HKUMed launches free eye screenings for children and adults

The University of Hong Kong Medical School will roll out 1,000 free eye screenings for children starting in October. That comes as an initiative to increase parents' awareness of myopia and the eye condition's potential consequences, if left unmanaged, including glaucoma.

In 2025, HKU Medical School examined 501 children, aged between five and 12, and found that 40% suffered from myopia. And unmanaged myopia could drastically increase the risk of irreversible blindness in adulthood.

Speaking to the media, HKU's ophthamology department stresses the importance of preventing myopia at an early stage.

Ophthamology department's Chairperson and Clinical Professor, Christopher Leung, says "Eyeballs keep growing during childhood. We are talking about when we are young, two, three years of age, typically we see hyperopia.But after three, four years of age, the eyeballs continue to grow and that's when myopia kicks in. It's by the time we reach 15 or 16 years of age, the growth begins to stop."

As an initiative to help residents detect myopia early, the medical school will offer 1,000 free eye examination for children next month. Online registration is open. Separately, the programme will provide another 1,000 free eye check-ups for adults aged 50 or above with known myopia. Details for the second phase will be announced soon.

The medical school will also launch a three-year clinical trial in 2027 to evaluate three advanced myopia intervention methods for children aged five to 12, including optical defocus lenses and atropine eye drops.