Myopia, better known as nearsightedness, has grown to epidemic proportions in recent
years, particularly among children and teenagers. Unfortunately, not enough parents take
this condition seriously as they don’t recognize that the consequences can go beyond
requiring glasses. Left untreated, myopia can lead to serious complications and eye health
issues.
Prevalence
The prevalence of myopia is increasing year over year. In the United States, myopia has
increased 66% in the past 30 years, and today 42% of people aged 12-54 are myopic. In some
developed Asian countries, a staggering 80-90% of young adults are myopic.
Researchers aren’t exactly sure what causes myopia, or why it’s becoming increasingly
common, but there are some strong theories. While a genetic predisposition does increase
risk, so do lifestyle factors such as little time outdoors, not enough sunlight, spending
too much time doing close-up work, and eating a high sugar or high carb diet.
What exactly is Myopia?
While you may be familiar with the term nearsighted, which means that far away objects
appear blurry, most people don’t know that the distortion in vision is actually caused
by the physical lengthening of the eyeball. As the myopia worsens, the eye grows longer
in length.
When you look at something through a healthy eye, light is reflected off that
object and into your cornea and lens at the front of your eye, which bend the light to
focus on your retina at the back of your eye. But in a myopic eye, the stretch of the
eye makes the focal point fall short, and as a result, only close objects appear
crisply.
Possible Symptoms of
Myopia
Think your child or teen might have myopia? Here are some
common signs:
A hard time focusing on far-away objects
Difficulty reading the whiteboard at school, or reading
music notes
Sitting unusually close to the computer or TV screen
Strained vision while driving, particularly when reading
street signs
Holding books very closely while reading
Ball sports are challenging because the ball is hard to
track visually
Sports games are hard to follow from the bleachers
Recognizing people on the street is a challenge until
they’re only a few feet away
Regular headaches
A feeling of fuzziness
Unusual fatigue
Complaints of “tired” eyes
Myopia Prevention
Get Regular Eye Exams: Blurred vision doesn’t
necessarily mean you
have myopia. There are countless factors that can cause blurred
vision, many of which can indicate larger health issues, so it’s
important to see your doctor at first signs. If your doctor does
determine you have myopia, you can discuss options to help treat or
slow it down.
Spend More Time Outdoors: Studies show that myopia
does not progress
as quickly in children who spend a lot of time outdoors. The most
beneficial outdoor activities are those that require focusing on
distant objects such as bike riding, playing catch, or other ball
sports. The optimal time to spend outdoors is two hours per day, but
any time is beneficial.
A Healthy Diet: There are no studies directly
linking diet and
myopia, however research shows that high carbohydrate and high sugar
diets could potentially make myopia symptoms worse. Aim for meals
high in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lean protein.
Myopia
Why Treatment is Important
If you think glasses are the worst part of myopia (and that glasses aren’t so bad), you’re
not alone, and that’s part of the problem. It is important to be aware of, and address, the symptoms
of myopia as quickly as possible before they escalate..
Children who have trouble seeing words on a blackboard, looking at TV screens, or tracking
moving
objects in sports can lead to children having poor academic, athletic, or work performance due to
eye strain.
In worse cases, myopia can develop into more advanced stages. The eye can
continue to lengthen to the point of retinal detachment or other degenerative changes, including
abnormal blood vessel growth, macular degeneration, glaucoma or cataracts.
If your doctor does determine you have myopia, you can discuss different options to help treat or
slow it down.
Treatment Options
LOW-DOSE ATROPINE EYE DROPS
Low-dose Atropine drops can be prescribed to slow the progression of myopia in children and
teens. A recent study on Atropine for the treatment of myopia showed that low-dose atropine
drops can help reduce the growth of the eye by 50%, thereby slowing the progression of
myopia. The drops may have side effects, so it’s a good idea to discuss candidacy in detail
with your optometrist.
Ortho-k
Ortho-k (Orthokeratology) is currently the most effective prescription lens solution for
myopia correction and reduction, with multiple studies reporting effectiveness of 33-100%.
It involves retainer lenses that are worn overnight to reshape the surface of the eyeball
while sleeping to allow patients to go without glasses or contact lenses during the day.
