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Studies & Research
Concerns About Children’s Eye and
Vision Health during the Coronavirus
Pandemic
Optom. Noor Bseiso
Diagnostic and Refractionist Optometrist & MBA from Netherlands Email: eyecareq8@gmail.com
Instagram : @eyecareq8
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, many aspects of our lives are unclear, including going back to school. Education looks different this year for a lot of students as some parents choose to send their children to school in person. Others choose online learning and some decide on a blended option, where available. But whatever back to school looks like, eye care professionals can help it look its best. Vision is crucial for all students to achieve their full academic potential since 80% of what a child learns in school is presented visually. So, when a student faces dif culty in learning to read or copy from the board, parents and teachers refer to a great extent their concerns to the existence of visual disorders. That’s why comprehensive eye examination should be one of the primary things to be taken into consideration for students to succeed in their academic year.
The new approach to learning is likely to affect
children’s lives in many unanticipated ways, counting their vision health:
Vision Challenges of Online Distance Learning
For students who are back to school in a distance or hybrid learning setting, there is no escape from using digital devices. Prolonged digital learning and screen viewing are bound to cause digital eye strain. This condition arises when the visual demands of a task exceed the visual ability of an individual to perform them comfortably. Students are taking their online classes by looking at digital devices for two or more continuous hours causing them many eye problems like dry and irritated eyes. In addition, the eyes get tired from near work focus on the screen causing eye fatigue. Nearsightedness also occurs as a result of too much time spent indoors on digital screens. Numerous factors like screen or font size, glare, de nition, luminosity and contrast,
71 EYEZONE Issue 91-92 May / August 2020