Babies With Glasses - The site for families of babies, infants and kids with glasses

Hi, I am happy to get this site. I am a born myopic with high myopia. I heard that myopia is heriditory. I am worried about my children. Is there any chance to avoid this heriditory myopia when I am pregnant itself. Are there any ways to prevent my child to be born myopic. As of now, I am trying to get pregnant and my mind is full of these problems. Please suggest. I would be greatly thankful for any ideas. I really dont want my child to suffer as I for many years.

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a vision defect that happens when one’s eyes are unable to focus the light from distant objects correctly onto the retina. Someone with myopia is able to clearly see objects that are close, but objects that are far away are blurry.

Myopia generally first arises in elementary-aged children, though it can also develop in adults. Research indicates that it is a hereditary trait – children whose parents are nearsighted are more likely to be as well. Although the inclination to acquire nearsightedness is likely inherited, the development of the condition can be affected by how one uses their eyes. For example, a person who spends a lot of time reading or who does extensive work on the computer or other close visual work may be at higher risk of developing myopia.

Myopia has become increasingly more common over the past 50 years, and it is estimated to now affect around 1.6 billion people worldwide, with numbers expected to climb to 2.5 billion by 2020, according to the Institute of Eye Research. In the United States, nearsightedness (myopia) affects nearly 30 percent of the population.

The increase in myopia cases is thought by a team of Australian researchers to be a result of more children being raised in environments where they don’t see objects far away and their eyes aren’t adapted to focus on distant objects as they develop. Global myopia cases are most prevalent in societies where children watch television and play computer games instead of playing outside, they say. In cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo, 30 to 50 percent of 12-year-old children are myopic; in the United States, it is around 20 percent for this age group.

I would suggest that for some areas myopia will be hereditary, but I'm more concerned you're approaching this the wrong way. If you're child is short-sighted, just how bad is that? I have friends who are 40, -8 or -9, and lead perfectly normal lives. Myopia, in the big scheme of things your child could have, is a tiny, tiny thing.

It sounds like you've not had a good time with short-sightedness, and my sympathies are with you, but compared to when I was a child, technology has moved on massively, rendering even prescriptions of -10 or higher merely a matter of getting the right lenses.

(Both duaghters are short-sighted, so no, I'm not taking this lightly!)

Besides, if your myopia turns out to be hereditary, then you just have to hope it isn't dominant, or that your partner doesn't have it as well, or both ... Other than that, your only reeal choice is to adopt, or not to breed at all.