the eyes lubricated. The result can cause headaches; itchy, scratchy or red eyes; blurred vision; increased light sensitivity; stringy mucus in and around the eyes; eye infections and eye fatigue. But, when it happens too often, it can also lead to scratches developing on the cornea which covers the eye and protects it against UV light rays, and may even result in total vision loss if left untreated.

• The most severe eye impairments, and the most likely to cause vision loss, flourish in a poor health environment, according to Rodney. Two of the best known are Glaucoma, which builds up pressure inside the eyes to a point where it damages the optic nerve and, starting with the peripheral vision, gradually leads to total vision loss; and Diabetic Retinopathy, which, in reaction to Diabetes 2, damages the blood vessels in the retina, which normally act as the landing point for the light rays delivering information about what is seen for transfer to the brain.
  
• A rarer vision condition, Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy (AION), also seems to have a connection with sleep loss, and particularly where the sleep-deprived person has sleep apnea. This causes inflammation in the eye blood vessels, which can also result in vision loss over time.
  

For more information on how to identify and avoid eye conditions and impairments, or to make an appointment for a regular eye check, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

The Opposite of Myopia but Also on the Rise

Presbyopia is the onset and slow progression of physical loss of focus as people age past midlife and they are slowly deprived of the clear vision needed when reading or doing close work over a period of time. It is the direct opposite to Myopia, shortsightedness which provides good vision when looking at something less than 20ft away, and only blurred images when the object is further away.

Rodney says both are refraction errors caused by the light rays, which enter the eyes carrying information about what is seen, not landing in the right place. The two are also similar in that they are increasingly affecting younger people than they did some decades ago. Myopia is now impacting on the lives of the very young, and presbyopia is being diagnosed as starting its slow process in some people in their early 30’s, and a larger number in their 40’s, in today’s world.    

Both Smart Vision Optometry (SVO) practitioners leave the question open as to whether the change is going in the opposite direction on a similar path to that being taken at the opposite end of the age chain, where urban lifestyle with it’s indoor living, and too much exposure to screens and close work, all of which involve near focus, have been linked to the on-going epidemic of myopia which is currently spreading round the globe.

Presbyopia on Similar but Slower Curve to Myopia

Like myopia, presbyopia is also on the rise compared to the days when the young played and the elderly retired. Then both spent more time outside, had the chance to exercise, and could enjoy exposure to natural light and the opportunity to focus on objects in the distance, Rodney says.

The rise in numbers is mostly attributed to city dwelling and schooling in the case of myopia, and to the increasing number of elderly people and their longer life expectancy for presbyopia. However, the possibility is that both could be responses by the brain to changes in the way sight and vision is focused, understood and used in the current environment in which they are living, Rodney says.

Statistics suggest that presbyopia’s curve is lower and slower than myopia’s. It is likely to rise from affecting 23% of the world population at the start of this century to 25% by 2050, while myopia is projected to reach 50% before then.

For more information on presbyopia, myopia and other refractive errors, or to make an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Epidemics Don’t Leave Quietly

Rodney says these eye experts are concerned that the myopia epidemic will bring about a “new normal” of its own, and they are even more concerned that it may have already done so through its close relationship with urban areas and the lifestyles people follow there.

“Any epidemic, or a pandemic like the current Covid-19 virus, will leave chaos in its wake as it runs through the world’s population. And it won’t be just its effects on the physical health of those it’s targeted that will be left behind. There will also be a trail of physical, emotional, and social stress that will affect millions of people’s lives and how they live them. And the Myopia epidemic is no exception. It’s been leaving a widening trail of people with this refractive error since it started its upward curve in the 1970s,” Rodney says. 

Statistics show that developed and urbanised countries like the USA, UK, South America, East Asia and some European countries, have been hardest hit by the myopic onslaught and have the biggest number of people dealing with the eye impairment which leads to their seeing anything further than 20ft away as a blur, and only having clear vision when looking at something close to hand. Unable to see the whole or long-term picture the same way as those with normal vision, many myopics (and specially those who have severe levels of myopia) tend to adopt a world view based on their own shortened and narrowed perception of views, objects and actions that are only clear when close by.

Urbanisation Growing Alongside Myopia

According to Rodney urban lifestyle could seem to be an ideal place for myopics to thrive. It’s surroundings, environment, culture and focuses revolve around speed in manufacture and development; quick turn-around time; short-term investments, and large debts; close work; inside living; take-out meals; and multiple screens, all of which exclude long-term views, plans and concern about consequences. And it seems the cities have happily accepted them, as well as the wider understanding and use of the word “myopia” and concept of shortsightedness, which are both becoming popular topics and descriptions of attitudes outside the vision arena. After many years of dormancy, these old-fashioned terms are back in political and business rhetoric to challenge speeches or decisions considered to be ignoring the long term and its consequences; and in psychology, “mental myopia” is being used to describe someone’s narrow and biased reactions to others.

However, instead of seeing this as an ideal arrangement, Rodney says matching urbanisation and myopia appears to increase the onset of myopia and the speed at which it progresses, while increased numbers of myopics may raise the influence of short-term approach to work and lifestyle in the city as it expands its share of the population.

The jury is still out as to which came first, and which will have the greatest impact on living and seeing in a myopic world. That’s because alongside the myopia epidemic, and with similar timing, urbanisation numbers have also been soaring upwards in their own “epidemic” since the 1970’s. Since then it’s risen from 1,3billion, or a third of the population living in or near cities, to 3,3billion (or half the population) by 2007, and reached 4,62billion in 2019. And by 2050, 6billion city dwellers (or two out of three of the world’s population), are expected to be crowded into cities which already house more than half the world’s population on less than 10% of the earth’s habitable land.

