Myopia is just another term for the common problem called nearsightedness or shortsightedness. The problem here is that one’s eyes are simply not able to focus in the proper way and, consequently, objects which are further away from the individual with myopia seem to be blurred. Individuals with nearsightedness usually are quite at ease focusing on things which are closer to them. As a result children, for example, would have no problem when it comes to reading books in front of them but they could experience difficulty seeing what is written on the teacher’s drawing board a few feet away from them. While attempting to decipher what is written in the distance, your child might start to squint. An ophthalmologist can usually point out this condition because, with myopia, the individual has no trouble when it comes to read the regular chart designed for near reading (called the Jaeger eye chart). Instead, such an individual will face problems when trying to read the chart designed for distance (termed the Snellen eye chart). The vision problem results from the focus of a distant visual image in front of one’s retina when it should instead be focussed directly on the same. Since your child who has developed myopia is only seven, you should check on the same without delay. This is because the vision problem has a tendency to progress rather rapidly, which is especially true for school children as well as adolescents since these are the years where the body develops rapidly. This quick progress of shortsightedness means that the child might have to go through a number of lenses or glasses. It is only once the individual reaches his or her early twenties that myopia tends to stop, once the individual has stopped developing.
For myopia, the treatment usually involves compensation for the vision problem by means of contact lenses or spectacles. Since the child in question is only seven years of age, rather than contact lenses, glasses may be prescribed. Generally speaking, one also has the option of clearing that nearsightedness by means of surgery. For instance, LASIK is an alternative which is already quite popular. At the age of just seven, it might be difficult for the child in question to understand the importance of dutifully wearing glasses. It helps to sit the child down and simplistically explain what myopia is and why wearing proper eyeglasses becomes important.