IQ tax indeed!

Tianjin Beifang News: "true myopia reversal" "magic glasses can control myopia" "prevention and healing of pseudomyopia, flying mosquito syndrome" ...... Recently, the State Administration of Market Supervision exposed six typical cases of false and illegal advertisements in the field of myopia prevention and control for children and adolescents. China Consumers Association also issued a related reminder: do not trust the so-called treatment of myopia ads, because believe you will be "tricked".

Reporters found that the market is flooded with a large number of drugs and eye care products that claim to "cure" myopia in children and teenagers. The children's myopia can really be cured? Experts at Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital said that myopia is not curable and parents should be careful.

Reporter survey

China's children and adolescents myopia rate of 52.7%

Currently, China's children and adolescents myopia is a high incidence of myopia and the trend of the younger generation, the National Health Commission 2021 published data show that in 2020 China's children and adolescents myopia rate of 52.7%, the kindergarten (the data cover only the large class) myopia rate of 14.3%, 35.6% of elementary school, 71% of junior high school. 35.6% in kindergarten (the data only covers older classes), 35.6% in elementary school, 71.1% in middle school, and 80.5% in high school. Among them, 10% are high myopia, and more than one-third are moderate myopia, which means that the proportion of moderate to high myopia is nearly 50%. The data also show that the national myopia rate is "high in the east and low in the west, high in the north and low in the south" distribution, and there is also a gap between urban and rural areas.

Recently, a third-party Internet research organization, Ai Rui Consulting, released a white paper on the visual health of children and adolescents in China in 2022, which shows that China's children and adolescents have achieved some success in preventing and controlling myopia, and that myopia rates for all age groups have declined in varying degrees, but the overall situation is not the same as that of the prevention and control requirements for 2030 (myopia rate for 6-year-olds is controlled at around 3%, myopia rate for primary school students has declined to below 38%, and myopia rate for junior high school students has declined to below 50%). The overall situation is still a big gap compared with the requirements for prevention and control in 2030 (myopia rate of 6-year-old children controlled at about 3%, myopia rate of primary school students dropped to 38%, myopia rate of middle school students dropped to 60%, and myopia rate of senior high school students dropped to 70%), and all parties still can't slacken in the task of prevention and control of myopia among children and youth.

No means can cure true myopia

More and more children and teenagers are suffering from myopia, triggering more and more serious anxiety among parents. Some businessmen see a "business opportunity" in this, and the market is flooded with all kinds of drugs and products that claim to be able to "cure myopia".

In 2019, the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission established the Tianjin Eyesight Health Management Center for Elementary and Middle School Students at Tianjin Medical University, which assisted in the development of the city's vision monitoring work program for elementary and middle school students, the establishment of a vision health information platform for elementary and middle schools, and the establishment of campus e-vision files for 1594 elementary and middle school students from the city's 16 districts***. Wei Ruihua, party secretary of Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital, is one of the center's expert group members. She told reporters that myopia, as one of the most common refractive errors, is a chronic disease that can be prevented and controlled but not cured, and no means can cure true myopia. Drugs and products on the market that claim to cure myopia, it is the use of parents "do not want their children to wear glasses, eager to seek medical attention" mentality, in the absence of scientific and objective knowledge of the premise of blind faith, parents not only spent a lot of time and economic costs, the most important thing is that the child misses the best myopia control of the golden time window!

Experts refute

"False proposition" a: net red "lutein", can help children prevent myopia eye protection

Public Ms. Zhao's child is 8 years old this year, myopia more than 200 degrees, Ms. Zhao has recently seen a lutein gummies in the online shopping platform. See a lutein soft candy, claiming that the child to prevent myopia eye protection preferred, "I do not know if there is no effect. Lutein is very hot recently, I see a lot of people recommend that long-term drink lutein can help children restore vision, cure myopia, I do not know whether it is true or not."

Wei Ruihua said, lutein is actually a kind of carotene, widely available in vegetables, fruits, flowers and other plants, is the main pigment present in the macula of the retina of the human eye (the most sensitive region of human vision). Lutein is an antioxidant and is photoprotective for the eyes. It protects and nourishes the retina and macula by filtering out harmful light and acting as an antioxidant. For example, lutein supplementation has been shown to have significant benefits in dry age-related macular degeneration, slowing down the progression of the disease, and studies have also shown that lutein supplementation has a hindering effect on the development of age-related cataracts.

