Nearsightedness rates in kids soar around world, UW School of Optometry weighs in [Video]

If your child has started wearing glasses lately, they aren’t alone.

Four-year-old Isadora visited the University of Waterloo School of Optometry & Vision Science on Tuesday.

“She’s had glasses since she’s been able to understand how to put glasses on,” her father Brad told CTV News.

But it seems more kids worldwide will be joining Isadora in needing glasses, although, for a different reason.

New research by the British Journal of Ophthalmology shows rates of myopia among children and teens worldwide has tripled over the last three decades.

“Myopia is nearsightedness, which is trouble seeing far away, and you can see up close,” said Lisa Christian, associate clinical professor at the School of Optometry.

One in three children worldwide are now nearsighted and Christian says the prevalence of myopia increased dramatically between 2020 and 2023.

“Certain cultures, certain ethnicities are a little bit more predisposed to myopia. But when we look at that huge increase in prevalence between …