Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a cell in the retina that may cause myopia when it dysfunctions. The dysfunction may be linked to the amount of time a child spends indoors and away from natural light.
"This discovery could lead to a new therapeutic target to control myopia," said Greg Schwartz, lead investigator and assistant professor of ophthalmology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
More than a billion people in the world have myopia, whose incidence is rising and is linked to how much time people spend indoors as children.
The newly discovered retinal cell -- which is highly sensitive to light -- controls how the eye grows and develops. If the cell instructs the eye to grow too long, images fail to be focused on the retina, causing nearsighted vision and a lifetime of corrective glasses or contact lenses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @11:57AM
Wouldn't that imply that dwellers of rain forests would tend to be myopic too?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:11PM
I'll volunteer my children for the "Caribbean" part of a comprehensive long-term "Tropical vs Polar circle" myopia study.