And the development of myopia in children and adolescents is mainly the result of genetic and environmental factors **** the same role, "the vast majority of children myopia is axial myopia, with the development of myopia the eye axis will lengthen. There is no study clearly indicates that eating lutein can increase the retinal macula lutein density, even if the increase in lutein density is not able to reduce the growth of the eye axis or myopia." Wei Ruihua said that lutein is just an antioxidant that may have a nutritional effect on the retina under the eye, but it does not solve the problem of eye axis growth, let alone cure myopia. Therefore, there is a lack of clear research support on whether additional lutein supplementation has an effect on the occurrence and progression of myopia in children.

"False proposition" two: steam eye mask, eye care instrument, eye patch, external methods can cure myopia

Now all kinds of steam eye mask, eye care instrument, eye patch and other products in the e-commerce platform hot sale. Only steam eye mask, ranking the top few monthly sales are more than 30,000 pieces. Netizens commented that "with a hot, feel clear to see things". Some micro-merchants sell eye patch products, said you can reduce myopia, long-term use and even cure myopia, is this true?

Weir Ruihua said that the regular eye patch products itself can be used, mainly for the relief of eye fatigue, but said it has the ability to reduce myopia and even cure myopia, which is false propaganda. Eye patch can probably be divided into dry, wet two kinds. Most of the dry eye patches are using the principle of heat (such as steam eye masks), by increasing the temperature around the eyes, it is possible to improve the secretion of oil from the eyelid glands, so as to alleviate the symptoms of dry eyes and other discomforts. Wet eye patches are usually added with ingredients such as peppermint and ice chips, for example, to achieve cosmetic or to make the eyes feel cool and comfortable. Therefore, they can at most relieve eye fatigue, no fundamental help in the prevention and control of myopia.

The various types of eye care devices sold on the market usually advertise their "massage function" and "eye training function", but basically only help the eyes to relax and relieve eye fatigue, and will not cure myopia. The National Health Commission, the General Administration of Market Supervision and other six departments in 2019 issued a "notice on further standardization of myopia correction for children and adolescents to effectively strengthen the supervision of" clearly pointed out that "in the current medical technology, myopia can not be cured". The use of "rehabilitation", "recovery", "myopia cure" and other claims on the market are false propaganda, parents should not be fooled.

"False proposition" three: Chinese medicine massage, acupuncture, acupressure pills, can cure myopia

Now there are a lot of claims that "Chinese medicine massage can cure myopia" ads. Chinese medicine as the treasure of our motherland medicine, has its own unique features, Chinese medicine "five arts" including: acupuncture, acupuncture, moxibustion, medicine, massage, can be used as an important means of people's daily health care. But the use of Chinese medicine, through acupressure or acupuncture, can really cure true myopia?

Liu Lin, deputy chief physician of the Optometry Center of Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital, introduced that eye massage can dredge the eye meridians and collaterals, harmonize qi and blood, stimulate visual development, relieve visual fatigue, so as to achieve the purpose of eye protection. At present, the state issued a guidance document on eye exercises, it is from this point of view, make full use of the role of eye massage in Chinese medicine techniques for the relief of visual fatigue.

The Guidelines on Appropriate Technology for Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents (Updated Version) mentions giving full play to the role of traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and control of myopia in children and adolescents, and formulating and implementing a comprehensive corrective program for the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine. China is carrying out pilot work in pilot areas to prevent and control myopia in children and adolescents with Chinese medicine appropriate technology such as auricular acupressure pills, and conduct intervention and observation on children and adolescents aged 6-12 years old who are diagnosed with pseudomyopia or mild-moderate myopia, insufficient farsightedness reserve, and high risk factors for myopia after screening. Auricular pressure pills can relax the spasmodic fatigued ciliary muscles and extraocular muscles, relieve visual fatigue, and play a role in preventing myopia and controlling myopia progression. "However, the main purpose of the TCM intervention is aimed at relaxing the eye muscles and relieving visual fatigue, and it is not a substitute for optical correction (frame glasses, corneal contact lenses, etc.)." Liu Lin said.

