AURORA, Colo. — Parents, if you see your kid squinting, complaining of headaches or their teacher moves them to the front of the class, it might be time to make an appointment with your eye doctor. New research published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology shows one in three kids around the world are nearsighted.
That number is only expected to grow. "This is definitely concerning," said Dr. Melissa Engle, a pediatric optometrist with Children's Hospital Colorado.
Engle sees kids every day coming into Children's Hospital Colorado to have their vision checked with many of them being nearsighted. "Probably almost every other patient I'm seeing," Engle said. "I'm seeing younger kids now, too, becoming nearsighted as well which is where I get more concerned because that means they'll probably be a higher prescription later on.
" She said more younger kids are coming into her with nearsightedness with it being more advanced. "You might be thinking, 'Why?' Right? It's just glasses, no big deal," Engle said. "But I think the problem that parents don't realize is that nearsightedness starts around 8 to 10 years old and it's going to increase every year until about 18 and actually even for some patients into their 20s.
" Beyond that progression, Engle said nearsightedness can bring on other eye health challenges down the road. "That increases your risk unfortunately for vision threatening concerns, such as retinal detachment [and] myopic maculopathy, which think of that being simi.