According to the latest warning from the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% - 90% of children in Asia, including Vietnam, could be nearsighted by 2050.
Myopia is one of the most common refractive errors in Vietnam, especially among school-age children. According to statistics, the rate of children with myopia is about 20-40% in urban areas and 10-15% in rural areas.
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In some schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the rate of students with myopia is up to 50%. Another in-depth study on more than 3,000 primary school students aged 6-10 in Vinh City - Nghe An, from August 2022 to the end of May 2023, showed that the general rate of myopia in primary school students is about 31.3% and is expected to increase over the years.
According to doctors, most people think myopia is not a serious problem, the symptoms can be easily corrected with glasses.
However, in reality, myopia is the leading cause of vision loss and the second leading cause of blindness. Current trends show that the severity of myopia is increasing, with high rates of myopia, especially in children.
Myopia not only negatively affects children's quality of life and academic performance, but also leads to limitations in playing sports and exploring future experiences.
There are three main causes of myopia. The first cause is genetics. According to research, if both parents are nearsighted, the possibility of their child being nearsighted is from 33% to 60%. If neither parent is nearsighted, the possibility of the child being nearsighted is only from 6% to 15%.
The second reason comes from the fact that children today use electronic devices too early and too much. The results of a survey in Vietnam on children's use of digital devices such as tablets, phones, etc. showed that up to 78% of children between the ages of 1 and 5 are exposed to electronic devices for hours every day.
Electronic devices emit artificial blue light, which can cause eye strain, sleep disorders, and over time lead to myopia.
In addition, excessive use of electronic devices also causes children to lack exposure to natural light and lack of outdoor activities, which indirectly increases the risk of myopia.
The third cause is also a little-known cause, which is the lack of nutrients necessary for the eyes such as Lutein, Zeaxanthin, vitamins A, C and E, minerals...
Parents often only pay attention to providing general nutrition for their children, but rarely pay attention to specific nutritional regimens for the eyes, causing the eyes to lose the necessary defense mechanism to reduce the risk of myopia during learning and living.
Sharing about the situation of people suffering from ophthalmological diseases, Doctor CKII Pham Thi Hang, Head of Refractive Department, DND International Eye Hospital said that according to ophthalmological research as well as examination process in schools, the rate of refractive errors is increasing.
In some schools and classes, the rate of students with refractive errors is up to 30-40%, higher than in urban areas. This is alarming. In some schools, when we examined students, 5-6 out of 10 students wore glasses, about 2 students had vision of only 5/10-6/10.
Many children come to the clinic with the risk of amblyopia, myopia in one eye, anisometropia in one eye, many children with rapidly increasing myopia. Some children even increase 2-3 diopters in 1 year.
According to Dr. Hang, refractive errors seriously affect life, study and work, even career orientation... However, with the development of medicine, today there are many modern surgical methods to help restore healthy vision in just a few seconds.
Regarding treatment methods, according to MSc. Dang Thi Nhu Quynh, Deputy Director of DND International Eye Hospital, many patients have chosen refractive surgery as a solution to have sharp vision without having to depend on glasses.
According to Dr. Quynh, there are many new refractive surgery methods with outstanding advantages. Among them, Smile pro is considered an improved generation of ReLEx SMILE, promising to lead the trend of future refractive surgery.
Compared to the ReLEx SMILE method, which was a breakthrough in refractive surgery when the laser time only took 23 seconds/eye, SMILE pro is even more amazing when it shortens the time to only 8 seconds/eye, with one laser beam removing up to 10 degrees of nearsightedness and 5 degrees of astigmatism.
DND International Eye Hospital has successfully performed thousands of SMILE pro surgeries. Specifically, from March 2023 to present, DND International Eye Hospital has successfully performed more than 2,000 SMILE pro surgeries. Of which, the ability to stabilize vision 3 months after surgery reached 99.41%, vision without glasses was better than vision with glasses at 96.87%.
In addition, the Deputy Director of DND International Eye Hospital warned about retinal detachment. According to the doctor, this is a disease that can cause permanent vision loss in patients if not treated or treated late.
Dr. Quynh recently treated a case of an overseas Vietnamese returning to Vietnam with the intention of having myopia surgery. However, when he came to DND International Eye Hospital for examination, the doctor discovered that the patient had retinal detachment. Immediately, the patient underwent retinal detachment surgery. After the successful surgery, the patient returned for myopia surgery some time later.
Retinal detachment occurs when the retina separates from the back of the eye. This causes vision loss that can be partial or total, depending on the extent of the retinal detachment.
When your retina detaches, its cells can become severely deprived of oxygen. Retinal detachment is a medical emergency. If you experience any sudden changes in your vision, contact your eye doctor immediately.
Over time, the rate of photoreceptor cells dying and retinal detachment increases, the prognosis becomes worse, after 24 hours of detachment the rate of dead cells is 0.02% and increases gradually. Therefore, if retinal detachment is left for a long time, the ability to recover vision is poor. DND International Eye Hospital is applying many methods to treat retinal detachment.
It is known that currently, health care is one of the areas receiving the most attention from society. Accordingly, the Ministry of Health has issued Circular No. 54/2017/TT-BYT encouraging hospitals to promote the application of modern technology and techniques in the treatment and health care of patients.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment has also officially approved the strategy of “Technological innovation and promoting healthcare technology, helping to solve challenges in the healthcare industry in Vietnam” as a national strategy. Therefore, it can be said that the application of new technology in medicine is an important task and has become a common goal of hospitals across the country.
According to Dr. Nguyen Dang Dung, Director of DND International Eye Hospital; refractive surgery is a key field of DND International Eye Hospital.
Currently, DND owns many refractive surgery systems with different methods, such as: SMILE pro, SMILE/SUPER CLEAR, Femto Lasik, SmartSurfACE, Lasik, Phakic... In which, SMILE pro is the newest and most modern method at the present time when laser treatment time is only 8 seconds.
Myopia is becoming a global health and socioeconomic problem and is the most common acquired refractive error among school-age children.
Especially in today's modern life, due to unhealthy habits and activities such as: reading books, stories in low-light environments or at close range for long periods of time; playing games on phones, on computers; watching TV... too much causes children's eyes to have to adjust continuously, causing fatigue, pain and eye aches.
Vietnam has nearly 3 million children with refractive errors, of which more than 70% are nearsighted. It can be seen that the pressure of studying along with easy access to electronic devices (TV, phone, computer, etc.) causes the rate of refractive errors to increase rapidly, especially during the summer holidays.
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