Research has shown that corneal reshaping can slow the progression of childhood myopia,
making it a great alternative to glasses, or solution for those too young for LASIK. Book an
appointment with your optometrist to find out if you’re a good candidate.
MULTIFOCAL GLASSES OR CONTACT LENSES
If your child is not an ideal candidate for Ortho-k, day-time multifocal contact lenses offer
another prescription lens solution. If neither Ortho-k nor multifocal contact lenses are an
option, myopic patients are encouraged to wear multifocal glasses.
We have successfully received your message and will get back to you as soon as possible.
An unexpected error occurred. Please try again later.
Legal Notice
The information below applies to all the information contained on the cseyecare.com Website.
The users of this Website agree to comply with the terms set out below.
TERMS OF USE
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic owns and operates a Website at cseyecare.com (hereinafter referred to as the “site” or
“Website”). Central Saanich Optometry Clinic® trademark except as otherwise noted on the site, which is accessible
to all users (hereinafter referred to as the “user” or “users”). Refrain from using this Website unless you
agree to comply with the conditions.
RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH INFORMATION
Information on this Website is intended for informational purposes only and has no contractual value.
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic reserves the right to modify the content of this site. At any time, without prior notice.
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic assumes no liability for errors or omissions in the content of this Website or for
information reliability or completeness of said information.
Information published on this Website is based on marketing, statistical or commercial services or other sources
the Central Saanich Optometry Clinic considers reliable and are the sole responsibility of their authors and not of
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic. We do not assume any liability for the accuracy or completeness of said information and in
no circumstance should this information be regarded as such. Opinions and information as presented on this site
reflect our position as of the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
UPDATING OF THE WEBSITE UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF Central Saanich Optometry Clinic
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic, its employees and directors will not be liable for damages incurred as a result of the
information published on this site, for the views and advice published, expressed or implied regardless of its
nature.
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic expressly refuses any and all responsibility for the manner in which the user of the site may
use the information contained, in any decisions that may be made and in the actions that may or may not be taken
based on said information.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTION
Presentations made and contained on this site are the intellectual property of Central Saanich Optometry Clinic. Reproduction
in whole or in part of this site on any other medium in prohibited without the express permission of
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic.
User may solely use the information contained on this site for personal use. Reproduction in whole or in part of
said information on paper may only be performed for personal use. Said information is not to be copied,
distributed or transmitted to third parties nor may it be inserted in a document or other medium.
HYPERTEXT LINKS
The links to external Websites and their content shall not be prejudged and Central Saanich Optometry Clinic will in no way be
held responsible for any direct or indirect prejudice that may result from gaining access to and usage of said
sites.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic draws the attention of the user to the fact that all communication transmitted through this
Website remains in the public domain and not the private domain. Central Saanich Optometry Clinic cannot accept responsibility for the
security of the transmission of information.
The confidentiality and integrity of the information circulating over the internet cannot be ensured.
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic cannot accept responsibility in the case that data contained on this site is intercepted.
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic site uses cookies. These cookies are small text files saved on the hard disk of a user's
computer. These files are completely harmless and cannot contain viruses. These cookies are used to analyze
visits to the site. Central Saanich Optometry Clinic calls upon Google Analytics to help track how users use the site. The
number of visitors, path taken to access the site and length of each visit are measured. The cookies cannot, in
any way, identify the user. All data is completely anonymous and compiled solely for the purpose of improving
the site and tailoring the content to the needs of its visitors.
The person responsible for the protection of personal information is the owner of : Central Saanich Optometry Clinic
VIRUSES AND TECHNICAL GLITCHES
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic makes no representations that the content of this site is free of infections, viruses, worms,
Trojan horses and/or other codes with contaminating or destructive properties. It is the user's responsibility
to take protective measures.
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic DECLINES ALL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EVENT OF ANY INTERRUPTION OR NON-AVAILABILITY OF THE
SERVICE
Under no circumstances shall Central Saanich Optometry Clinic be held responsible for transmission errors of any sort, such as
loss of or damage to data, or changes of any type whatsoever, including direct or indirect damage resulting from
the use of the services provided on this site.
JURISDICTION
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of British Columbia.
Any dispute arising of this Agreement shall be brought before the court in the judicial district of
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic's head office. Address: 1-7865 Patterson Rd
Saanichton, BC
V8M 2C7; Tel: 250 544-2210.
