Back to School! Good Vision and Overall Eye Health are Vital to Learning
Acuity Eye Center Lahore Pakistan Shares Back-to-School Tips for Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month
Back-to-school time is just around the corner, and the scramble to buy school clothes and new pencils, backpacks and notebooks will begin. Ophthalmologists remind busy parents not to neglect one of the most important learning tools: their children’s eyes.
Good vision and overall eye health are vital to learning. The Acuity Eye Center Lahore Pakistan joins the American Academy of Ophthalmology in emphasizing the importance of healthy vision to academic success during Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month in August.
Purpose of Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month
Parents should make their child’s vision health a priority, which is why the main objectives of Children’s Eye Health and Safety Awareness Month are to:
- Spread Information On The Importance Of Healthy Vision – Many activities gear towards family-friendly resources that help parents take care of their child’s eye sight and keep it healthy.
- Know More About Early Detection Of Vision Problems In Children – Impart the red flags that a child may have a vision problem, such as uneven focus, amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eyes). Early detection of vision conditions is crucial. Lazy eye is often corrected if treatment started at an early age; however, successful treatment is rarely achieved if treatment has started after a child reaches 8 or 9 years old.
- Raise Awareness About Preventing Eye Injuries In Children – In addition to eye diseases and conditions, you can also protect your children from sports-related eye injuries. About 100,000 sports-related eye injuries happen every day, where in one-third of these injuries occur in children under age 16. 90% could have been avoided if the child had worn protective eyewear, such as polycarbonate lenses fitted by an eye care professional. These lenses can withstand a ball traveling 90mph as it is 20 times stronger than ordinary eyeglasses.
- Save Children’s Eyesight – Teach parents to help their child correct their vision and recover from vision loss.
Sports Safety
Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the United States and most of those injuries are sports-related. Protective eyewear is the key to sports eye safety as ninety percent of sports-related eye injuries can be avoided with the use of protective eyewear. Even if your child’s sports league does not require eyewear, you as a parent have a right to insist on protecting your child’s eyesight.
For healthy eyes and vision throughout the school year, Acuity Eye Center Lahore Pakistan and The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommend the following four tips:
1. Get regular childhood vision screenings
Children’s eyes change rapidly, making regular vision screenings an important step in detecting and correcting eye problems early. In addition to screenings for infants, the Academy recommends further vision screening for children when they are:
· Pre-school age, between age 3 and 3 and a half
· Entering school
· Experiencing a possible vision problem
For school-age children, a vision screening, which is less comprehensive than a dilated eye examination by an ophthalmologist, can be performed by a pediatrician, family physician, nurse or trained technician during regular checkups. If the screening detects a problem, the child may need to see an ophthalmologist -- an eye physician and surgeon – or other eye care professional.
2. Know and share your family eye health history
Everyone should find out whether eye conditions or diseases run in their family. Parents should share that information with the person performing the screening when possible. Examples of common eye conditions include nearsightedness, crossed eye, known as strabismus, and lazy eye, known as amblyopia. If these are not treated in childhood, they can cause permanent vision loss in one eye.
3. Watch for signals of eye problems
Parents should be alert to symptoms that could indicate an eye or vision problem, such as complaints of eyestrain, headaches and squinting when reading or performing other common activities. Other symptoms to look for include a white or grayish-white coloring in the pupil, one eye that turns in or out, or eyes that do not track in sync together.
4. Wear protective eyewear when playing sports
Eye injuries while playing sports can cause serious damage, whether by getting smacked with an elbow during basketball or hit with a hockey stick. If your child plays racket sports, hockey, field hockey, baseball or basketball, consider having them wear goggles or other certified protective eyewear.
Here is the message from our lead consultant Professor Dr. Zia Ul Mazhry,
"Your child’s vision is critical and even more critical is protecting it during everyday activities. Eye injuries occur most commonly during outdoor sports or athletic. The parents and guardian need to pay close attention as a caregiver. If the kids are left alone, will often opt to not wear protective eyewear when playing sports, let alone a helmet, due to a number of reasons. Therefore, it’s up to you to ensure your child’s eyes and vision is kept safe."
Eye Health Tips for High School and College Students
Students face special challenges to the eyes when they are under academic performance pressure. Lack of sleep, prolonged computer use and long hours studying make for tired eyes that are dry, scratchy and achy.
Prolonged computer use contributes to eye fatigue because you blink less frequently. Less blinking significantly reduces lubrication in the eye making it feel tired, scratchy and “dry” as a result. Also eyes are not designed for prolonged focus on a single object, such as the computer. Remedy: place a note on the computer screen as a reminder to blink and to look away from the screen and focus on objects in the distance. Looking out a window (20 – 20 – 20 rule: for every 20 minutes of computer work, look away for 20 seconds, and focus on a scene or object at least 20 feet away) is a good break for the eyes. The key is to give your eyes a rest.
About Eye Health Education By Acuity Eye Center Lahore Pakistan:
Welcome to the Education Portal of Acuity Eye Centre Lahore Pakistan. We are committed to serving our patients and our community, to the development and propagation of new concepts to preserve and enhance vision. Our three missions—clinical service, education and research—are closely interrelated.Visit: https://eyeacuity.com/education/
Contact Our Team:
If you are looking for any of below services, please fill the form below, one of our team member will get in to provide you with full facilitation:
1– Comprehensive Primary Eye Exam/ Consultation
Consultation ::: Adult Eye Examination and Consultation
Consultation ::: Children Eye Examination Refraction Consultation
Consultation ::: Infant Eye Examination Refraction Consultation
2-Secondary Follow up Eye Examination and Consultations
Followup ::: Examination under Sedation for Kids (After Initial Consultation)
Followup ::: Dilated Fundus Examination(DFE)
Followup ::: Cycloplegic Refraction and DFE
3-Diagnostic Eye Test
Diagnostic ::: OCT
Diagnostic ::: Angio OCT
Diagnostic ::: Anterior Segment OCT
Diagnostic ::: Pachymetery
Diagnostic ::: Perimetery / Visual Fields
Diagnostic ::: Hess Chart/Digital Squint Assessment/Digital Diplopia Test
Diagnostic ::: Digital Colour vision test
