SINGAPORE: Experts said myopia should be controlled from young and they recommend contact lenses and special spectacles as effective ways to prevent the condition in children from getting worse.

But this can be challenging, especially in urban places like Singapore.

Dr. Alan Paul Saks, eye expert, said:

“There’s a very high pressure on people to perform academically so they can guarantee a place in university. So parents of those children are sometimes pushing their children too hard, making them spend far too many hours in front of computers and books.”

But experts said the growing problem can be controlled with new contact lenses.

Dr. Alan added:

“Children who’re likely to be highly myopic usually have parents who are also myopic. So if both parents are minus 8 or minus 10, or whatever the numbers are, the child’s got a strong genetic risk of also ending up like that.”

Besides contact lenses, experts also recommend special spectacles that can reduce progression by about 30 per cent.

Singapore has one of the highest incidence rates in the world.

An estimated 90 per cent of the children and young adults are myopic (CNA/vm)