TED RADIO HOUR The story behind soaring myopia among kids
*morph 변하다 Myopia causes our eyeballs to morph, to elongate. It refracts light in a way that makes it harder to focus on things far away. *pass down 물려주다 It gets passed down through your parents. I have been told nearsightedness is a pure genetic problem. *run in the family 집안 내력이다 It tends to run in the family. She wondered if it had to do with the long hours she'd spent studying. *-wise …에 관하여, …의 면에서, ~한 방향/ 방식으로 Being able to work comfortably in front of a computer becomes advantageous vision-wise. So the earlier the age of onset, the harder it is to control. *primate 영장류 *endpoint 종점, 종료점 *glaucoma 녹내장 What could the long-term consequences be if you develop nearsightedness earlier in life? *irreversible (이전 상태로) 되돌릴[철회할] 수 없는 (↔reversible) We reduce the risk of those bad complications that may eventually lead to irreversible vision loss. Maria was changing the way people thought about myopia. I actually volunteered my Sunday time to get the clinic going. *get the word out 말을 퍼트리다 So 10 years ago, how did you get the word out? We started getting more than enough patients I can handle by myself. *recur 되풀이 되다, 다시 일어나다 *recurring patient 재진 환자 Our clinic has over 1,700 recurring patients just for myopia control.
Kids are developing myopia earlier and earlier Harmony Yu was seven years old when her distance vision became blurry. She had been reading a lot—roughly 200 pages a day—and all that time spent looking at text close up on the page had caused her to develop myopia.
Early onset myopia can lead to dangerous vision problems later in life, including retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataracts, and even complete loss of vision.