Yasmina Kattou / Photo credits: PEAKSTOCK / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRAR / LDA / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY VIA AFP
Nearly one in two children (44%) has at least one vision problem, reveals the Visual Health Barometer carried out by Opinionway for the National Association for the Improvement of Vision (Asnav).
Myopia, amblyopia… A Visual Health Barometer carried out by Opinionway for the National Association for the Improvement of Vision (Asnav) reveals that nearly one in two children have a vision problem. 44% of children under the age of 12 have at least one vision problem. Is the fault in insufficient screening?
Amblyopia may be irreversible
More than half of the parents surveyed believe that a visit to the ophthalmologist is only useful from the age of four. However, visual problems can appear before three years of age, such as amblyopia: when one eye sees much less well than the other, we then speak of a lazy eye.
If there is no treatment before the child is six years old, amblyopia is often irreversible, warns Guy Sasson, president of the Association for the Improvement of Vision. “If this is not corrected, this will result in children who will retain this visual defect. Today, 3% of the population suffers from amblyopia. Amblyopia is an eye that will never see correctly and we will no longer be able to correct it even with corrective lenses,” he says.
Have at least six vision tests before age 12
Guy Sasson also warns about myopia which, if not treated before seven years of age, can develop into retinal detachment, and in the most serious cases lead to blindness. All of this can be avoided with screening. It is recommended to have at least six vision tests between the ages of 0 and 12.