What Causes Myopia?

The most common factor is heredity. A child inherits myopia from parents or grandparents in 75 per cent of the cases. The remaining 25 per cent acquire it from other causes, e.g. deficiency of vitamins, calcium, proteins, etc. What can certainly precipitate myopia is debilitating illness, long hours of eye strain and reading in artificial light. In short, it is not an acquired disease but a malady naturally transmitted from one generation to the next. If one of the parents does not have myopia the child may not get it (Mendelian law of inheritance). This must be clearly grasped by parents of myopias so that they do not get panicky and look for all kinds of contract medical or non-medical.

There are other associated eye conditions which are not hereditary, in which short-sightedness appears for the first time and the person acquires a minus glass. This usually happens in adults and the most commonly known causes are cataract and diabetes.