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- “You have myopia,” they told us.
- We want to know how strong the myopia will be when growth stops.
There is a website that can predict progression for free.
It is the website of the Brien Holden Vision Institute in Sydney, Australia.
Bryan Holden Eye Institute
Why Uncorrected Visual Acuity Is Not an Indicator of Myopia
“Today’s vision is 0.1.”
Uncorrected visual acuity is not an indicator of myopia.
It fluctuates from day to day.
This is because a child’s eyes have strong accommodation and are affected by it.
In the vision tests done at an eye clinic, the most important thing is to obtain corrected visual acuity.
“Corrected visual acuity of 1.2”
To obtain corrected visual acuity,
thecertified orthoptistswho do the testing choose the best one from among many lenses.
In English, it is called
Best corrected visual acuity, BCVA
“subjective refraction.”
When needed, we test using eye drops to paralyze accommodation.
The best lens:
the spherical power
is what you enter on this website.
How to Use the Myopia Calculator (Myopia Progression Prediction Graph)
We use the website of the Brien Holden Vision Institute (free).
There are only four items to enter or select.
1. Ethnicity
2. The child’s current age
3. Refractive error
4. The myopia treatment currently being used
1. Ethnicity
Because we are Asian,
we select Asian.
2. The child’s current age
Select from ages 6 to 16.
3. Refractive error
At the vision test, we tell you the spherical power.
・Difference from an autorefractor/keratometer (refkera)
Accommodation comes into play.
When the vision test is actually done, the refraction value (spherical power) is often quite different.
・Difference from the glasses prescription
Whether the glasses feel too strong, and whether the child can wear them.
We decide the glasses power after a trial period of wearing them.
The spherical power on a glasses prescription can differ from the corrected visual acuity (BCVA) value.
4. The myopia treatment currently being used
Low-dose atropine eye drops (0.01–0.05%)
A wide range of concentrations is covered.
Orthokeratology and so on.
What Is Peer Review?
Peer: colleagues in the same research field
Review: evaluation
It means the same as refereeing.
(Reviewers are also called referees.)
When researchers
have put their results together, they submit them to medical journals around the world.
Today almost all of this proceeds online, through the following process.
(Several decades ago, there was also mailing, it seems.)
The journal’s editor
contacts people in the same research field.
In finely divided specialist fields, researchers around the world are nominated.
On the reviewer’s side,
“This paper was submitted.”
Notice arrives by e-mail.
The reviewer’s name is hidden, so the author does not know who is commenting.
Reviews are done in the gaps of regular work.
(There is no payment; it is volunteer work.)
Comments are added within the deadline and returned from the reviewer.
・Missing data
・Discrepancies in the description
and so on:
Severe evaluation is carried out.
The author responds to the reviewer’s points and exchanges additional materials (data) and so on.
It normally takes several months, sometimes more than a year.
Papers that pass this strict review are accepted and published on the internet.
“Peer review” means
research results (papers) that have undergone such rigorous review.
Accuracy of the Myopia Progression Prediction Graph
At the bottom of the BHVI myopia prediction site,
references are listed.
“Peer-reviewed”
These are many research results that have undergone rigorous review.
From among them, one value:
the control rate of myopia progression
is extracted.
As an averaged figure,
low-dose atropine eye drops (0.01–0.05%) are shown as 57%.
・The range of low-dose atropine concentrations is wide
・The “combination therapy” of orthokeratology and low-dose atropine cannot be selected
and so on: there are still many limitations.
We think of it as something to use as a rough reference.
