Is a patient more likely to be myopic at birth or at 6 years old?

Is a patient more likely to be myopic at birth or at 6 years old?

• A. At birth
• B. At age 6
• C. At age 12
• D. At age 18

Answer: (A)

Refractive development in early life follows a clear pattern. Newborns are typically hyperopic (farsighted) because their eyes are shorter and the optical components are not yet fully grown. As the eye grows during the first few years, this hyperopia decreases through a process called emmetropization, moving toward emmetropia (neutral vision) by school age. Myopia, if it appears at all in childhood, tends to emerge later, during school years or adolescence, often related to axial elongation or environmental factors like near work. Rare congenital myopia can occur, but the common trajectory is hyperopia in infancy with increasing likelihood of myopia only later in childhood.

Refractive development in early life follows a clear pattern. Newborns are typically hyperopic (farsighted) because their eyes are shorter and the optical components are not yet fully grown. As the eye grows during the first few years, this hyperopia decreases through a process called emmetropization, moving toward emmetropia (neutral vision) by school age. Myopia, if it appears at all in childhood, tends to emerge later, during school years or adolescence, often related to axial elongation or environmental factors like near work. Rare congenital myopia can occur, but the common trajectory is hyperopia in infancy with increasing likelihood of myopia only later in childhood.