Know Important Fact on How to Protect Your Child’s Eyesight

April 25, 2019

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Worried that your kid’s eyesight might have some problems? Or concerned about the increased use of smartphones, computers, video games and TV which might adversely affect their eyes? Let me assure you that you are not the only parent worrying about this! There have been multiple questions from many parents asking how to protect your child’s eyesight.

Yes, children are assumed to have better eyesight as compared to us oldies. Age isn’t the only factor, to be honest, that affects the vision, which is why we are here to help you on how you could protect your child’s eyesight. The concern aggravates looking at the current lifestyle our new generations lead. There is more than half the crowd walking on the street with their head down looking into mobile. We all know that staring continuously at the screens for long hours can get your eyes worse. It might have a short-term or a long-term impact. But when the kids are young, it is an excellent time to put them into healthy habits and control their screen time to develop good eyesight.

Stats about kid’s usage of mobile/screen: As we already said, your child is not the only one. There are kids between the age group 8-18 spending an average of 8 hours using media and technology. The percentage of kids using the mobile phone has also drastically increased (be it a year old or 10). Almost 80% of the kids use mobile for varied purposes. Kids are also prone to more than one eye problem if they do not develop the eyesight properly during their early ages.

Why Protect Your Child’s Vision:

Prolonged viewing into the electronic screens can lead to strain the kid’s eyes leading to:

Tired or itchy eyes and redness
Headache and irritation
Fatigue and pain in the eyes
Burning sensation and watery eyes
Blurry and unclear vision

Causes of Poor Eyesight in Kids:

Sunlight which is our primary source of white light is made up of a spectrum of colors having different wavelengths of energy. For instance, the blue light has the highest amount of energy and the shortest wavelength. This blue light from an artificial source like the LED lights at our homes or the light from the mobile screen emits lesser light than the sun but causes more harm to the eyes because our eyes are exposed to the human-made light more than the sun. Also, the distance of the source of light in case of man-made elements is more. This might cause long-term damage to the eyes right from the young age as the blue light penetrates the retina possibly damaging the sensitive eye cells. Also, might lead to permanent vision loss in some cases.
If your child was born a premature baby, there are fair chances that the child likely can have eye problems as the child’s eyesight is not properly developed.
Family history is key to the eye problem in kids. If the parents have had eye problems in past, the child can have issues with the eyesight too. Problems might result into childhood cataract, laze eye also known as amblyopia or misaligned eyes and eye tumors).
If the child has had an eye injury, there are possible chances that the child might develop some complication or eye problems later in life.
Children with diabetes are also prone to eye problems and should have a dilated eye exam at least once a year with their doctors.

Your kid may be referred to an eye doctor, as a result, to prevent any issues in the vision during their preschool or other events. If your child has paediatrician checkups, then they as well screen the kid’s vision. If they see an issue, they recommend the kid to have a checkup with eye specialist so that they could have particular attention to the eyes and give an eye exam.

How to protect your kid’s eye vision:

Protect kids from any eye injury

Understand the danger and effect the damage.
Consult a doctor and remove the hazard.
Keep a check on your child closely.
Take all precautionary measures while kids play.

Protect kids from chemical burns

Keep kids off any hazardous chemicals.
Immediately flush the eyes with water in case of any contact with chemicals. Continue to rinse it with water for at least 15 minutes.
Do not bandage the eye; it will only worsen it up. Seek immediate emergency care promptly for the eyes.

Protect eyes from any cuts or puncture

Do not wash out ees in such cases with water or any liquid.
Do not try to remove a stuck object from your eyes by yourself. Immediately rush to the doctor.

Protect the eyes from any injury during sports

Protect the kid’s eye with rigid eye shield before engaging into any activity which risks eye injury.
Do not assume that the injury in the eye is harmless. Take proper precautions promptly and see a doctor.
Use commercial eyewash to clean any dust or particles in the eye.

Protect the eyes from the sun

Protect your kid’s eye from the sun by making them wear a sunglass.
Choose sunglasses that are large enough for the glasses to protect the eye from all the angles.
Wearing a headgear like a hat or a cap that does not let the sun rays to pierce the kid’s eyes directly and gives an extra layer of protection.

Quick Tips to on Protecting Child’s Eyesight:

1. Ensure and Impart a Healthy and Balanced Diet:

nutrition deficiency can cause the child’s vision to go weak during childhood. Rich vitamin C which is found in citrus fruits and tomatoes etc. should be incorporated into the meal. Vitamin E should also be included in the daily foods like almonds, nuts etc.

2. Eye Exercise:

Giving proper exercise to your eyes and relaxing is important. You can rotate your eyeballs twice a day if you are used to looking into an object very closely, blink in intervals and also try to take time out and look outside for 20 seconds at a far distance.

3. Stimulate Vision in Kids:

Ask the kids to look at a different object, describe the color and ask them to recognize the same. Let them see something, visualize and draw it up using colored crayons with different shapes size and forms were draw.

4. Restrict Screen Time:

The foremost thing as a parent to do is to restrict the exposure of your kids to the screens (mobile, laptops, TV or tabs etc.) Delay the exposure to the electronic devices as far as possible and let them know the adverse affect of it.

5. Proper posture while watching TV or screen:

Encourage kids to watch TV while sitting and not lying down on the couch. The eyes are strained if the correct angle is not maintained while watching the screen. Also, while using laptops, computers or watching TV, ask the kids to keep a distance good enough to help them not damage their eyesight. Rather than playing a video game, motivate the kid to play outdoors to reduce the screen gazing hours.

6. Get an Eye Checkup every 6 months to 1 year:

Make it a compulsion to have regular eye checkups. As the kids are growing, it is effortless for them to have strained their eye and with the prolonged straining; it might lead to worsening the vision further. Thus eye checkups are a must for all age right from kids to elders.

7. Protect your child’s eyesight:

With all the ways mentioned above, know the right protection for kid’s eye in case of injury or exposure to chemicals or sunlight.

8. Healthy lifestyle:

Having a proper sleep and knowing healthy ways to read a book or watch TV is a must for kids. Early to bed, early to rise, give eyesight enough respite.

9. Wear the glasses properly:

If your kid has been recommended to wear glasses by the doctor to improve vision, as a parent it becomes your responsibility to make sure the kid is adhering to it. You can follow the below to make it simpler and comfortable for kids to use spectacles regularly:

Keep a close check and keep reminding them to use it
Make it a safe for sportswear
Ask the kids to safely place the glasses at the right place after use, use a glass case for putting it when not in use.
Clean the glasses with the glass solution recommended by the optician
Do not let the friends try their glasses or vice-a-verse where your kids try others glasses. It could lead to infection and worsen the vision.