PUBLISHING FIRM
Central Saanich Optometry Clinic
1-7865 Patterson Rd
Saanichton, BC
V8M 2C7 Tel: 250 544-2210
Acceptance of the Privacy Policy
Thank you for visiting cseyecare.com (the “Website”), provided to you by Central Saanich Optometry Clinic (“We”). We
respect the privacy of every individual who visits the Website and are sensitive to privacy
issues on the Internet. We believe it is important that you know how we deal with information
received about you.
This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect
the personal information of our customers and Website users ("you"), describes the types of
information we may collect from you or that you may provide to us, and our practices for
collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. The Website is for
general audiences and is not specifically targeted to or intended for use by children.
We will only use your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy unless
otherwise required by applicable law. We take steps to ensure that the personal information that
we collect about you is adequate, relevant, not excessive, and used for limited purposes.
Privacy laws in Canada generally define "Personal Information" as any information about an
identifiable individual, which includes information that can be used on its own or with other
information to identify, contact, or locate a single person.
By accessing or using the Website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy
Policy, and you are consenting to our processing of your information as set out in this Privacy
Policy. We may modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time; if we change this Privacy
Policy in a manner that materially impacts your privacy rights, we will provide a notice to you.
Your continued use of the Website or our services after any modification to this Privacy Policy
will constitute your acceptance of such modification. However, when required by law, we will
confirm your consent to the revised Privacy Policy terms. This Privacy Policy is incorporated
into and considered a part of the Website Terms and Conditions of Use, located here
What information we collect
We collect and use several types of information from and about you, including:
Personal Information, that we can reasonably use to directly or indirectly
identify you, such as your full name, email address, telephone number and any other
identifier we may use to contact you online or offline.
Non-personal information is information that does not directly or
indirectly reveal your identity or directly relate to an identified individual, such as
demographic information, or statistical or aggregated information. Statistical or aggregated
data does not directly identify a specific person, but we may derive non-personal
statistical or aggregated data from Personal Information. For example, we may aggregate
Personal Information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website
feature.
How we collect the information
Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect directly from you may include:
Communicating with us: When you contact us about a customer service issue,
Vision Entrepreneur services or to make other inquiries, we collect the content of those
communications, as well as your full name, clinic name, email, phone number, city, province,
and any additional information that allows us to answer your request.
Information We Collect While You Interact With Us Through Cookies and Other Automatic Data
Collection Technologies
We use your information, including your Personal Information, to manage our business and to
maintain and develop commercial relationships with you. We will collect, use, and disclose such
information only to the extent that is necessary for those purposes.
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal
Information:
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To fulfill the purposes for which you provided the information or that were described when
it was collected, or any other purpose for which you provide it.
To improve the Website, products or services, marketing, or customer relationships and
experiences.
To allow you to participate in interactive features, social media, or similar features on
the Website.
To measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you and others,
and to deliver relevant advertising to you.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.
How we share your information
We will not rent or sell your information to third parties without your consent. We only share
your data as specifically provided in this Privacy Policy.
Other Disclosures
In addition to any disclosure you may have consented to or permitted under the terms of this
Privacy Policy, we may transfer your data, including Personal Information to third parties in
the following limited circumstances:
information you expressly consent to be shared;
when relating to anonymized information (individuals cannot be identified by it);
when you decide to make the information indexable by search engines, to share or to
distribute the information to people or otherwise to make it available to the public;
to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request
within or outside your country of residence when we have a good faith belief that the law
requires it;
to enforce this Privacy Policy, the Terms, or an agreement, including investigation of
potential violations thereof;
to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or protect the
operations or you;
to protect our rights, property or safety as well as yours, the public, or others;
in connection with an acquisition, merger, change in control, debt financing,
reorganization, sales of assets, bankruptcy or other change of our corporate structure or
status; or
as necessary in connection with the performance of requested services or solutions, or as
otherwise appropriate in connection with a legitimate need.
How we store and secure your information
Information Security
We are committed to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, availability and privacy of your Personal Information. We have put appropriate physical, technological and procedural security measures in place designed to help prevent your Personal Information from being lost, used, modified or accessed in an unauthorized way, or improperly disclosed. Examples of such measures include restricted access to offices, training of personnel, using passwords and well-defined internal policies and practices. We also use encryption technology and Secure Socket Layers ("SSL") in all areas of the Website where your personal account information is required.
