The trend of myopia affecting younger children and developing into severe cases is worsening, and the growing number of children wearing glasses has drawn widespread public attention.
Can these vision rehabilitation centers really help kids ditch their glasses? Reporters recently conducted an on-the-spot investigation into the issue.
Using keywords such as “myopia treatment” and “vision rehabilitation” on Baidu and Dianping, reporters found that there are more than 300 such stores in Beijing alone, including numerous franchise chains. Some youth vision rehabilitation centers have over a dozen branch locations.
The boom in the vision rehabilitation industry is closely linked to China’s persistently high and continuously rising youth myopia rate, as well as widespread anxiety among parents.
According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, China has a total of 600 million people with myopia. The myopia rate among high school and university students exceeds 70%, while nearly 40% of primary school students are nearsighted. China ranks first worldwide in youth myopia prevalence, and the figure keeps climbing year after year. A recent survey of 1,950 parents of primary and secondary school students shows that 73% have children with myopia, and 92% are deeply worried about their kids’ eyesight.
“Half of the students in my class wear glasses, and several suffer from high myopia,” a teacher at a middle school in Beijing told reporters. Today’s children are surrounded by electronic devices, yet they fail to realize how much harm prolonged screen time does to their eyes.
Mr. Xu, a Beijing resident, has a fifth-grade son with nearly 200 degrees of myopia, who now struggles to see the blackboard clearly. Hoping to stop his child from wearing glasses permanently, he took the boy to a nearby vision rehabilitation center. “The staff said they could restore eyesight gradually through device-based and manual massage. Five treatment courses cost 7,000 yuan,” Mr. Xu said. He insisted that his child must not wear glasses at such a young age. “I’m willing to spend any amount on treatment, otherwise he’ll never be able to take glasses off later.”
The person in charge of the center stated that over 100 children have regained their eyesight since its opening. Business peaks during winter and summer vacations, and the center earned hundreds of thousands of yuan in profit last year.
Eager to free their children from glasses, many parents spare no expense on so-called myopia rehabilitation treatments once their kids are diagnosed with nearsightedness. Strong market demand has consequently given rise to a large number of myopia rehabilitation institutions of all kinds.
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