Nearsightedness, myopia in children is a huge and growing problem. In children under six years of age, 20% have vision problems, myopia, strabismus, and amblyopia. Nearsightedness in children increases risks for retinal detachment, early cataracts, and glaucoma. You are the foremost expert in pediatric eye diseases. What are the modern methods to diagnose myopia in children early?
What are modern treatment methods for common vision problems in children, including nearsightedness, strabismus, and amblyopia? You point out a very, very interesting problem. Because this is a real problem of myopia in children in a pandemic, and so, the prediction is that 50% of the population will be myopic in 2050. So this is tomorrow. So we have to have real actions to stop this pandemic problem. We have to stop myopia evolution. Today we have innovations for these problems. Because, first of all, we have corrective solutions with specific glasses. For specific glasses, there are two systems the on the market. But one is specifically very interesting because there are three years of studies with MyoSmart, HOYA Corporation. These is glasses for every child. The only point is the costs, but it works. MyoSmart has decreased the evolution of myopia by 60%, which is very interesting. There is another glass solution for myopia on the market. It was published only one year ago. It is the Essilor Stellest lenses. It is also an interesting concept of eye glasses. So this is the first easy system that we can adapt. The second myopia correction method is contact lenses. There is a contact lens with the focus system, exactly like eyeglasses. But on the contact lens, we have CooperVision MiSight contact lenses. This also decreased the evolution of myopia. The third possibility is Orthokeratology. It is not new. So we use semi-rigid contact lenses during the night. Semi-rigid contact lenses just change the form of the cornea. During the day, the child is not wearing any system for myopia correction. Orthokeratology does reshaping of the cornea. That gives these children a defocus. Last not the least is atropine. It's just one drop every day of low-dose atropine. And this is also a very efficient treatment for myopia. It is probably the largest cohort of children that have been studied. There is atropine 0.01%. But also 0.05% concentration for really fast-developing myopia. So all these systems are tailored for the child because it depends on the parents, it depends on the child, it depends on everyday practice and everyday life. The ophthalmologist can adopt one of the myopia correction systems. Doctors maybe also combine therapy methods for really high-grade myopia. We have to know also therapy for the high-grade myopia in children. For them, we must be very aware of some problems with syndromes, for example, Stickler syndrome. It must be identified because, for these children, we can have some specific therapy or surgery to avoid retinal detachment. So all of these concepts are really interesting innovative therapy methods for myopia. We need to continue this innovation to improve the quality of life for children with myopia.