Kids psuedomyopia

[somo007]

Whats the best treatment for pseudomyopia in children and what are underlying conditions that can cause it?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Fun_Dus]

Well, cycloplegic refractions (the whole big pupil, blurry vision drops), are good but that would be catching it before hand...and just leaving it at that makes it sound as if you are just telling them its pseudomyopia, but not treating it, other than telling them you are not giving them what they came in asking for and not telling them what to do to relieve it. A really good case history with binocular workup may be (and probably is) just as good in diagnosing it. It is definitely, 100% better that one could actually drive and read and text their buddies after they leave the exam room. Not to mention, depending on the drops, that you could be dilated for an entire day or even days!

For the treatment of pseudomyopia, one might try and STOP wearing the glasses! If your not a pilot and especially if one is not driving yet, 20/20 is just a number to record. Relax and take frequent breaks when working at the computers... and ease off the texting!!! The more time we keep our eyes focused for a few inches in front of us, the more our eye adjusts itself for near, hence "near-sightedness". If things are getting blurry for far away AFTER you find yourself continuing to pull those phones in closer or hunching up over your laptop, close your eyes...tell yourself to relax, count to 5, look far, far away and open... if things clear for you even for a couple minutes... that may tell you that you can get clear vision without running to the doc for glasses, right?
So treating pseudomyopia is pretty simple, never ever read closer than about the length of your elbow (for normal reading size print of course) and never ever do near work for longer than 15 minutes max without looking up and far away in the distance for at least a minute or two. The #1 KEY thing about "focusing for distance" is that you should not focus at all, you should RELAX your eyes and don't squint or strain on one object, but look at "the big picture" and try and look for this to become clear. The more frequent the breaks, or even better, more frequently you shift focus from near to very far distance, the better. After some time, you may find yourself reaching for those specs less and less or hopefully not needing them at all!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Pseudomyopia in children comes from the eye muscle being over focused. It usually comes from the glasses being made to strong due to glasses test being done without eye drops that dilate the eye and relax the focus muscle. The other problem accommodative spasm is relatively rare.

JCH MD