Eye health: Importance of regular check-up in school kids, why institutions must help

New Delhi: The school going years are the formative period when a child’s physical, intellectual and behavioral development takes place. Poor vision in childhood affects performance in school and has a negative influence on the development and maturity.

The prevalence of refractive errors that is myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism is steadily increasing among children. This has been attributed to increasing number of hours spent indoors and excessive screen-time due to various reasons. There may be other possible causes of low vision in a child. The poor vision may be congenital (small optic nerves, cataract, glaucoma), inherited (retinitis pigmentosa, optic atrophy ) or acquired (Retinopathy of prematurity, eye injury, glaucoma, corneal scarring).

An issue with school-going children

Most school children do not realise that they are suffering from the ocular disability as they adjust to poor eye sight in different ways. They compensate for their poor vision by sitting closer to the blackboard, or by holding their books close to their eyes. They may also squeeze their eyes. They may also tend not to undertake any work that needs visual concentration, thus affecting their performance.

Signs that may indicate a child has a vision problem include:

• Complaints of discomfort and fatigue.
• Frequent eye rubbing or blinking.
• Short attention span.
• Avoiding reading and other close activities.
• Frequent headaches.
• Covering one eye.
• Tilting the head to one side.
• Holding reading materials close to the face.
• An eye turning in or out.
• Seeing double.
• Losing place when reading.
• Difficulty remembering what he or she read.

It is important for every school-going child to undergo a yearly comprehensive eye check-up. This will enable prescription of proper spectacle correction for clear vision and prevent eye strain and complications like squint and amblyopia. This will also lead to an early diagnosis and timely treatment of potentially blinding diseases.

(The author is a Senior Consultant, Ophthalmology, Amrita Hospital, Faridabad)