Archive for the ‘Children’s Vision’ category

Three Myths in Correcting Children’s Amplyopia

April 11th, 2011

Amplyopia is a kind of eye disease which seriously affects the visual quality. The survey indicates that the rate for children to suffer from amplyopia is 2% to 4%. It has a great impact on the children’s healthy growth. Some parents often mislead their children to wear eyeglasses, which delay the treatment to the children. This mainly lies in the following three myths:

Myth 1: Postpone the children’s wearing glasses

Some parents don’t want their children to wear glasses too early, but amplyopia is caused by the dysplasia of optic nerve of which the critical developing period is from 3 to 5 years old, therefore amplyopia should be cured as early as possible. In theory, the vision and all visual functions of the 8-year-old children will be the same as that of the adults; but in clinic, it is found that children who are above 3 years old have the normal vision. That is to say, if a 3-year-old child is found to have ametropia which affects the eyesight, his parents should fill a prescription to correct it for him. Don’t miss the optimum correcting period of the children because of your misunderstanding.

Myth 2: Take on and off the eyeglasses frequently

This is an issue that most of the parents concern because they deem that the development of their children’s eyes will be affected due to long time wearing. But on the contrary, for children who have suffered amplyopia, wearing eyeglasses all the time in itself is curing the amplyopia. If they take on and off the glasses frequently the treatment effect will be influenced.

Myth 3: Stop the children wearing glasses and training

This is also one of the mistakes that the parents often make. The standard indicating the amplyopia is healed is the binocular visual acuity reach up to 0.9 and the binocular vision and stereo visual function are good; moreover, the vision should not be lost during continuous 3 years’ follow-up vision. Many parents and even some nonprofessional doctors don’t train their children’s binocular and stearo visual functions after their children’s vision is improved to the normal level, this is so to speak falling short of success for lack of a final effort.

If you have a child whose amplyopia is being treated, please do not step into the above myths.

Why Should Amblyopic Children Change Eyeglasses Frequently?

April 10th, 2011

When it comes to amblyopia treatment, parents usually put forward such a question, namely why it is necessary to retest the vision and change the eyeglasses frequently? While for adults, they can wear a same pair of eyeglasses for several years. Why?

This is because the children’s eyeballs are developing, which makes the ocular axis increase continuously. According to the rough calculation, when the ocular axis is increased by 1mm, the hyperopia degree will be reduced by about 3.0D correspondingly. The children’s ocular axis is 14.5 ~17.0 mm when they are born. Generally speaking, the ocular axis of them will not reach 24mm which is the ocular axis length for adults until they reach 6 ~8. Consequently, the children’s diopters vary all the time before they are 6 ~8, hence it is required for the amblyopic children to retest their visions and change their eyeglasses usually.

In addition, the pupil distances of the children keep getting larger. If they don’t change their eyeglasses in time, their eyes will not be able to see things clearly straightly through the optical centers of the lenses. As a result, apart from visual retest, it is also necessary to remeasure the children’s pupil distances and match them new glasses.

It is better that the visual retest is conducted once half a year or a year, not exceeding one year. After refilling a prescription the eyesight will be enhanced and the eye position will tend to normal. Changing eyeglasses is beneficial to improve the effect of treating amblyopia and reduce the treatment course.

It is worth noting that the parents should pay attention to prevent their children’s amblyopia from recurring. Some parents deem that the eyesight of the amblyopic children is improved means their amblyopia is healed, so they neglect the consolidation therapy and then fail to supervise the children’s consolidation therapy, examine their vision and replace their eyeglasses regularly. Moreover, the children’s consciousness is not so good, so they don’t persist wearing eyeglasses and coordinating the treatment. Both of the above two factors will lead to recurrence of amblyopia.

Enjoying Sunshine is Helpful for Preventing Children’s Myopia

April 5th, 2011

How to prevent the children from suffering from myopia has always been a topic that most of the parents care about. Apart from having a balanced diet, not writing or reading in the sunshine, not using the eyes for a long time, etc., do you know enjoying sunshine is also very helpful for preventing the children’s myopia? As for the reasons, I think they can be listed as below:

First of all, enjoying sunshine can accelerate the exudation of vitamin D that can increase the absorption of calcium by the children’s body. Calcium is an indispensable element for the human body, therefore, for eyes, lack of calcium is likely to weaken the elasticity and surface tension of the wall of eyeball. The children’s ocular axis is easy to be lengthened when they do some near-distance work or lower their heads, so that the myopia occurs and develops.

