Protect Your Child's Eyes
90% of myopia cases will develop in early childhood.
The good news is that we can protect our children's vision now.
Parents play a big role in the health of their children’s eyes. Current research indicates that genetic and environmental factors contribute to whether a child will be myopic or not as well as in the progression of myopia.
So, while we cannot change their genetics, it is useful to know that environment plays a significant role in myopia and therefore, we can use a few simple strategies that will help protect their vision.
#1 – Get Children Outside!
An increase in time outdoors of about 2 hours per day significantly reduces the risk of developing myopia.
So, get your child outside to play! Encourage them to look around and use that full range of vision every day.
#2 – Put The Device Down!
Spending too much time indoors and performing a lot of near vision work without a break (e.g. playing video games or being on your phone) plays a substantial role in increasing the risk of developing myopia.
The average child in Western countries spend as much as seven hours per day on a screen. Our children’s eyes have never had to work so hard, with more children than ever developing myopia.
While we can’t get away from our modern lifestyle, we can be smarter about how we use technology, encouraging and empowering our children to have healthy device habits.
Encourage your child to take regular BREAKS- for every 20 minutes spent on near tasks, take a break for 20 seconds gazing into the distance (20 feet or 6 metres away).
#3 – Early Detection Creates Prevention
Early diagnosis and intervention is the key to slowing the progression of myopia. Get your children examined by an eye care professional. If they don’t have a vision condition – perfect! If they do, you can build a management plan with your eye care professional to make sure their vision doesn’t get worse.
As Professor Brien Holden said, “Every seven year-old child when going to school, should take along a certificate from an eye care professional, and say, ‘I’m ok, I can see’.”
Clear vision will help them at school, at sport, with their peers and even their future well-being. Win-Win!
You don't have to be an eye care professional to help create change!
The more voices come together, the greater the impact!
You can get involved in promoting myopia awareness in three simple steps:
- Talk to your friends and family about their child’s eye health; encourage them to see an eye care professional.
- Sign up to our newsletter below and share our messages with your friends,family and community.
- Get on social media and share, share, share!
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Access our range of resources below and share on your accounts, with the key myopia facts and hashtags #MyopiaAwarenessWeek and #MAW2021
Myopia is projected to become a leading cause of vision impairment and blindness. You can help facilitate awareness and action by supporting awareness on social media.
Will you be part of the movement?
