Vision Care marks World Children’s Day by educating parents on how best to protect their children’s eyes

Colombo: Vision Care, Sri Lanka’s largest eye care provider, is celebrating World Children’s Day by highlighting the importance of protecting children’s eyes and what steps parents can take to ensure that they do so given the significant increase in online learning and screen time among children. In order to educate parents about this, Vision Care conducted an interactive webinar recently on the Vision Care YouTube channel where qualified optometrists educated the audience on the subject.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent country-wide lockdowns, there has been a significant increase in online learning among children resulting in them staring at computers, tablets, smartphones and TVs for several hours daily. This has caused what is known as Digital Eye Strain or Computer Vision Syndrome, a long-term vision-related condition associated with excessive digital screen viewing. The condition has several symptoms such as the changing of one’s vision from time to time, eye fatigue, headache, dry eyes, body fatigue and pain in the neck and shoulders. Research has also indicated that Myopia or shortsightedness has also become a common condition among children who are exposed to digital screens for a long period of time.

Misalignment of our eyes is also an effect of such long periods of time spent in front of digital screens. While this could be a short-term condition, it has been known to remain longer in certain cases. This condition is commonly described as ” Squint” or “Strabismus”. This also can lead to some vision related problems in the future.

All digital screens emit a harmful blue light which may cause retinal problems in children with aging and impaired vision. This blue light also affects the body’s circadian rhythm or sleep cycle resulting in low quality sleep.

Regular eye examinations are essential for your child’s eye and general health. Early detection and treatment are important before their education and other activities are disrupted. The first step is to get your eyes checked by an eyecare professional. Based on the test results, the eyecare professional will generally recommend the use of children’s computer glasses as the best solution for this condition. Computer glasses filter the harmful blue light emitted by digital screens, protect your child from eye strain, and significantly reduce the risk of long-term eye health problems. A pair of Crizal Prevencia glasses with Blue Rays Filter lens can be used to control the light emitted by digital screens.

You can easily get your child’s eyes tested and obtain computer glasses by visiting any Vision Care branch where eye tests are done using state-of-the-art equipment operated by eyecare professionals with years of experience in the field.