Today 40% of the world’s population is myopic but in 30 years, it will be 50%. One in two human beings on average will therefore see blur from afar if they are not taken care of.
When you are nearsighted, you have to see badly from afar due to excessive elongation of the eye, the distance between the cornea and the retina becomes too great. It is a constantly increasing disorder in the world, especially in children. In Asia, 90% of children and adolescents are myopic, in other words: out of a class of 30 students, there are only three who do not wear glasses.
If nothing is done, the same thing is likely to happen in Europe in 15 years, says Dr. Ramin Tadayoni, head of the ophthalmology department at the Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild Hospital in Paris. He points out that the earlier myopia appears in childhood, the greater the risk that it will worsen in adulthood. Today 20% of children under 6 are nearsighted.
This constant increase in the number of myopes for already 30 years is largely explained by our lifestyles as city dwellers. Several studies have shown that myopia is favored by the time spent inside houses and buildings, by the lack of natural light, or by excessive reliance on near vision (when studying, working in an office or spending time on a screen, for example).
There are also genetic factors. It is estimated roughly speaking that if a child has a myopic parent, it doubles their risk of being myopic too. And with two myopic parents, this risk is multiplied by six. But these are only genetic predispositions: it is favorable ground but not inevitable. For example, doing 14 hours of sports, walking or playing outdoors, erases the risks related to family history.
In general, to prevent myopia in children and adolescents, it is advisable to spend as much time as possible in daylight: two hours a day of natural light reduces the risk of myopia by three. The protective effect of daylight, which acts via the production of dopamine, starts from 40 minutes of exposure.
At the same time, treatments for myopia have made progress. It is a defect that can be corrected by wearing glasses, contact lenses, or by using atropine-based eye drops, or even refractive surgery (which reshapes the cornea).
There are still 5 to 10% of strong myopes in France: these risk complications, and permanent loss of sight. This is a proportion that is also increasing. Hence the importance of investing in research and the project announced Thursday, January 27, to launch, in Paris, a national reference institute on myopia from next year, in 2023.