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Coronavirus, Virtual Classes, and Visual Health

Due to the confinement measures adopted to stop the coronavirus pandemic, many schools are offering online classes for our children as a way to compensate for school closures. But how do we protect their visual health during their virtual classes? 

We know that it is difficult to create a specific schedule for the hours your children need to complete the activities that their teachers assign them daily. 

Remember that extra screen time must be accompanied by a healthy diet, a balanced variety of nutritious foods. 80% of the information that your children receive enters through their eyes, so taking care of them is fundamental. 

Concerned? Don’t worry, we will give you some great recommendations so you can take care of your child’s visual health.

VISUAL CHECKUPS 

Visual checkups are necessary to ensure health. With regular eye exams, you can discover problems and help prevent diseases that can damage your vision or your well-being. Quick, easy and painless, exams by an eye specialist protect your eyesight and your health. 

KNOW THE FAMILY HISTORY 

Some eye diseases can be genetic. The most common inherited visual conditions are age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, and cataracts. Early detection is often key to proper management and treatment, and that is why it is so important to know the family health history. 

HEALTHY LIVING HABITS 

A healthy diet provides you with the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and antioxidants to help protect your eyes from UV light damage and prevent certain eye problems. 

Exercise helps prevent being overweight and high blood pressure, a condition that can damage vision. Together, these two factors help maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI) and prevent diabetes, a condition that causes vision loss in older people. 

DIGITAL ADJUSTMENT 

It is important to protect your eyes from the potentially harmful effects of overexposure to the screens on digital devices. Adjusting screen brightness, resolution, and contrast, taking regular breaks, and avoiding reflections can help prevent Computer Visual Syndrome (SVI).

The most common defects are strabismus, amblyopia, color blindness, hyperopia, myopia, and astigmatism: 

– STRABISMUS: It is easily noticed because the child squints. Your vision is hazy or distorted most of the time. This problem needs correction because it is a source of fatigue and discomfort. 

– AMBLYOPIA: Corresponds to a weak and visual acuity. When it is unilateral, it is compensated for by the other eye. It is important to detect amblyopia because the longer it develops, the more difficult it is to correct. 

– HYPERMETROPIA: Hyperopia is a common vision condition in adults. People with hyperopia must squint to see nearby objects. Adapted lenses make it possible to treat this problem. 

– MYOPIA: A condition in which close objects appear clearly, but far ones don’t. Nearsightedness tends to run in families. Faraway objects appear blurry. The condition may develop gradually or rapidly. It can be corrected with glasses, contacts, or LASIK surgery.

– ASTIGMATISM: With astigmatism, the front surface of the eye or the lens, inside the eye, is curved differently in one direction than the other. A common symptom is blurry vision.Treatments include prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses 

Some of our recommendations are: 

  1. Take care of your diet. 
  2. Stay hydrated. 
  3. Maintain a distance of 50 centimeters from any electronic device. 
  4. Rest your eyes by taking pauses from reading every hour or so. 
  5. Watch short classes. 
  6. Keep your study space well lit. 
  7. Avoid working on cell phone screens since the screen is much smaller.

For more information and helpful tips, visit us at https://villagedoctor.com/.