Second, enjoying sunshine can promote the children’s bodies to exude more dopamine which can effectively stunt the growth of eyeball so as to impede the occurrence and development of myopia.

Third, sunshine can make the children’s pupils contracted and increase the focusing force of their eyes to see more clearly, hence preventing their eyes from suffering myopias.

Fourth, as people usually enjoy the sunshine outdoors, when the sunlight is strong they seldom see near objects; on the contrary, they will see far and do some sports instead in order to relax their eyeballs. This is just the best way to protect their eyesight and it is also conducive to preventing myopia.

It is worth to be mentioned that we should let our children do more outdoor activities and enjoy as much sunshine as possible, allowing the UV ray from the sun to directly shine on the children for over 2 hours everyday to enable them to get sufficient dopamine and vitamin D. It is true that the children living in today’s world are busy with study, but anyhow the parents should take them to do sports and play outdoors as far as possible.

Pay Attention to the Development of the Children’s Eyes before They Reach 20

March 31st, 2011

Experts put forward that for people who are under 18, their eyes will experience two periods of the fastest growth. The first period is from 3~4 years old and the second period is from 12~15 years old. Our eyeball will not be developed until we reach 20. If parents can protect well their children’s eyesight during these two periods, the vision of their children will be lost more slowly even if they suffer from myopia in the future.

Generally speaking, myopia is caused mostly by that the anterior and posterior axis are too long. The second reason is the refractive power of the eyes is too strong. Myopia occurs mostly at adolescence and is related to genetics to some extent. However, its occurrence and development is closely associated with insufficient light, improper reading posture, near-distance work and so forth.

Additionally, when the children’s eyes are at the first fast growing period do not let them read and write too much but allow them to take part in the outdoor activities such as singing, dancing, swimming, etc. as far as possible. When their eyes are at the second fast growing period, if you find your children have suffered from myopia you should match them eyeglasses to correct their visions immediately. What should be noticed is that as the myopic eyes are just suitable for near-distance working, you should ask your children to wear the eyeglasses while seeing the blackboard and take them off while reading or writing.

Consequently, all parents should pay attention to the development of their children’s eyes, especially when they are under 18. I think none of the parents would like their children to be troubled with myopia and wear glasses all their lives. If you don’t want your children to suffer from such pain please cultivate their good habit of using eyes before they are short-sighted.

Own Good Vision, Own Good Academic Performance

March 27th, 2011

80%~90% of study information are acquired by the students through vision, so poor vision will no doubt influence the academic performances of students. This issue has not got attention from the parents, students and teachers yet. Poor vision has two influences on study: 1. making it difficult for the students to see the blackboard clearly, which results in low efficiency in study; 2. causing eye fatigue or even worse insomnia, amnesia and neurasthenic, thus having a significant impact on the academic performance. But how does the eye fatigue of the myopic students happen?

1.      The myopia has not been remedied immediately. Many parents hold a wrong view that children shouldn’t wear eyeglasses too early instead they should wear them as late as possible. From the scientific aspect, it is indeed not good to wear eyeglasses too early. The normal standard for filling a prescription is such that the students don’t have to wear eyeglasses if they can see the blackboard without any difficulties after getting rid of pseudomyopia. But if the vision is lower than 0.5, it should be corrected by wearing a pair of eyeglasses.

2.      The eyeglasses are unqualified. Wearing unqualified eyeglasses will cause complicated vision imbalance. As more than 50% of the students’ eyeglasses are unqualified, it is common that the students will suffer eyestrain due to wearing unqualified or uncomfortable eyeglasses. Therefore, it is quite important for the high school students to wear qualified and comfortable eyeglasses to guarantee their learning effects and improve their academic performances.

3.      The astigmatism hasn’t been corrected. Astigmatism refers to that the meridian curvatures of the cornea are different from each other. The imaging of the object on the retina is not a point but two lines. In order to see clearly, the eyes need to continuously adjust the eye muscles to find a clear point so that eye fatigue occurs. Among the myopic students who also have astigmatism, only 20% of them have corrected the stigmatism, hence it is not strange that the incidence of eye fatigue in the students is getting higher and higher.

