myopia

COVID-19 and its impact on myopia.  What can a parent do to protect their kids' eyes?

The COVID-19 lock down in New Zealand has forced school, malls, parks and other outdoor activities to close.  This has meant children are stuck at home, needing to find ways to entertain themselves. And what do many children do when trapped at home?  They play video games, read books or use their computers for hours and hours.  Lack of outdoor time and extensive near work are both serious risk factors for increasing myopia (short-sightedness) in children, a condition that increases the risk of permanent sight-threatening disease later in life. Learn more about myopia here.

Will we see a large increase in kids developing short-sightedness in the next year?  Will myopic kids find that their prescription increases in strength at a faster rate in the coming year due to the COVID-19 lifestyle restrictions?  It is very possible.

So what can a parent do to lessen these serious challenges posed by government instructions to shelter at home?

1.  Ensure that your child goes outdoors for 1 hour every day. This could involve a walk in your local neighbourhood - good for parents’ sanity too!

2.  Invent interesting outdoor activities (like an obstacle course, or Easter egg hunt - good for next weekend!) and get involved yourselves to make it fun (as group activities with other kids are not possible right now due to social distancing requirements).

Bay Eye Care Kids on Grass.jpg

3.  Allow your child to read or work on their devices outdoors. High light levels are thought to be a key protective factor of outdoor time in regards to myopia. Even under a shade umbrella or with a hat and sunglasses, the light levels typically reaching a child’s eye will exceed that of indoors. If they cant get outdoors for this due to weather or apartment living, do this near natural lighting, for example by a large window.

4. Ensure that kids take a 10 minute break for every 30 minutes of screen time and try and limit the screen time to only 1-2 hours per day during the lock down.

5.  The internet has lots of other ideas to help you protect your child's future sight:

Good luck and stay safe (and sane!) during the COVID-19 crisis. Bay Eye Care will hopefully be open soon if you are concerned about your child’s eye sight or want to learn more about how we can limit myopia progression as they get older. In the meantime feel free to get in touch with our optometrist Mr Alex Petty via email on info@bayeyecare.co.nz.

Thanks to our colleague Dr Caroline Guerrero Cauchi for the inspiration and content for this blog article!

Have your child’s vision assessed to detect hidden eye problems

With Easter holiday’s coming up now is the perfect time to make sure your little one does not have an eye condition that may be affecting their learning, or possibly causing permanent vision loss. These conditions can be present without any symptoms or complaints from your child, so all too often will go undetected for years.

Correction of children’s focusing problems with glasses can improve concentration at school and prevent permanent vision loss caused by amblyopia.

Correction of children’s focusing problems with glasses can improve concentration at school and prevent permanent vision loss caused by amblyopia.

Common eye conditions that can affect children includes hyperopia and astigmatism, which are different errors of the eye’s focus. Hyperopia, also know as long or far-sightedness, means that excessive effort is needed to focus on reading and near-work, sometimes leading to fatigue, headaches, inattention at school and behavioural problems.

If just one eye has a focusing error this can affect how well that eye develops its connections with the brain. If undetected this can lead to permanent vision loss later as an adult, even with correction with glasses or contact lenses. This is known as amblyopia. Therapy to improve amblyopia is possible if it detected early enough, generally before the age of 7-8 years.

Even if our eyes are seeing well there can also be issues with co-ordination and accuracy of eye alignment and focus. This to can lead to discomfort and fatigue when using the eyes for reading or school work, double vision, and even amblyopia in some cases.

Early detection of these hidden eye conditions gives the best chance of improving sight. If your child has not seen an optometrist before they started school arrange a thorough vision assessment with our therapeutic optometrist Mr Alex Petty at Bay Eye Care this Autumn before it’s too late!

Be on the look out for buzzing insects, blobs of ink and shooting stars in your vision!

These symptoms, known as ‘flashes’ and ‘floaters’ can be a sign of an ocular emergency. ‘Floaters’ are drifting shapes in the vision, which people describe as buzzing insects, drifting spots, or blobs of ink or jelly. ‘Flashes’ are light effects that appear briefly, and can look like a shooting star or arcs of light, generally in the peripheral vision. For most people these symptoms come on quickly, generally just in one eye, and are more obvious when looking at a blank background like the sky or a wall, or when the light is dim.

A representation of the symptoms of floaters and floaters.

The cause of these symptoms is because the vitreous humour, the collagen gel that fills the eyeball, becomes more liquefied as we age, and eventually collapses. This process is called a posterior vitreous detachment. Clumps of vitreous debris can form that cast a shadow on the retina – creating ‘floaters’. When this gel gently tugs on the retina (the light sensitive nerves of the eye) a signal is created which the brain sees as ‘flashes’. These symptoms eventually decrease with time, generally because gravity drops the debris out of your line of sight, or more commonly the brain learns to ignore them! This can take many months, and sometimes they may never disappear completely.

Diagram of the eye showing the vitreous humour, the jelly that fills the eye. Sadly if the vitreous pulls on the retina causing a tear or detachment it can be anything but humorous.

Unfortunately approximately 1 in 10 people that experience these symptoms suddenly will have more serious issues in the eye including holes, tears or detachments of the retina. These conditions are more common in people with short-sightedness, or myopia (one of the reasons we try to limit the level of myopia in our kids as they grown older - more info here) and require urgent surgical repair to avoid the risk of permanent vision loss. Results following surgery are better with early detection.

Our optometrist Alex has been unfortunate enough to have three retinal detachments already in his life, but fortunately these were picked up very early and emergency surgery was able to save his sight. The only symptoms Alex noticed were subtle arcs of light in his peripheral vision the day before. The next day he started losing peripheral vision in one eye so rushed himself to the hospital knowing that due to his high myopia that it was highly likely he had a retinal detachment!

So if you notice new ‘floaters’ or ‘flashes’ see Alex at Bay Eye Care promptly for a thorough retinal examination. This will done with the help of eye-drops that dilate your pupil to allow Alex the best view of the peripheral retinal areas. If retinal damage is found then Alex can swiftly arrange a referral to his eye surgeon colleagues for treatment.

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