In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will be required to process your Personal Information only on our instructions and they are subject to an obligation of confidentiality. Our service providers are required to maintain adequate security protections in place designed to help safeguard your Personal Information and are not permitted to use it for any purpose other than fulfilling services to us.
If you have any questions about securing your personal data, please contact us in accordance with the “How to Contact Us” section below.
Information Retention
We will retain your Personal Information for as long as it is needed:
to provide the products and services that you have requested;
to communicate with you about a purchase or a request you have made to us;
to manage your choices and rights you have exercised pursuant to this Privacy Policy;
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and to demonstrate compliance,
to resolve disputes and to enforce our rights and agreements.
We may retain non-personal information that has been sufficiently aggregated or anonymized for a longer period.
Once the retention period is over, we will dispose of your Personal Information as provided for in our internal data retention and disposal policy.
Where We Store Information
We use facilities operated by "Amazon Web Services" and located in Canada as our information storage and processing infrastructure. Our service providers can also, from time to time, store your Personal Information in accordance with purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at 250 544-2210.
Cookie Policy – cseyecare.com
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are and how we use them. You should read this Policy to
understand what type of cookies we use, the information we collect from the cookies, and how
that
information is managed. For further information on how we handle, store and keep your personal
data
secure, see our Term of use.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files which are stored on the browser or hard drive of your computer or
mobile
device when you visit a webpage or application. A “session cookie” stores temporary information
that
is deleted when you close your web browser or turn off your computer or device. A “persistent
cookie” enables the site to recognize when you return to it and remains stored on your computer
until you delete it. Cookies work to make your experience browsing our site as smooth as
possible by
remembering your preferences the next time you visit the site.
What types of cookies do we use?
There are four variety of cookies which operate on our website:
Essential cookies allow you to be able to experience the full functionality
of
our site. For example, these cookies allow you to change your preferred language and enable
the
website to remember it. Without these cookies, some parts of our site may not work as they
should.
Performance cookies tell us how you use our site and help us to improve it.
For
example, these cookies count the number of visitors to our website and see how visitors move
around when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example,
by
ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily. The information collected by
these
cookies is anonymous.
Google Analytics are performance cookies used to track visits to
our
website and user behaviour on site. The data collected is anonymous and is used for
benchmarking purposes to monitor the performance of our site and to measure user
engagement on our site.
Social media cookies from social media sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, and
Pinterest
are used to enable social media buttons on our site to work. Social media buttons
allow
you to share content and interact with your social network. These social media
platform
may set their own cookies on your device. We do not control the settings of these
cookies so we suggest you check the social media website for more information about
their cookies and how to manage them. Our website will not collect or store any
personally identifiable information from the user. To find out how you can opt out
of
accepting these cookies, please visit the cookie policy and privacy policies of the
social media site.
Customizer cookies allow our site to remember your preferences, helping to
customize your experience on our site.
Our customizer cookie, which helps us to manage the technology and cookies which are
used across our site.
Targeting/advertising cookies are set by third party advertising partners
through our digital touchpoints to build profiles based on your interests. These cookies
enable
us to send you relevant content and advertising based on your preferences and track the
effectiveness of our ad campaigns.
Below are several advertising and targeting cookies that are used to identify
different
browsers and devices. They collect data anonymously for the purposes of ad
selection,
reporting, behavioural targeting, and cross-device advertising (i.e. associating
multiple devices together). In some instances, we may provide a hashed version of
your
email address or other information to the platform provider for such proposes. More
information can be found at the following links.
How do you change cookie preferences or block cookies?
Within your browser, you can choose whether you wish to accept cookies or not. Different browsers
make different controls available to you. Generally, your browser will offer you the choice to
accept, refuse or delete cookies at all times, or those from providers that website owners use
i.e.
third party cookies, or those from specific websites. Each browser’s website should contain
instructions on how you can do this.
If you block cookies on our website, you may be unable to access certain areas of our website and
certain functions and pages will not work in the usual way.
Changes to the Cookie Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make significant changes we will let you know
but
please regularly check this Policy to ensure you are aware of the most updated version.
This Cookie Policy was last updated on September 25, 2023.
