It’s that time of year, back to routines, sports, schedules…back to school!
As a child while I loved my summers, back to school in our house was full of excitement, routines, new clothes, new school supplies, anticipation of a new teacher and new classes! As the daughter of educators, my siblings and I were not only getting ready as students, but since my Mom was a teacher and my Dad a principal, we also saw our parents busily at work to prepare for the success of their students. Our routine always included an eye exam and an update on our glasses and contact lenses to start our new school year.
Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a virtual simulation demonstrating how a child feels in the classroom when they have visual difficulties left uncorrected. 80% of what we learn is visual. Poor vision in a child can affect a child’s ability to learn and delay their learning. This occurs simply because they cannot see! A condition such as amblyopia (an eye that isn’t correctable to 20/20) can interfere with depth perception and unless diagnosed and treated at a young age (prior to 7 or 8 years of age) may leave the individual with poor vision for the rest of their life. Poor depth perception affects your ability in driving, sports, and even viewing a 3-D movie! A child that has never experienced an eye examination has no idea what normal vision should be. While our schools do a screening on our kids, this is not intended to replace a comprehensive eye examination. A comprehensive exam includes evaluating distance vison, near vision, confirms to make sure the eyes are working together, as well as the health of the eyes to rule out any eye diseases.
Our children today are exposed to blue light often by the age of one year old with the smartphones and tablets. There is concern that the blue light may be harmful and even lead to macular degeneration. We have embraced blue light protection in lenses due to the fact that we know many of our students are using their digital devices as text books, applications for learning, as well as for pleasure. New lenses that both protect and relax patient’s eyes are available and prescribed even to those that consider their vision to be normal for potential harmful blue light protection.
We encourage you as students, teachers, parents and all others who continue to learn through life to make your eye examination a routine part of your preparation as you start the school year. We are offering some great incentives for package high quality lenses and frames and 2nd pair courtesies through September. Additionally, we are partnering with Optometry Giving Sight and a portion of our examinations and glasses will help to fund international education programs for eye care clinicians and doctors.
View the video to see my virtual experience. Think About Your Eyes