As parents - we worry about our kids! 5 things to help your kids eyes
One thing we know about lockdowns, is that we all spend more time on screens, and that includes kids and teens, for both schooling and their down time. It’s all very understandable, but also the question arises - is this bad for their eyes? The answer is “yes” and “but we can....”.
So the yes part is several reasons. Firstly the more near time kids and teens have, the more likely their eyes are to develop myopia. Then the screen time is visually more demanding than books and pen and paper, so even minor focusing errors can cause discomfort. And we all blink less when looking at screens so even young eyes can start to have dry eye problems. Lastly the extra screen time usually means there is less outside time, which is associated with myopia development.
Lets explain more ....
Myopia or short sightedness is when the eye develops structural changes making the distance vision blurry, and the near vision is clearer. There are several factors that make this more likely for kids and teens – if you have parents who are myopic, if you do a lot of near focusing time and if you have less outdoor time. Sure, we can correct myopia with glasses, but the bigger concern is that if you have higher levels of myopia, your eye health is of increased risk as you get older from conditions like retinal detachment, maculopathy and glaucoma. If we can reduce the risk of our kids having these potentially blinding conditions in their later life, we must do this. And every extra dioptre of myopia is extra risk.
What is exciting, is that we know the factors that increase the risk, and as well as reducing these, optometrists have treatments that are shown to work to slow the progression of myopia in kids and teens. This is exciting, as we can work with families to improve the future of their kids vision. Not only using these treatments for the young eyes who are already myopic, but often starting these options at the earliest signs of vision changes, and not waiting for the blurry myopia to progress.
The other concern with screen time is that if your eyes are working harder than normal, to focus clearly or work your eyes together, or you have uncorrected astigmatism this is visually tiring. Adults often refer to their computer glasses, and this is the type of correction that some kids also need.
If your eye surface is getting dry, then signs of this can be the person blinking more or rubbing their eyes. The eyes may also be red. Dry eyes are uncomfortable and tiring – whether you are a child or an adult. Sometimes the reduced blinking is worse with uncorrected vision that child is trying to work with, thus their eyes get dry.
So what can we do?? Kids rely on their parents, so parents, we’re writing this for you
1. Screen time in moderation – mix up screen time with book-time and other activities.
2. More green time, less screen time. It’s recommended that kids and teens have 2 hours a day outside to reduce the development of myopia.
3. Use the 20-20-20 rule for screen time. Every 20 minutes look 20 feet away for 20 seconds
4. Talk to kids about why this is important – we’re not saying no screens, but we do want them to have great eyes and vision for the rest of their life
5. Book your kids in for an eye exam, if even one parent is myopic, the chances are already higher that our kids will develop myopia. Just because they say they can see, or the letter chart at the school check was ok, it’s not enough to look after our kids the best we can. Don’t wait to see them squinting, or a teacher to notice that they are having difficulties
Our optometrists are parents and also myopic. We see the difficulties of adults with higher myopia, and it’s not just that glasses can be a bother. Talking with these adults, the common comment is that they wish there had been treatments to slow their myopia progression. Please parents, this is important stuff!