For more information on myopia, its treatment and management, or to make an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Why It’s Important to Contain the Surge of Myopia

Rodney says that the effects of the refractive error stretch far further than how it influences vision by causing myopics to see everything close by clearly but anything further away as a blur. It affects and worsens other eye dysfunctions, and impairments like cataracts, non-age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and retinal detachment, and it can also impact on the emotional, functional, learning and social aspects of the lives of those who have it, as well as their self-image, and ability to feel that they fit into a world they can’t see properly. 

Passed-on Lifestyle Habits Could be at Core of a Spiking Myopiademic

According to Rodney, studies that show children born to myopic parents are more likely to also be myopic, (three times more likely if only one parent is myopic, and six times more if both are) have long attributed this to a variety of genes. However, Rodney says researchers and eye doctors are currently shifting their focus towards the possibility that the parent-child increase in myopic risk might have less (or nothing) to do with genes after all.

The catalyst may instead be entrenched in the passing down, generation after generation, of the family lifestyle to young children who, in learning about their new world, tend to copy their parents’ lifestyle patterns as if these are the blueprint of life. And, Rodney says, if the family has lived in or around a city for generations, the “blueprint” passed on in terms of family history will be that of the second biggest threat in terms of prolonging the epidemic, the urban lifestyle. This way of life involves confined indoor-living in which too little time is spent exercising, or outdoors under natural light; and too much is spent in front of screens in small areas lit by artificial light, all of which have been identified as increasing the onset, and speeding up the progression of myopia.

How Myopia Could Take Over the World’s Vision

Myopia has been increasing its prevalence at a fast rate since the 1970s when under a million people were myopic. Currently it’s believed to be affecting nearly 3billion people, or one third of the world population, and projections suggest it could rise to impacting on one out of two (or around 5 billion) people by 2050.

“ The current myopia epidemic has been running up the graph fairly closely in sync with a similar but slightly faster surge in urbanisation, which is projected to reach a point by 2050 where two out of three of the global population will be living urban lifestyles,” Rodney says.

What concerns him is that this could lead to an even more blurry future in the decades that follow 2050, perhaps even leading to a world in which almost everyone could be subject to low myopia, at the very least. And where a far bigger share of those myopics than the 10% (up from 2,2 % 50 years ago) projected for the more severe levels of high or pathological myopia in 2050, may become a very harsh reality.

These statistics and projections may seem trivial with regard to the prevalence of myopia down the line, Rodney says, when the intrinsic risks to children of being born to myopic parents are taken into account. This suggests that everybody could be at risk of being affected by myopia because in a world half populated by myopics, at least one parent (and probably both) of every child born in the second half of the century, would be likely to be myopic. And this could start an endless vicious circle which could propel myopia still further and faster towards taking over the whole world’s vision.

To learn more about the myopia epidemic, its treatment and management, and more importantly what you can do to prevent it, or to make an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

How Vision Therapy Works

Rodney, a fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), says the therapy, sometimes called the “physiotherapy” of vision, is aimed at correcting any hidden (and often unnoticed) glitches in the visual function system and visual processing system which can impact negatively on how people understand, and perform in, the world around them.

And it’s not just a few that face living with the consequences. Statistics suggest that a minimum of 25% of young children are likely to have to deal with undetected and often misdiagnosed vision problems during their first years of schooling. 

Tracking Down the Dysfunctions

According to Rodney, these dysfunctions can’t be identified by taking a standard eye test but can be detected by testing functional and perceptual visual skills and assessing behavioural abnormalities which seem to be out of sync with personality types. He says any irregularities in these can lead to difficulties in learning; reading; sports; concentrating or paying attention. They may also impact on motor-skills and physical development, bring about perceptual and functional confusion regarding a person’s place in the world, and skew their understanding of what’s going on around them.

He says that often these problems are brought about by eye conditions like crossed or lazy eyes; poor eye-teaming and/or eye-tracking skills; depth perception problems; and ocular muscle or focusing dysfunctions, to name just a few.

With such a wide variety of causes, therapy programmes cannot be standardised but instead have to be custom-designed to meet each person’s individual needs. And as the programme is not (nor meant to be) a quick fix, it may involve multiple consultations, special spectacles, regular training using software in the clinic, and a fair amount of time spent at home exercising eye muscles, and learning to identify visual information more accurately relative to age norms.

Results Shown in Case Studies

Rodney says the outcomes revealed in case studies which have tracked training programmes carried out at his Smart Vision Optometry clinics, show noticeable positive changes in perceptive vision, functioning, and performance.

One such case study records how an 8-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who had spent most of her life in a wheelchair, was finally able to stand up straight and unassisted for the first time after completing two of the three blocks of her therapy programme. She had also caught up with her classmates from being two years behind in reading, was comfortably handling maths and starting to take part in class discussions. The next step, Rodney said, is for her to walk unaided, and he believes that moment won’t be far off as her eye-tracking and depth perception problems lessens still further and her understanding of the concepts of space improves.

Another case study tells the story of three siblings, all of which underwent vision therapy some years apart to help treat different problems. The oldest was battling with reading; the middle child, a girl, suffered debilitating headaches; and the youngest finally admitted to his teacher that he couldn’t read the writing on the blackboard in class. In all three cases, the therapy had positive outcomes.   

For more information on vision therapy and how it works, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.