Written By: Pavitra Sampath | Updated : April 2, 2015 1:18 PM IST
As you wait patiently for the doctor to tell you and your loved ones about your illness, hoping against hope that everything is alright, the doctor speaks but you don't understand a single word! Packed with medical mumbo-jumbo doctors usually speak a language that nobody but their own peers can understand. We at www.thehealthsite.com are going to attempt to explain one term at a time, so that your next visit to the doctor is much smoother. Earlier we explained terms like 'convalescence', 'prognosis', 'benign','malignant', 'concussion' and 'aneurysm' this week are going to explain 'myopia'.
Myopia is a condition where a person is unable to see objects that are at a distance from them. Also known as short-sightedness, a person suffers from myopia when the eyeball elongate to such an extent that the light entering the eye no more refracts through the lens properly, therefore reaching the retina improperly, leading to blurred vision. This 
condition occurs in 3.19% people under the age of fifteen, while 20% of people above the age of 15 years suffer from it in India. The study conducted by the International Centre for Advancement of Rural Eye Care *(in collaboration with other institutes), states that these numbers were mainly seen in people living in the urban setting. While these statistics might be true, there are other reasons for a person to suffer from the condition, which includes hereditary and physiological factors.
According to Dr Rohit Shetty, a renowned refractive surgeon and the Vice Chairman of Narayana Nethralaya, 'The eye was not made to look at graphic or moving images , like we see on a computer or phone screen, as often as we do these days. Looking constantly at these screens for over eight hours in a day can lead to various eye disorders, the most common one being dry eyes.' A recent study also suggested that over use of smartphones can also lead to refractive errors like myopia.
*Statistical source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11886410
So the next time you find it difficult to see distant objects, don't fret, just get your eyes tested. Keep an eye out for our next post where we will explain what the word hypermetropia means.
