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September is
Children's Eye Health and Safety Month. I
guess this designation was to coincide
with September being "Back to School
Month". Personally, I think every month
should be Children's Eye Health and Safety
Month!
Eye doctors and teachers have found that
almost one in four students (five in a
class of 20) will have eye problems or
vision problems. Many of these will go
undetected until permanent damage has
occurred. Certainly, poor vision affects
success or failure in school work. Blurred
vision or poor depth perception
contributes to poor grades, misbehavior
and even dropping out of school.
I hope that everyone agrees that vision
screenings are needed early and often for
children in their growing, formative,
maturing years.
Actually, pediatricians and eye doctors
recommend that a complete, professional
eye examination be performed after birth,
at 6 months of age, just before entering
school at age 4 or 5, and periodically
through the next 12 school years. This is
even recommended for those who do not
display any signs of eye trouble, but is
even more important for children with any
family history of eye diseases, including
"lazy eye," or a family history of needing
glasses. Regular eye exams for children
are important, since some eye problems
have no signs, symptoms or pain.
If a child or grandchild shows any signs
of the following complaints, appearance or
behavior, you should tell your
pediatrician, and the child should have a
complete eye exam by an eye doctor:
Behavior
-
Rubs eyes
excessively.
-
Shuts or
covers one eye, tilts head or pushes
head forward.
-
Has
difficulty reading or doing other
close-up work; holds objects extremely
close to the eyes.
-
Blinks more
than usual or is irritable when doing
close-up work.
-
Is unable to
see distant things clearly or squints
eyelids together and frowns.
-
Fails vision
screening or is being evaluated or
treated for a learning disability.
Appearance
and complaints
-
Crossed
eyes.
-
Red-rimmed,
swollen or crusty eyelids.
-
Inflamed or
watery eyes.
-
Recurring
sties, infections on eyelids, or
complaints of itchy, burning or scratchy
eyes.
-
Complaints
of dizziness, headaches or nausea
following close-up work.
-
Complaints
of double vision or constant blurriness.
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