Myopia - Causes and Treatments | Dr. Alberto Bellone

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Myopia is a refractive error, where the light rays coming from an object are not being brought by the eye to a single focus on the retina to see images clearly (having an elongated eye or overly curved cornea). Myopia causes a blurred vision from afar while nearer vision is good. It is the most common eyesight problem in the world: only 25% of the population in Italy is affected. It often comes from a family or hereditary origin.

The term myopia is derived from the Greek word “myopos”, that means “squint”, an effective action to improve the clarity of what is being seen; on the other hand, if the eyelids are “squeezed”, they function as a natural diaphragm allowing an increase in the depth of field.

What does it mean to have short-sightedness? The difficulties of having myopia are especially visual: the patient complains of discomfort when watching television or in the cinema, driving, and reading road signs at night. Many students are forced to sit on front desks because they are struggling to read and copy from the blackboard. Many sportsmen need contact lenses for a safer practice of various activities. In order to see sharply at a distance, one must use a specific correction. When looking at something up close, if the degree of the defect is not particularly high, one can see with precision and perform any activity even without the use of glasses.

How do we optically compensate for myopia? Myopia is compensated through the use of spherical lenses with negative power, that are according to a proportional approach to the extent of the problem: the higher the defect and the higher the degree of correction (the value expressed in diopters). The characteristic effect of the negative lenses allows to move the light rays from the front plane, bringing them to focus on the retina; in this way, distant objects are seen clearly, but also perceived as being smaller than actual, because of the typical shrinking effect produced by the negative power of the lens.

Are there solutions in addition to glasses and contact lenses? In addition to glasses or contact lenses, you can rely on refractive surgery and the system of Phakic lenses. During the ophthalmic examination it is possible to determine if the patient is a suitable candidate for a particular type of intervention. A thorough examination of the refraction is necessary.

How is myopia assessed? With cycloplegia, we can measure the refraction and thus the extent of the defect to be corrected. The patient is administered a few drops on the eye to paralyze the natural accommodation of the crystalline lens and to dilate the pupil. Corneal topography allows for the analysis of the shape and regularity of the cornea: the projection of the center of a series of concentric light rings on the surface of the cornea is analyzed by the computer.

The main interventions for correcting myopia. Myopia can be corrected with:

Implantable Contact Lens (ICL) To Correct Myopia

My name is Alessia Candellone and I am a veterinarian who carries out free profession in the province of Turin. I underwent ICL intervention, that is, intraocular lenses implantation for myopia correction by Dr. Alberto Bellone. I am, or rather was, short-sighted about … life. I never knew what it was to see bright colors and I always had to do my “eyewear hunt” every morning. In the recent two years of my life, my professional practice was prevented by the disease. I had difficulty seeing on a microscope or doing some daily medical procedures. Thanks to a visit to Dr. Alberto Bellone, I was introduced to the possibility of undergoing this type of surgery. I was an ideal candidate for the features of myopia and I was entrusted with the treatment and hands of Dr. Bellone to see again in a more suitable manner.

The intervention was performed in December 2013. I was first subjected to the left-eye surgery, then the right-eye surgery. Surgery was performed in a day-hospital at a Turin facility, in sedation, and with the help of local anaesthetics and mydriatics. The intervention lasted about 40 minutes and was painless during process and in the postoperative phase. I simply kept the eye patch for 24 hours and subsequently applied topical eye drops in the operated eye. Since the next day, I was brought a vision that I never had before, the colors seemed to me at once brilliant and the images were finally no longer blurred. I immediately regained the ability to perform my professional activities without any problem.

How To Have Better Vision With Phakic Intraocular Lenses

Advanced research provides us with Phakic Lenses that allow you to have a sharp, clear vision. For years, the only way to permanently correct nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism was to have surgery with laser. Now thanks to the new Phakic Lenses, a better result can be obtained with a simple procedure that gives “high-definition” vision to patients. There is a fundamental difference between visual acuity and quality of vision. Many refractive surgical procedures such as LASIK are able to offer an improvement in visual acuity, but the quality of how you see may differ, as well as much, depending on the procedure used.
There are lenses that provide vision correction that goes beyond LASIK and allow the patient to see more clearly, with a greater depth and breadth of visual field. These particular intraocular lenses are called Visian and are produced in the US by STAAR.
Chosen by the US Army for their reliability and performance, they are particularly suitable lenses for those with modern lifestyles and are active and those who wish to recover the highest level of visual quality.