The students should have their myopias corrected as early as possible in order to ensure their academic performances. The best way is to have a mydriatic optometry and then wear a qualified and comfortable pair of eyeglasses.

Some models of hot glasses for kids

July 18th, 2010

Eyewear houses always release new models with various designs in the market each year. The number of Rx eyewear users is so large that these colorful and innovative products are really a good response. Some people may think that these diverse eyewear models and styles are mainly for adults, especially appearance-aware ladies. It is only partially true, because young kids even babies account for a significant proportion of the total amount of Rx eyeglass users. It is necessary for big and small brands to evaluate the requirements from children, in terms of frame design. Even if they are not economically independent, children including school students have their particular tastes while selecting eyeglasses. And the situation in children’s glasses world is similar to that of the adults’ market. There will be hot glasses each year for children. Never assume that kids do not pursue a fashionable look.

It is even more necessary for eyewear makers to flatter the colorful needs from little customers. Most Rx eyewear users in their 30s and 40s actually started to use eyeglasses from an early age, probably in junior or senior middle school. Providing proper and stylish children’s eyeglasses can be a good strategy for notable and small brands to foster little customers that will stick to similar products from a same brand during the growing process. In other words, meeting kids’ tastes is an effective approach to the cultivation of customer loyalty. And one way to evaluate a brand’s action in this aspect is to check whether it is able to provide hot glasses for children. This group is very likely to follow their friends, sisters or brothers, in terms of clothes, bags as well as glasses.

In 2010, there are some hot eyeglasses models for children. Fisher-Price releases a new frame model called Lollipop for babies and toddlers who need to wear eyeglasses. This model is designed with a special consideration to this group that there are cable temples wrapping around the little wearers’ ears. Even mischievous boys and girls will hold these glasses stably. Bongo Eyewear offers a model called Cutie which comes in a full metal frame with a modified butterfly shape for teen girls.

Kids Sunglasses – A Necessity for Your Child

May 10th, 2010

As we all know that children always spend much more time outdoors than adults and their eyes are sensitive to solar radiation, so it is definitely necessary for children to wear kids sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun’s threat.

Unfortunately, however, few parents are aware of the importance to equip their kids with children’s sunglasses when playing outdoors. To be sure, it is reasonable for children not to understand UV rays and the damages the sun can impose to their skin and eyes. They are usually not concerned with their health and have not the desire to wear kids sunglasses. So you must take the responsibility to choose proper children’s sunglasses for your kids before his or her eyes damaged by the UV rays.

Fortunately, glasses manufacturers have been producing kids sunglasses for a long time, and with people’s personalized demands strengthened, the children’s sunglasses are getting trendier and more kid-friendly. With a continuously growing variety, your child can wear kids sunglasses from his or her favorite cartoon characters to a scaled down version of your designer frames.

The best places to find kids sunglasses are sunglasses specialty stores like Sunglass Hut, optical chain stores like Pearle Vision and LensCrafters, and your local optician or optical shop. Wherever you go, remember looking for a good selection of sunglass frames scaled specifically for your child’s facial dimensions and a professional staff experienced in fitting children’s sunglasses.

Kids sunglasses are a great way to instill the importance of health and safety within your childhood. Taking your kid with you when you are ready to buy him a pair of children’s sunglasses is a good way to inoculate him with the knowledge and resources he needs to protect himself from environmental damages, which may be a gift he will take with him into adulthood.

Cool sunglasses for children

February 21st, 2010

Children are more susceptible to damages from the UV rays, so cool sunglasses are necessary for children to avoid eyes damages also look cute.

Children as young as about three years old should be wearing sunglasses when play outside in a bright sunshine. But their parents may not realize the problems about the eyes damage due to the harmful rays from the sun, or children do not like the additional accessory in front of their eyes. Cool sunglasses could be a great help to intrigue children’s interest on wearing them, for cool sunglasses can make children the center of attention and they feel wonderful on that.

Children may not know how to choose a pair of cool sunglasses, so it is parent’s term to make a decision. We know, children are active and tend to spend much more time outdoors than adults. The long exposure to the sun can lead to everything from painful from easily healed surface burns to irreversible eye diseases, so sunglasses for children should be 100 percent UV rays blocked. Furthermore, children are curious about everything, in order to give the children a perfect and real vision of the around world, cool sunglasses with no vision distortion are required.

