LOUISVILLE, Ky. — According to Dr. Mark Lynn, 50% of people have a vision disorder they don’t know about, and one in four children have a vision disorder that goes undiagnosed.

For 8-year-old Miles Witten, it's a problem he started dealing with nearly a year ago.

“He is mainly distant, so up close he was fine so we never realized or noticed anything. But it was more when he was watching tv, he was not sitting on the couch he was standing super close to the tv,” his mom, Lindsey Witten said.

Miles is now wearing corrective glasses to treat his nearsightedness. (Lindsey Witten)

Nearsightedness, or Myopia, is a condition in which objects that are far away look blurry. According to optometrist Dr. Mark Lynn, a number of risk factors could increase the likelihood of developing nearsightedness, including genetics like in the case of the Witten family.

“Testing for that is a simple matter of doing the eye exam, asking the historical questions, seeing if there are any problems, any change, and then just doing a full blown eye exam to make sure you're being complete and accurate in what you do,” Lynn said.

But Lynn said the pandemic may have also caused an increase of cases because of kids spending more time at home, indoors and often looking at screens.

“There are obviously going to be some and the more enclosed the near world becomes and the more screen time you use, the more induced myopia or nearsightedness you can have, the more eye strain, the more infections because you tend to rub your eyes more,” Lynn said.

Although Mile's diagnosis was easily corrected with glasses, without them it could’ve been a lot worse. ​

“If you're a young kid who is in first or second grade and you can't see the board and you can't see what your teacher is doing, the first thing you’re going to do is not pay attention,” Witten said.

The Witten family continues to go to the eye doctor for yearly check-ups as Mile’s eyesight continues to change.

“I've worked in it and I've dealt with it my whole life. I've been wearing glasses since I was in fourth grade so I just want to make sure Mile’s are healthy for one and for two, I want the best thing for him with school and he's getting into sports and he needs to be able to see. I don't want him to get injured,” Witten said.

Dr. Lynn suggests getting a yearly eye exam to test for problems like nearsightedness. 

In the meantime, some signs your child could be experiencing visual problems include: squinting, holding books or tablets close to their face, complaints of headaches, bumping into things and frequent blinking or rubbing of eyes.