Lancaster Physician Summer 2017 - 18

L A N C A S T E R M E D I C A L S O C I E T Y.O R G

FOCUS ON
CHILDREN'S
HEALTH

Healthy Communities Children's Eye Health

Children may need glasses for several different reasons. When your son or daughter
is young, glasses can be a key factor in the
development of your child's vision. It can be
very challenging to recognize when a child
needs glasses. Children often do not complain
about their vision. When born with blurred
or weak vision in one eye, they do not know
there is any other way to see. The main reasons
a child may need glasses are:
- To correct a refractive error
(nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism).
- To help straighten the eyes by
correcting severe farsightedness when they are crossed or
any refractive error when the
eyes drift outward.
- To help strengthen the vision
of a weak eye (amblyopia or
lazy eye). This may occur when
there is a difference in prescription between the two eyes
(anisometropia).
- T o provide protection for
one eye if the other eye has
poor vision.

A pediatric ophthalmologist can detect
the need for glasses through a medical eye
exam and dilation of the eyes. When the
pupils are dilated, the eye muscles relax,
allowing the doctor to accurately measure the refractive error of the child. To
accurately measure this error, the doctor
uses an instrument called a retinoscope.
Automated devices called photoscreeners
and autorefractors can also help determine
whether or not glasses are needed.
Sport and safety glasses are incredibly
important to prevent eye injuries in children. An eye injury can happen at any
time, with nearly half occurring during
sports or recreation activities. Children and
teens are particularly susceptible. Sports
like racquetball, tennis, squash, baseball,
golf, lacrosse, and hockey (field and ice)
have the highest rates of injury and are
considered the most risky. This is due to
a high-velocity ball, which, if it hits the
eye, can transmit tremendous amounts of
energy to the eye. Even sports with larger
balls such as soccer and basketball cause risk
to the eye from either impact from the ball
or impact with body parts such as hands,
elbows, and knees. Injuries can occur to
the eye causing permanent vision loss or
damage to the bones around the eye, which

LANCASTER

18

PHYSICIAN

can cause eye muscles to get entrapped,
resulting in double vision.
Eye protection is available for many
sports. Even when playing in the backyard,
sport-specific helmets and eye protection
should be worn while practicing, as it only
takes one missed throw to permanently
damage a child's eye. For sports that do not
mandate eye protection in their helmets
(tennis, racquetball, squash, baseball, and
basketball, for example) sport glasses with
polycarbonate lenses should be worn by all
kids. In cases where there is a prescription
needed, it can be placed into the sport glasses.
Wearing eye protection has been mandated in many but not all sports. Just because
a sport has not mandated eye protection
does not mean a parent should not insist
their children wear safety glasses. For me
personally, that meant my children did not
set foot on a tennis court without sport
glasses-although, I lost the battle with them
over soccer. If children are allowed to pick
their sport glasses and the glasses themselves
are stylish and comfortable, it is easier for
parents to enforce their use.



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