Sunglasses for children should be made from an impact-resistant material which can handle a lot of roughness. That means the sunglasses should be very strong, light and durable, impossible to shatter, especially for those children who are active, or are involved in sports games. Plastic frames and polycarbonate lenses are the mainly materials in manufacturing children’s sunglasses.

Children are more interested in the cool sunglasses which have cartoon meanings, so Mickey Mouse sunglasses and other popular cartoon characters-shaped cool sunglasses may excite the children to wear them. It is a good idea to take the children to purchase the sunglasses by themselves so as to pick their favorite cool sunglasses. In that way, children may be willing to wear the cool sunglasses.

Besides, parents should set a good example by wearing sunglasses, or the school should give the children lessons about the benefits on wearing cool sunglasses and suggest all the children to wear them. Children like to imitate what others do, if their parents and friends all take the cool sunglasses when they go outside, they must be happy to do the same.

Cool sunglasses are a great way to instill the importance of health and safety to children. A light, comfortable, high quality and cool sunglasses will surely protect the children’s eyes and at the same time make them stylish.

How to determine kid’s prescription and make prescription eyewear

January 13th, 2010

For kids under age of 12 parents and doctors should be cautious to determine the prescription and make prescription eyewear for them. Kids with refractive errors, if deemed to permanent, also need to be corrected by using prescription eyewear.

Same as adult, the kid’s vision errors also include nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. The rules for making kid’s prescription eyewear are different from that for adults.

For kid’s nearsightedness, doctors usually pick the lowest possible diopter degrees to get the clearest possible vision. For patients with very high diopter degrees, doctors will recommend to reduce the diopter by 1/3. As long as the kid can read and write after wearing the customized prescription eyewear, it is ok. This kind of prescription eyewear with reduced degrees helps benefit the growth of kid’s eyes.

If the kids before school age are physiologically farsighted without too much vision disorder and strabismus, there is no need to wear prescription eyewear. If the hyperopia kid has the symptom of vision fatigue, then a pair of prescription eyewear is necessary. Kids with farsightedness +3.00 or above, prescription eyewear should be worn, but the lenses power should be reduced by 1/3.

For kids with low power of astigmatism, no prescription eyewear needed. For higher degrees of astigmatism, prescription eyewear will also be made in reduced degrees.

What we should be aware of Amblyopia

November 13th, 2009

Amblyopia, also known as the lazy eye, is the disorder of eye system which can not recognize the image. In most conditions, the amblyopia usually happens to one eye.

The cause of the problem is not due to the eye disease, but due to no transmission or poor transmission of images to the brain. So the commonly used word “lazy eye” is not very accurate, it is more accurate to call the “lazy brain”. It is the brain but not the eye that does not react to images. In fact, the brain becomes lazy by the reason of not being stimulated properly in childhood. Therefore, it is important for parents to be careful about the eyes of children, and always take the children to the specialist for a regular eye test.

Amblyopia is not the same with intermittent strabismus. Strabismus is a condition of the misaligned eyes. In this situation, your one eye can see the images correctly, while the strabismic eye just can not see the abnormal thing. If the strabismus does not happen very often, you call it intermittent strabismus; otherwise you call it constant one. The symptom is considered to be normal to children up to 6 months. However, not the same with strabismus, amblyopia is difficult to be found out, even by some pediatricians. Furthermore, amblyopia is more likely to be completely cured when you are young compared with the adult.

When you are under the age of two, it is possible to go back to the 20/20 vision with the help of special drops or a kid eye patch. When your brain’s vision system develops completely, especially when you are older than 17 eyes old, the chance of amblyopia cure is impossible, you can only do aerobics to get the eye a little improved. Moreover, unlike the common myopia, amblyopia can not be corrected by spectacles or contacts, and there is no LASIK surgery up to now, either. Amblyopia is a neurological problem. You can only bear it if you have this problem when you are young, and you miss the crucial period to fix it.

Vision development is very important in the life of people. You must be careful about the eyesight when you are young and do eye treatment regularly. If you find that you have eyesight problems when young, please seize the turning point. There is no way to solve the problem of amblyopia, but we should believe that with the development of technology, the amblyopia surgery will be as easy as the myopia surgery.