#eyesight development

Ready for the New Normal? Don’t Forget Eye Care Says Myopia Expert

A lot has changed during the Covid-19 lockdown. And Australian Optometrist Gary Rodney (Master of Optometry) is concerned that while dealing with the aftermath, parents may overlook the impact the lockdown may have had on their children’s eyesight. Rodney, a fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC) and founder of Smart Vision Optometry, says that to avoid the possible and potentially serious consequences of this oversight, parents should be sure to have their children’s eyes checked as they head back to school.    

READ: Sydney Myopia Control Prevention Behavioural Optometrist Clinic Baby Pram Shock

Rodney says he understands how easy it would be to overlook eye care as the lockdowns slowly lift in the wake of the rampaging pandemic. Dealing with the back-to-school process, and adapting to work routines all over again, is challenging at the best of times. Doing so against a backdrop of constant talk about an undefined “new normal” that might change their world forever, while still stressed by the virus and lockdown regulations, will not make it any easier.

From Lockdown Stress to Myopia Epidemic

However, according to Rodney, it is vital that parents are aware that they could unknowingly be sending their children from a new pandemic straight into an epidemic, one that has seen myopia affecting the eyesight of millions of people around the globe in the past few decades and which is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Testing children for the eye condition, or making sure they resume treatment if it’s been interrupted during lockdown, is especially important because of the increased screen time and restricted outdoor activity the lockdown lifestyle encouraged. Rodney says these two actions have been linked to a marked increase in the prevalence of myopia, and to speeding up the condition’s rate of progression. Further he says “We are seeing a significant increase in our clinics in eyestrain and impacted functional vision skills just from three to four weeks of Lockdown screen usage at home”

READ: Vision Behavioural Optometrist Ortho-k Myopia Prevention Eye Wear Care Clinic Sydney

Understanding Myopia

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is a refractive eye condition which affects distance focus, blurring anything that’s more than a few feet away. Progressive myopia is where the eyeball continues to elongate and stretch. This causes irreversible damage to the back of the eye as the retina is stretched. This can become a serious eye impairment which can lead to blindness later in life. Rodney says traditionally the majority of optometrists and ophthalmologists simply prescribe single focus distance glasses and contact lenses as has been done for years which is the worst thing you can do as far as myopia prevention is concerned.

HEAR: Gary Rodney Interviewed By David Wood Ultra106five.com

However Rodney says there are now evidence based options to control the progression and prevent the eyes from being harmed further. Everyone should educate themselves as to what is possible and what is this myopia epidemic.

He says that perhaps, as Australians return to work in a way still governed in their minds by the “old” normal while at the same time trying to come to grips with the concept of the “new” normal, they will get a bit more insight into what it means to be myopic and how huge the problem is becoming in our modern device driven world. Surrounded by a blur of changing figures and regulations, as well as inundated with endless true and fake news and information, they will find it difficult to get a clear picture of what the future may hold. And this, in turn, will make it impossible to perceive what that picture will mean to them and how they will fit into it.

For more information on myopia, its treatment and management, visit https://www.myopiaprevention.com.au 

Click here to book an appointment online or call either of Smart Vision’s two Sydney clinics at (02) 9365 5047 (Bondi), or on (02) 9969 1600 (Mosman). 

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Baby Pram Screen-time Shocks Master of Optometry Australian Optometrist

Reports of babies and toddlers being given mobile phones and tablets as comforters while their parents shop at the mall have horrified Australian optometrist Gary Rodney. A fellow of the International Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (FIAOMC), founder of Smart Vision Optometry and activist in the fight to flatten the curve of the global myopia epidemic, Rodney attributes this behaviour to the absence, and sometimes misleading, nature of available information on this eye condition which can affect children’s eyesight and also their ability to learn.

HEAR: Gary Rodney Interviewed By David Wood Ultra106five.com

Rodney said the reports speak of phones and tablets braced against hands too small to hold them, and with cartoon-streaming digital devices placed in pushchair pockets close to tiny faces. 

Rodney says he does not “blame” parents for doing this. Instead he believes it is the result of a lack of awareness on many Australian parents’ part regarding how babies’ and children’s eyes develop in the first months and years of their lives, and the importance of protecting their children from becoming part of the statistics that indicate myopia will affect half the world’s population by 2050.

READ: Vision Behavioural Optometrist Ortho-k Myopia Prevention Eye Wear Care Clinic Sydney

Pushchair Screen-time Affects a Baby’s Eyesight

Rodney says exposing babies to screens could unintentionally increase their chances of becoming myopic. Lack of time spent outdoors and too much screen time are two links identified by studies as having possible ties to the development of this treatable but incurable refractive eye condition. This has led to the American Academy of Paediatrics recommending that children under two years old should not watch screens at all, and older children should be limited to around 2 hours a day.

He said babies in prams or pushchairs are extremely vulnerable as their eyesight is still developing, and will continue to do so at least until they reach their third birthday. Newborn babies are shortsighted and unable to see further than a foot (30cm) away, without what they’re seeing becoming blurred, even if that happens to be their parents. This nearsightedness will normally disappear as the baby’s eyesight develops, but not in all cases.

An Eyesight Threat Not Just an Inconvenience

Near or short sightedness are the layman’s terms for myopia, Rodney said, labels which do not sound serious or threatening, and can often be misunderstood to be an inconvenience which can be fixed with a pair of glasses.

“These terms don’t paint a true picture of myopia and how it feels to see everything that’s more than a few feet away as a blur. It can leave a feeling of confusion in children who come to realise they cannot see, or interpret what they are seeing, as others do. For them a blur is a blur, whether it’s actually a tree, a mountain range, or even the family pet playing in the backyard. 

“Their vision is trapped where it was when they were babies in prams and pushchairs. Only now, they are not babies developing their eyesight, but children having to learn about, and react to, a world around them in a world where their eyesight has not developed in the same way as their peers’. When they go to school they are expected to assimilate information, most of which is presented in the form of images some distance away, and is often nothing but a blur to them. This can impact on performance at school,” Rodney says.

READ: Behavioural Optometrist Eye Care Clinic Mosman Sydney Children Myopia Prevention

The Importance of Myopia Treatment

Unless the right treatment is given, the eye impairment can worsen progressively until children reach their late 20’s when it usually levels off. And later in life can become a serious eye problem which can lead to blindness. 

Smart Vision Optometry clinics in Sydney focus on providing eye care for a number of vision problems with particular focus on children and myopia, and on determining the best treatment for each case. Visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision to find more information provided by the Smart Vision behavioural optometrists and for information on the precautions applied during COVID-19.

Click here to book an appointment online or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047, or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.  

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.