Children from infancy are attached to the screens of smartphones and tablets, paying more attention to online games than outdoor activities. Of course, this affects children’s health, primarily on vision. Eye fatigue, once an age-related condition, now manifests itself even in preschoolers. Preserving children’s vision is the concern of parents, and our ophthalmologists are ready to help with this.

Causes of visual impairment in children:

• congenital pathology,
• infections, such as dacryocystitis of the newborn or conjunctivitis,
• refractive error,
• injury,
• unbalanced diet,
• instability in the cervical spine,
• excessive visual load.

Any of these reasons can lead to a significant deterioration in vision and even its complete loss.

How to save a child’s vision?

Of course, it is impossible to prevent all eye diseases, but it is possible to limit the risk factors. In addition, until a child’s visual system is fully developed, it responds better to treatment. Many problems are easy to eliminate if they are detected and acted upon in time. Moreover, a complex operation is not always required, often a special hardware treatment and some lifestyle changes are enough. What should parents pay attention to if they want to protect their child from eye diseases and a sharp deterioration in vision? Our ophthalmologists recommend:

• Make sure that vegetables, fruits, dairy products are present in the diet.
• Protect children’s eyes from ultraviolet light.
• Keep household chemicals, sprays, and medicines out of the reach of children to reduce the risk of chemical burns.
• If your child plays sports, whether it’s swimming or hockey, make sure to wear eye protection.
• Limit the amount of time your child spends on the computer or gadgets. Show him interesting games that will replace his monitor.
• Teach your kids to do eye exercises. Let it become a kind of game for them.
• If the child already has refractive errors that can be corrected with optical correction, explain that there is no shame in wearing glasses.
• Regularly show the child to an ophthalmologist who, during a simple examination, will reveal the first changes in refraction and eye pathologies.

Remember that children rarely complain of poor eyesight. Often they do not realize that they have become worse to see. There are problems with attention, academic performance, it is difficult for children to track the movement of objects, they skip letters and even words while reading, refuse active games or work with small details. You should not attribute all this to laziness and restlessness – perhaps the child simply has poor eyesight and needs help.