Childhood myopia or nearsightedness is a common condition that causes blurred distance vision and can usually be easily corrected with either glasses or contact lenses. Unfortunately, simply getting a pair of glasses doesn’t always solve the problem, because often myopia is progressive which means that every year the vision gets worse.

This usually continues until sometime around the child’s 20th birthday when his eyes stop growing and eyesight levels off. It can be worrisome and quite disconcerting for both the parent and the child when each visit to the eye doctor results in a higher prescription.

There could be a number of factors involved in progressive myopia, involving hereditary factors as well as possible environmental or behavioral factor such as frequent close-up tasks such as reading or using an electronic device. In fact, studies show that children that spend more time outdoors playing have a lower incidence of myopia.

Much research is currently being done into treatments for slowing or stopping myopia progression in children.