Fact checked by Derick Wilder
Myopia, the medical term for nearsightedness, has been on the rise in children in recent decades, growing steeply after the Covid-19 pandemic. One 2024 study found that among more than 2,000 Chicago-area children, myopia progression more than doubled from 2020 to 2021 compared to rates during 2019 and 2020.
Nearsightedness can lead to long-term eye and vision complications, including glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal detachment. Risks increase when myopia develops at a younger age because it may progress more over time.
Noreen Shaikh, OD, and Magdalena Stec, OD, pediatric optometrists at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, cite two key factors behind myopia’s increase: children spending long, uninterrupted periods looking at screens or books at close range (particularly common during the pandemic), and spending less time outdoors. Children can also have a genetic predisposition to myopia.
To reduce the risk or slow its progression, Shaikh stresses the 20-20-2 rule. Every 20 minutes, after looking at something up close, look at something 20 feet away for 2 minutes.
If myopia progression has already begun, Stec offers hope for slowing it. “There are special glasses that just came to the market last December. There are special contact lenses and eye drops that we can use to help slow [myopia] down. There’s some exciting stuff out there to help out.”
