Myopia Treatment

    Myopia is eyesight abnormality when a person can see clearly only nearby objects while distant objects appear blurred. Unfortunately, shortsightedness is widespread, both children and adults might have this abnormality.

What is myopia about?

    Myopia (shortsightedness) is a very widespread disease affecting both children and adults. According to the World Health Organization information, 800 million people on our planet suffer from shortsightedness.

    Quite often our eye is compared with a photo camera. The eye cornea and lens act as camera lens: they pass through and refract the light rays entering the eye. Retina acts as photosensitive film: an image appears on it due to photosensitive cells. Then the image transforms into nerve impulses and is transmitted to the brain through the optic nerve as if through wires. The image will be clear if the cornea and lens reflect the light rays in the way that the focus (the rays intersection point) to be on the retina. For this very reason healthy people are able to see objects clearly in the distance.

    For myopic people, light rays are focused in front of the retina, and the image appears blurred. This occurs on two reasons:

- The cornea and lens refracts the light rays too much.
- Eye extends too much during its growth process, and retina moves away from the normally located focus. Normal eye length for adults is 23-24 millimeters, and myopic eye length is 30 millimeters and more. Eye extension by 1 millimeter results in shortsightedness increase by 3 diopters.

Myopia Causes

    There are many causes of myopia, but the doctors consider the most important ones as follows:

- Excessive eye work at nearby distance from the object (with no rest for eyes and with bad lightning).
- Inherited predisposition to myopia, which is manifested in the peculiar features of the eyeball structure and its metabolism.
 -Weakened sclera producing no proper resistance to the eye excessive growth.
 - Not sufficiently developed accommodative muscle of the eye which is responsible for adjusting the lens to different distances; overstrain of the weakened muscle can lead to myopia as well.

Myopia Symptoms

    As a rule, myopia develops in the childhood and becomes noticeable during the first school years. Children see distant objects blurred and have problems in distinguishing letters and figures written on the blackboard. They try to accommodate themselves closer to a TV set on to sit in the front rows in a movie theater. Myopic people often screw up their eyes when looking at distant objects.

    In addition to deteriorating eyesight into the distance, myopic people have eyesight problems in the twilight: such people have vision problems on the street, it is hard for them to drive at this time.

    To improve vision, myopic people have to wear contact lenses or spectacles with minus diopters. They quite often have to replace ocular glasses and lenses because of eyesight deterioration. However, one should know that spectacles are unable to stop myopia progression, they only correct the light refraction. If eyesight deteriorates, and one has to replace spectacles with stronger ones, this means myopia progression. Occurring because of the eyeball increasing extension.

Progressive myopia is not a harmless eyesight defect eliminated by means of glasses, but a disease with serious consequences.

    Children, more frequently the ones aged from 7 to 15, suffer from progressive myopia. Eyeball extension leads to extending vessels being inside the eye, to retina malnutrition, and visual acuity deteriorates. Retina, like a delicate veil being strained, is being torn gradually in some regions, small holes appear in it, and it may result in retinal detachment. This is the worst complication of myopia when eyesight is lost significantly, up to absolute blindness.

Diagnosis

    Only a specialist is able to determine the degree of your myopia and select the treatment method being most appropriate for this case.

Treatment

    Doctors name the following main directions of myopia treatment:

-  Stopping pathological eye extension.
-  Preventing possible myopia complications.
- Correcting the myopic eye refraction with eliminating, if possible, the need to wear spectacles and contact lenses.
    Currently, different methods of myopia treatment have been elaborated and are successfully applied: Scleroplasty, Collagenoplasty, Laser Coagulation, Keratomy, Laser Keratomileusis, Excimer Laser Keratectomy, Intraocular Lens Insertion into the eye.

Scleroplasty Operations

    Scleroplasty operations are performed to stop eye extension. During such operations, strips of biological materials are inserted beyond the eyeball. They embrace the eye like surgical corset and do not let it extend. In a course of time, vessels root themselves into these materials, and the eye start receiving more blood and nutrient substances than it did before the scleroplasty performance.
Currently, simplified operation is performed in some cases. This operation was named “Collagenoplasty". Its best point is that the biological material (collagen) is inserted with syringe in the form of suspension beyond the eyeball.  

    Collagen stimulates the specific cells located in the eye sclera, and they produce new sclera tissue preventing sclera extension and eye growth.

    Scleroplasty operations can be performed under ambulatory conditions; their duration is from 5 to 15 minutes. Sometimes similar surgical intervention is made on the two eyes simultaneously or is combined with other operations on the eyeball.

    To prevent myopia complications, laser treatment is performed in a number of cases, in addition to scleroplasty. Laser ray weld the retina on the vessel coat in its weak points and around its ruptures, preventing the worst myopia complication - retinal detachment.

    When the eye pathological growth is stopped and complication preventions conducted, the most important issue for myopic person arises: how to obtain natural, and not distorted vision and perception of the world in its natural size and colors, and to get rid of the thick lenses causing so many difficulties, spoiling appearance and straining person's spirit.

    Nowadays this problem is being solved successfully due to the new field of ophthalmology - refractive eye surgery. It was introduced to the world by Professor S. N. Fyodorov. Elaborating absolutely new methods of operations and the devices for the operations performing, special high quality microsurgical instruments, alongside with precise calculations on the basis of computer programs, allowing to foresee the results for every case – provided thousands of people with the opportunity to see the outward environment with their own eyes.

Keratomy

    There are several methods of treating myopia. One of them is Keratomy which is conducted when myopia does not exceed 6.0 diopters.

    During this operation, non-through incisions are made on the cornea. Due to them, the cornea affected by intraocular pressure, becomes more flat, and its refractive force reduces. The incisions number and depth is calculated by means of special computer programs, on individual basis for every patient, depending on the degree of myopia, age, professional requirements, anatomic peculiar features of the eye. If, in addition to myopia, you have astigmatism (the condition when the cornea form is not ideally spherical and refraction in different directions occurs in different ways), it can be removed as well during Keratomy.

LASIC

    For myopia of any degree, you can be offered Laser Keratomileusis (LASIC) or Excimer Laser Keratectomy – the methods being the last word in myopia surgery. These operations are performed on the basis of précised computer calculations for every patient. In Laser Keratomileusis, the cornea rag is formed, it can be folded aside as a “lid”. Then the cornea is evaporated and made more flat, and after this the “lid” is returned back. Within several hours after the operation, you can return to your habitual way of life. In Excimer Laser Keratectomy, the corned refractive force can also be reduced by laser ray evaporating the cornea. The entire duration of the operation on eliminating myopia ranged from 1 to 25 diopters is only 1-1.5 minutes. The best points of these operations is their absolute painlessness and highest intervention precision.

    The operations named above are not related to the cavitary operations, as in them the surgical knife does not penetrate into the eye cavity. However, in a number of cases, when these operations are counter-indicative for you, cavitary operations are performed for correcting myopia of over 18 diopters. For example, a miniature lens is placed in front of the eye lens, and this lens neutralizes the myopic eye excessive refractive force.

    The purpose of all these refractive operations is reducing the myopic eye refraction. There are certain indications and counter-indications for each of these operations. The doctor will select optimal operation for your eyes, considering all the examination data.

Tips for Quick Recovery

    If you want your post-operation period to be quick and with no complications, follow our specialists’ advice:

·        Avoid sleeping on the side of the operated eye within the first 3-7 days after the operation.

·        Don’t rub the eye with your hand, don’t press the eye.

·        Avoid water or soap falling into the eye.

·        Wear sunglasses when you are outside.