Myopia Singapore: Will Myopia get worse without Glasses?

Posted by nishimj on January 5th, 2021

Eyeglasses are a fairly common recommendation for people diagnosed with myopia in Singapore. Eyeglasses can benefit your condition by ensuring that light is reflected on the right part of your retina.

For all patients who schedule eye exams or any appointments at our clinic, we allow enough space to ask any question about your condition and the recommended treatments. One of the most common questions we frequently receive is whether myopia would get worse without wearing glasses and how you can prevent myopia.

Therefore, we made this guide; [https://www.drclaudinepang.com.sg/child-getting-short-sighted-this-fixes-it/] to give insights on how you can minimize the risks of getting myopia. In today’s guide, we saw it fit to clarify what would happen if you don’t wear your glasses after myopia diagnosis. Let’s give it a whirl!

Here’s What Happens when you Have Myopia and don’t wear your Glasses

If you have myopia, you will most certainly be forcing yourself and straining your eyes so you can see objects clearly. One of the things that may result from eyestrain is headaches.

Now, this doesn’t imply that ditching your glasses would make your vision worse. It would only increase the intensity of how you strain your eyes when trying to see objects clearly.

For children, ditching glasses may make the eyes to fail to develop correctly. Here’s why; the retina needs to be receiving clear images so the eyes can also develop properly.

If the vision is persistently, unclear, the eyes may not develop correctly. The result would be learning disabilities, which may be attributed to eyestrain and disorders that may stem from improper eye development like lazy eye and crossed eyes.

Your ophthalmologist or optometrist will usually prescribe corrective glasses to take care of the mismatch in your corneal shape, which may be impacted by myopia. This will, therefore, make it easy for you to see clearly and avoid straining your eyes.

We also acknowledge that most people believe that if you don’t wear glasses, your vision will improve through a technique called ‘natural vision correction.’ This technique is typically derived from the belief that myopia can cure naturally without taking any corrective measures like using contact lenses, medications, and having surgery or glasses.

That’s a myth. According to this report, natural vision correction cannot help with vision problems like myopia, hyperopia, or any vision disorder that may result from disease. With that being said, it is safe to conclude that not wearing glasses will not improve your eyesight.

Eye Care Guidelines for Myopia Patients

It is estimated that myopia affects around 1.89 billion people globally. Therefore you shouldn’t really panic if diagnosed with this condition.

The corrective treatments should improve your vision. To reduce the progression of your condition, though, you’ll need to take care of your eyes. Here are some helpful eye care tips for you or your loved one affected by this condition.

What to Avoid

If diagnosed with myopia in Singapore, it is prudent that you avoid wearing your glasses when performing close up tasks that you can easily do without your glasses on. Perfect examples of these tasks include writing or reading.

Therefore, when reading a book or writing, it would be better if you have it placed 30cm away from your eyes. This is important because wearing your glasses when performing such tasks may add strain to your ciliary muscle. This may make your myopia worse, thus requiring even stronger prescriptions to manage it.

What to do

For children, it is recommended that you regulate the time they’re allowed to spend in front of the screen. For instance, you may need to reduce the time they spend watching TV, playing computer games, and using hand-held devices like mobile phones and tablets.

The computer or TV screen should always be placed at a distance from the eyes. The distance from the TV will be influenced by size. If it’s a bigger one, you’d need to sit further away from its screen than with a smaller one.

When reading or writing, it is prudent that you have breaks in between. For instance, you may need breaks after every 30 to 40 minutes of continuous reading or writing. During the break, you should look at objects that are slightly far away from you for around 3 to 5 minutes, have a short walk outside, or look out of your window.

It is also recommendable that you ensure that the room is well lighted. The lighting in your room should be enough to avoid eyestrain.

For the glasses, whenever you’re not using your glasses, have them kept in their case. Never place them downwards on any surface, including the table, as there could be objects on that surface that could scratch the lenses. If you’re using contact lenses, ensure you always handle them with clean hands and observe your eye specialist’s guidelines on using them always.

Wrapping Up

We offer customized treatment for every eye condition reported at our clinic. Call us now or leave us your message with any inquiry about myopia or any other condition of the eye and we’ll be happy to extend a helping hand.