By Lee Hui Xin Leanne, IECRC
A number of conditions can affect children’s eyes and impair their visual development and subsequent quality of life. Two such common conditions are amblyopia and strabismus.
Amblyopia, commonly also known as lazy eye, is a vision development disorder in which an eye fails to achieve normal visual acuity, even with prescription spectacles or contact lenses. It is caused by incomplete development of the eye during childhood due to a lack of visual stimulus. The common causes of amblyopia are uncorrected refractive error, misaligned eye (strabismus) or light deprivation such as in children with congenital cataract. Individuals with amblyopia have visual acuity of 6/9 or poorer in the affected eye.
Strabismus, also called crossed eyes, is a condition in which the two eyes are not aligned when looking at an object. It is caused by an abnormal control of the eye muscles.
Both amblyopia and strabismus are examples of binocular abnormalities that can lead to poor fine depth perception (stereopsis or 3-D vision) and negatively impact a child’s everyday life. These conditions often go undetected, especially at its initial stage. Comprehensive eye screening helps to detect such abnormalities.
International Eye Cataract Retina Centre optometrist Ms Ng Shu Yi joined like-minded optometrists Ms Chua Yee Leen and Ms Liew Qian Hui from First Eyewear Centre to conduct a free comprehensive eye screening in Salvation Army’s Gracehaven on 1 June 2017. The volunteers screened 38 children aged 9-16 years old and two adult teachers. The screening included tests for eye pressure (tonometry), colour vision, eye movement, strabismus and prescription glasses power (subjective refraction). New prescription spectacles were prescribed for children found with refractive errors while protective sunglasses were given to some children.
The screening was made possible by sponsorships and donations from a few companies. The spectacle frames and sunglasses were donated by First Eyewear Centre while prescription lenses were sponsored by lens company Hoya. Eye equipment company Mandarin Opto-Medic Co loaned the instruments used for the screening.
