The Eye Fund speaks of an ‘invisible pandemic’ and well-known orthoptists and ophthalmologists advocate legislation. For the Security NL Knowledge Center it is crucial to ‘take measures at a young age’. “What you lose, you can’t get back.”
Nearsighted people have elongated, oval eyes. They can see well up close, but not in the distance. The text on a traffic sign or the subtitles of a movie or video game is therefore difficult to read. This eye defect is becoming more and more common. Among Dutch people in their sixties this is a quarter, among people in their twenties it is 50 percent. And the number is growing rapidly. “It is not 3 to 12, but long past 12,” warns Jan Roelof Pollingan authority in the field of (children’s) eyes.
Myopia a new lifestyle disease
Nearsightedness, also known as myopia, is a new lifestyle disease and a major threat to public health, says the Hogeschool Utrecht researcher. “We should not wait, but act now. Glasses or contact lenses are not the solution for permanent visual impairment.”
Polling, together with other orthoptists, advocates a national intervention in schools from the cabinet. The Rotterdam orthoptist refers to successful programs in Asia. “Myopia also increased in Taiwan and the government then decided to offer education outside for two hours a day. After introduction, the number of myopia cases decreased.”
Polling wants to take an example from this program and has submitted a subsidy application for a pilot in Dutch schools. “We need to let children play outside more without disturbing regular education. As a result, myopia has little chance of developing and existing myopia will be less progressive.”
Myopia not harmless
Because myopia may seem harmless, but later in life it can lead to problems, in the worst case to blindness. Especially with children, vigilance is required. An eye has only grown out around the age of 20. Therefore, the greatest gains can be made among children. That’s not good, say experts. The eye quality of this group deteriorates due to a poor lifestyle. Many barely get out and instead spend hours a day on their phones and iPads.
Figures underline this. From research of Jane Concrete shows that 60 percent of children are below the national average of playing outside. About 15 percent never even play outside at all. This is cause for concern, according to the Play & Exercise sector association. “Please get away from those screens and come play outside,” chairman Michiel van Campen calls out.
Society full of spectacle wearers
Nearsightedness is partly genetic, but is made worse by looking at close objects. The lens of the eye must always make an effort to focus the light on the retina. Outside, the amount of light is so great that relaxation of the lens occurs.
Doctors therefore recommend the 20-20-2 rule as a rule of life. This means that it is good for the eyes to look into the distance for 20 seconds after 20 minutes of close viewing (for example, at a smartphone or tablet). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) children should be kept away from screens in their first year anyway. Between 2 and 4 years old, the maximum is one hour per day and after that it is advisable to keep limiting it.
In practice, this happens too little. “At this rate, we will soon have a society full of spectacle wearers,” says a spokesperson for the Dutch Union of Optics Companies (Nuvo). “That may not sound so bad, but people with high nearsightedness are at greater risk of becoming visually impaired or even blind later in life. The government really needs to play a role in this. In the long term, this is about public health.”
The sale of contact lenses and glasses has therefore risen sharply in recent years, the trade association confirms. “This is not only due to the aging population, but also mainly due to the increase in myopia cases.”
Mandatory outside
In addition to the parents, schools in particular have a responsibility, says ophthalmologist Caroline Klaver. She has been conducting intensive research into myopia for fifteen years. In the coming decades, many tens of thousands of Dutch people are at risk of becoming blind as a result of this condition, she says. That is why legislation is needed.
“Something urgently needs to change in schools,” says Klaver. “Children really need to go outside more.” Orthoptist Jan Roelof Polling agrees. “The curriculum has to change drastically. More attention to exercise and outdoor play. We need politicians for that.”
Half myopic by 2050
Meanwhile, the numbers don’t lie. In the Netherlands, one in two young adults is already nearsighted. In the worst-case scenario, we will trail China, where that number is at 90 percent. “There is a huge increase in blindness. If we do nothing, the same thing will happen to us,” says Polling. “There is already a wave of low vision coming at us. The question now is to what extent we can tame that wave.”
The Eye Fund expects that half of the entire population will be nearsighted by 2050. Some of that will be highly myopic. “We all live too much indoors, while we were not made for that,” a spokesperson sighs. The fear is that one in three people with a strong form of myopia will have to deal with blindness or visual impairment. “That can no longer be solved with glasses,” warns the Eye Fund.
Glaucoma
A ‘high myope’ (from -6) has a higher risk of eye diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and retinal detachments. This will cause a significant influx of patients, fears Irene van Liempt, an ophthalmologist at the Amphia Hospital in Breda for 18 years. “We underestimate the enormous impact that myopia will have on healthcare. People who are visually impaired are not only more susceptible to additional eye diseases, but also to accidents in the home. We’re going to get more broken bones.”
