Myopia - a bit different world

It is not easy to put yourself into the shoes of person with myopia (nearsightedness) and understand his problems. It is true also for experienced ophthalmologist or optometrist. Every person with myopia certainly remembers the precise moment when he found out that he did not see objects at the distance as well as other people. This discovery accompanies him during his whole life. Then his life more or less differs from lives of those who do not suffer from this refractive error depending on the degree of his shortsightedness (myopia). He must accommodate himself to this situation every day, during his whole life. It can bring about stress, higher life expenses (eyeglasses, contact lenses) and inability to exercise some occupations, sometimes even early disability or disharmony in personal life.

Certainly it is not very pleasant to be labeled as four-eyes, squinter or other similar nicknames at kindergarten or at school where other children try to exclude different individual from their group. It can be pretty depressing to discover that you cannot play football really well or cannot see numbers on the means of transport in time. Also the fact is that your first thought after waking up in the morning is to put on your eyeglasses or contact lenses. We must not forget to mention also the necessity to attend the school for shortsighted children in the case when high myopia is accompanied by decreased central visual sharpness. This substantially limits their choices of occupation.

Despite the disadvantages that people with myopia have, they try to be as successful as others. In many cases they are even more successful. Their only choice is to try to act as equal individuals which can serve to their advantage to some degree. There is an enormous effort and endeavor hidden behind their actions although only a few people realize it. And it is exactly this effort that can help shortsighted people to achieve many life successes.

Eyeglasses or contact lenses are just optical appliances and they cannot eliminate any of the refractive errors and sometimes can even pose a threat or health risk for a person who wears them. Even though the introduction of refractive eye surgery radically changed the world of many nearsighted people and they became equal with others for the first time in their life, it is not a complete solution of the problem for everyone. Mainly high myopia cannot be always surgically corrected. Perhaps one day genetic manipulations will solve also this problem.

We do not want this article to sound too pessimistically because many people suffer from low degree of myopia and they do not have almost any problems. We rather wish they would realize certain limitations and learn to live with them and avoid situations which could do them harm. The most important thing is to learn how to actively protect your own eyes. That is the way they can really overcome their handicap, become successful and lead equal lives compared with other unaffected individuals or even surpass them.)