Question
I am very nearsighted and so is my partner. Is our child destined to be nearsighted too? She is 7 years old and doesn’t wear glasses yet.
Answer
I get this question fairly often, usually from patients who are squinting at the eye chart themselves while they ask it. Let me put your mind at ease a little, while also being honest with you. Myopia (nearsightedness) does have a genetic component. When one parent is nearsighted, a child’s risk goes up. When both parents are nearsighted, as is the case in your family, that risk climbs higher still; research suggests it is somewhere in the range of a six-fold increase compared to children of parents with normal vision. So yes, heredity has tilted the playing field somewhat in your daughter’s case. But here’s the part that should actually cheer you up: genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger, or in this case, mostly doesn’t. The fact that your daughter is seven and glasses-free is genuinely good news. Myopia in children with a family history most often shows up between ages six and twelve, so she isn’t out of the woods yet, but every glasses-free year is a good sign. More importantly, you have real influence here. Two things matter enormously: more time spent outdoors and less time spent on intensive near work outside of school. Kids who get at least an hour or two of daylight play time each day, and who take regular breaks from books and screens, show meaningfully lower rates of myopia onset, even with two nearsighted parents at home. I’d also recommend an annual comprehensive eye exam, since we can track subtle shifts in her prescription long before she’d ever complain about blurry vision. We can measure something called “hyperopic reserve,” and if she has less than expected for her age on top of your family history we would want to closely monitor her for a shift into myopia. With new modalities available in the form of spectacle lenses (Stellest, MiyoCare, or MiyoSmart, to name a few), and specialty contact lenses, a high prescription is not an inevitability. Genetics gave her a nudge in one direction, but what she does outdoors each day may be the thing that decides the rest, along with regular monitoring by an optometrist for early intervention if needed. Clear as mud? Ask your eye doctor for more information about the latest myopia control findings and tools.
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At Mayfair Optometric Clinic we provide a welcoming environment for patients to receive eye exams and pick out the perfect eyewear that works for each individual. Please give us a call to book your appointment with Dr. Peddle or myself.
