Treatments for myopia in children

---

Extract from the article: Can myopia disappear? Several methods exist to improve or treat the condition. Corrective lenses, contact lenses, surgery. Here's a list of all the treatment options available for myopia.

---

Can myopia disappear? Several methods exist to improve or treat the condition. Corrective lenses, contact lenses, surgery. Here's a list of all the treatment options available for myopia.

Myopia cannot be reversed or cured, but it can be treated. The aim of treatment is to improve the child's vision and prevent it from worsening. This is important to protect eye health throughout life.

Correction with glasses or contact lenses

Correcting myopia depends on an ophthalmological examination. The treatment of myopia is usually based on the correction of vision by glasses, divergent concave lenses or contact lenses. « The eye is made to see, so if you're short-sighted and your vision, for example, requires you to read 10 lines on the measurement scale and you read just 2 or 3 lines, depending on your depth, we'll give you treatments to enable you to read everything, and in the majority of cases, that means glasses. Glasses compensate for the vision that the eye should have », explains ophthalmologist Professor Patrice Balo.

Correction through refractive surgery

Refractive surgery includes procedures designed to correct ametropia, using medical devices such as lasers or implants, or surgical instruments. The aim of refractive surgery is to enable patients suffering from myopia to free themselves as far as possible from the need for permanent correction by glasses or contact lenses.

For the vast majority of patients, refractive surgery rapidly enables them to achieve visual autonomy without correction in everyday life.But given the realities of the country, cost and side effects, specialists prefer correction by glasses or contact lenses. « Apart from optical treatments, which are glasses and contact lenses, there is refractive surgery.But I think we need to contextualize the approach.If we're talking about a child in a Togolese village, which is accessible and easy to suggest, we'll prescribe glasses. But if you live in Europe, for example, and go to an optometrist or doctor, you may be offered refractive surgery. It's a surgical procedure with its own indications, costs and side-effects, which you need to keep an eye on », says Prof. Patrice Balo.

Treatment for myopia depends on the severity of the condition and the patient's individual preferences. Healthcare professionals can help patients understand the different treatment options available and choose the one that best suits their needs.

Jean ELI