Prof. Ian Morgan

Speaker：

Prof. Ian Morgan

Institution：

Research School of Biology, Australian National University

Position：

Visiting Fellow

Presentation Title：

Risk factors for myopia and new directions in myopic prevention and control

Abstract：

Recent work on risk factors for myopia has established that there are two major environmental exposures driving the current epidemic of myopia. Exposure to the educational pressures inherent in the life of a school child is a causal risk factor, whereas increased time spent outdoors acts to prevent the development of myopia. Many other factors have been proposed, but none are well-established, and it needs to be established if they act independently of these two major factors. How strong these exposures are depend on social/political as well as individual/family decisions. There are promising reports of effective use of increased time outdoors to decrease the prevalence of myopia. Recent changes to the education system in mainland China, with decreased study pressures in the preschool and early primary school years and the development of full-service schooling provide significant opportunities for increased time outdoors. This, combined with effective methods of slowing the progression of myopia, such as low dose atropine, and contact and spectacle lenses that impose myopic defocus, should enable the epidemic of myopia to be brought under control over the next few years.