With the prevalence of myopia increasing at what some experts call an “epidemic rate,” a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), titled “Myopia: Causes, Prevention, and Treatment of an Increasingly Common Disease,” has recommended that myopia be classified as a disease. The report calls for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make the classification, which would require a medical diagnosis. In addition, the report recommends that children spend between one to two hours a day outdoors, stemming from studies that show that being outdoors stimulates the eye with light that is brighter, more varied and requires different eye movements and focus compared with light indoors. Read More