Five Signs Your Child Is Struggling With Poor Vision

There was a time when we as children were told by our parents to sit away from television screens so as to avoid vision problems. Today electronic displays are a norm in school, at home and in everyday life. The whole plethora of televisions, computer screens, laptops, cell-phones are a constant bombardment on the eyes which leads to poor vision at an early age. Thus, vision problems are rampant among children today.

This affects not only their ability to perform well academically but also in day to day activities. Parents often fail to notice that there is a problem when it comes to deteriorating vision. Moreover, vision deficiencies are often misjudged as attention deficit disorders and even behavioral issues because children are unable to understand and speak about the problem at hand.

Regular check-ups and proper correction is necessary for the children to have clear vision. Some schools perform vision screenings wherein the children have to identify pictures or letters given in the wall chart, but the numbers are few and the exact problem isn’t always detected.  It is the duty of the parents to identify the problems their child is facing. If you notice any of the following, get an appointment for vision screening test in Jamaica at your nearest Courts Optical eye care location.

 Five Signs of Vision Problems in Children

 Squinting:

Nearsightedness is a condition in which nearby objects appear clear but far ones don’t. For children who are nearsighted, squinting of the eyes narrows the field of vision and helps to make sight clearer. Eye-sight problems like blurred or distorted vision can be cleared up by squinting of the eyes.

Short Attention Span:

Farsightedness is a condition in which far objects are clear but objects nearby are blurry. Children who are farsighted cannot remain focused when engaged in activities that are near to them. Thus, a short attention span while writing, drawing, puzzles, reading and other such activities are signs of possible vision related issues.

Rubbing of Eyes

When parents see children rubbing their eyes they often stop them but do not think why. Rubbing of the eyes is a sign of eye strain. The reaction may be due to eye allergies, muscle weakness or even optic nerve abnormalities or damage which causes fatigue to the eyes.

Headache

If a child often complains of headaches, it can be a sign of eye strain, focusing defect or inflammation of different layers of the eye. Once noticed, a thorough eye-examination should be conducted immediately.

Lazy eye

Some children can see more clearly with one eye than the other and they tend to cover the ‘bad’ eye or reduce the usage of the eye involuntarily. Thus, the muscles in the ‘bad’ eye are underused and become weaker. This leads to a condition in the eye called amblyopia or lazy eye. When a child has a lazy eye, the pressure falls on one eye only while the other undergoes vision loss. This vision problem cannot be rectified with glasses and not corrected at an early age, it can cause serious loss of vision.

Technological advancements will continue as we move on to a digital world. But we cannot put the health of our children at risk. Having these signs and identifiers at hand, parents must take charge and ensure that their kids do not struggle with poor vision. Visit your nearest Courts Optical in Jamaica for eye test and optical services.

Photo Credit: Google Images