Preventing and controlling misconceptions

The issue of children's vision health always touches the hearts of parents. Du Bei, director of the Optometry Center at Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital, told reporters that some parents are gullible enough to believe in some falsely advertised myopia curing medicines and products, while others have myopia prevention and control misunderstandings.

Myth 1: Never wear glasses, the more you wear myopia deeper.

Director Du Bei said, once a child is diagnosed with myopia, regardless of whether he or she wears glasses or not, the degree of myopia will become higher as he or she grows older, with the influence of personal eye habits and hereditary factors. After professional evaluation by a doctor, wearing appropriate glasses is the most basic and important means of myopia correction and prevention and control when necessary. If you want your child to have healthy eyes, good eye habits, regular eye exams and refractive error correction are the only way to take care of your child's eye health.

Myth 2: It's bad for your eyes if you can't see after dilating your pupils.

Director Du Bei said that prolonged close-distance eye use may lead to eye ciliary muscle tension, manifested as pseudomyopia. The pupil dilation is precisely by paralyzing the ciliary muscle, eliminating the muscle tension, thus alleviating the visual fatigue, removing the pseudomyopia and retaining only the true myopia. Therefore, dilating the pupils is conducive to a more accurate assessment of the child's refractive state and myopia. In addition, photophobia and blurred vision after dilation are normal phenomena, which often return to normal after a few hours and will not harm the child's eyes. For example, an 8-year-old child with 200 degrees of myopia in both eyes, but only 25 degrees of myopia left after the pupil dilation, according to the pre-pupil dilation of the degree of direct prescription, will seriously damage the child's eye health.

Myth 3: If you don't give your child electronics, your myopia won't increase.

Director Du Bei explains that myopia is a multifactorial disease, and its development is related to both genetic and environmental factors. For the acquired eye habits, any long time, close eye burden will lead to myopia growth. In addition to electronic products, there are reading, writing, painting, playing the piano, building blocks and other activities that require attention to good eye habits.

Myth 4: Reliable myopic laser surgery will cure your child's myopia in the future.

Director Du Bei said, in the clinic, doctors have found that some parents do not care about their children's myopia, the degree of growth is too fast also think it does not matter, think that when the child grows up, do a myopic laser surgery to solve the problem. In fact, the child myopia, with the growth of myopia, the eye axis will continue to elongate, to a certain extent there will be a risk, serious will lead to high myopia fundus lesions, irreversible visual function damage. Myopia laser surgery is mainly to change the refractive power of the cornea so that patients can get a clear vision of the naked eye, solving the trouble of wearing glasses, but essentially does not change the problem of eye axis lengthening, the risk of fundus lesions still exists. And myopia laser surgery itself is an indication, myopia is too high and thin cornea can not carry out the operation. Therefore, parents are concerned about their children's myopia prevention and control, but also an important prerequisite for future myopia laser surgery.

Expert advice

How can children and teenagers effectively prevent and control myopia? He Meinan, a physician at the Optometry Center of Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital, has come to give parents a few tips.

Increase outdoor activities

Multiple studies have shown that the amount of time children and teenagers spend outdoors is highly correlated with the incidence of myopia, and that increasing the amount of time spent outdoors is one of the most cost-effective ways of preventing myopia in children and teenagers. At least 2 hours of daytime outdoor activity per day can effectively reduce the incidence of myopia in children by 10%. The reasons for this are manifold. The traditional belief is that outdoor activities can strengthen the body, enhance physical fitness, and increase the absorption of vitamin D. Outdoor space is vast, and objects are usually farther away, which allows children's eyes to fully relax and improves the state of tension or spasm of regulation. In addition, outdoor light intensity is higher than indoor, outdoor light is natural light, the spectral composition of natural light, irradiation mode, etc. and indoor artificial lighting is different, the role of vision protection is obviously different.

Keratoplasty lenses

Also known as "OK lenses", they are special contact lenses with an "inverse geometric design". By wearing them at night during sleep, the curvature of the central area of the cornea can be temporarily flattened, reducing or even eliminating myopia, improving naked eye vision, and the child can no longer need to wear frames during the daytime. Long-term use of Keratoconus lenses can control the growth rate of myopia, and the effectiveness of controlling the growth of the eye axis by about 50%, and is suitable for patients with myopia of not more than 600 degrees. And the naked eye vision during the day is related to the refractive error, corneal morphology, corneal thickness, etc. Since the cornea is an elastic tissue, this effect of reducing myopia is reversible, and the cornea will usually return to its initial morphology after stopping wearing it for 4-6 weeks.

Off-focus soft corneal contact lenses

These are a new type of daily-wear soft corneal contact lenses that do not change the shape of the cornea, but rather are designed to control myopia growth through the lens' own "out-of-focus ring". Off-focus soft lenses can correct up to 1,000 degrees of myopia, can make up for the defects of high myopia patients wearing OK lenses with low daytime naked-eye vision, suitable for a wider range of people, and for daily disposable lenses, easy to use, less risk of infection, but more expensive.

Frame glasses with peripheral defocus design

This kind of frame glasses adopts peripheral multifocal myopia defocus design, which realizes refractive correction and myopia defocus at the same time in the lens, with the appearance similar to that of ordinary frame glasses, and it is suitable for the patients whose combined refractive error (i.e., myopia + astigmatism) is not more than 1,000 diopters. There are fewer clinical study data, and some literature reports that their control effect is around 30% to 60%. Compared with contact lenses, frames are less expensive and easier to wear.

Low concentration atropine eye drops

Atropine is a non-selective M-receptor antagonist, which can be used for short-term use to release the regulation of paralysis and dilation of pupils, and long-term use can effectively control the progression of myopia in children and adolescents. Currently, low concentration atropine eye drops of 0.01% to 0.05% are mainly used in clinical practice, and the effectiveness of myopia control is around 50% to 60%. After the use of low-concentration atropine, most patients can tolerate photophobia and blurred near vision, and allergy and rebound from discontinuation of the drug hardly occur; current studies have not found that the use of atropine increases the risk of the occurrence of intraocular pressure, photodamage, and dry eye symptoms. Before use, a comprehensive examination should be conducted at a regular ophthalmologic institution to assess the suitability of the child's eyes for the use of low concentration atropine eye drops; after use, a review should also be conducted periodically (every 3-6 months) to understand the effect of myopia control in children and to assess adverse effects, and to adjust the treatment regimen at any time. The recommended cycle of use is 1-2 years, while it must be regular, consistent, supervised, and under a doctor's supervision, not purchased at random.

Feeding light instrument

Feeding light instrument is a kind of red light therapy instrument, twice a day, each time 3 minutes of irradiation, some of the children in the short term after the use of the limited shortening of the eye axis, myopia control effect is remarkable, the mechanism is still unclear, and some experts believe that the warmth of its therapeutic process accompanied by heat effect can improve choroidal blood circulation, increase the thickness of the choroid, reduce the lack of oxygen, and then control the growth of myopia. This in turn controls the growth of the eye axis. This method is in the stage of technological progress and rapid development, the effect of long-term control of myopia needs to be further confirmed, the relevant products on the market are uneven, it is recommended to go to a formal institution for consultation.

Dr. He told reporters that no matter what kind of myopia prevention and control means, you need to go to a professional ophthalmology institution to conduct a comprehensive examination, under the guidance of the doctor to choose a scientific and reasonable way, and regular review. In addition, children and adolescents myopia prevention and control is a long process, can not be achieved overnight, control of children's eye habits and eye hygiene is equally important. Adopt independent self-discipline of healthy behavior, eye habits, bearing in mind that "a fist, a foot, an inch" reading and writing posture, the use of electronic products to follow the "20-20-20", namely "After watching the screen for 20 minutes, look 20 feet away from the screen, that is, 6 meters away for more than 20 seconds" mnemonic, etc., small details in daily life can help children and teenagers take good care of their eyes. When the child myopia, parents should listen to the guidance of a professional doctor, do not rush to the doctor, paid the "IQ tax" for nothing! (Jin Yun News Editor Li Songda)