Quarantine has made significant changes in the usual way of life of even the smallest children and schoolchildren. Now they learn and have fun using gadgets, communicate online with family and friends. Therefore, special attention now needs to be paid to the health of the eyes of children.
When a child sits at the computer for a long time, the eyes get very tired and begin to see worse, redness, a feeling of dryness in the eyes and even headaches may appear. Due to chronic fatigue, the blood supply to the eyes is disrupted. All this can lead to serious illness.
Igor Erikovich Aznauryan, doctor of medical sciences, professor, ophthalmic surgeon, shared with us about what kind of prevention should be carried out for children during the period of self-isolation. Co-founder of the "Joy of a Clear Look" Foundation, a charitable platform created to increase the availability of medical care for children and adolescents with eye pathologies. The platform connects patients and medical institutions with each other. She is actively supported by singer Diana Gurtskaya, famous showman and TV presenter Garik Martirosyan.
5 ways to preserve your eyesight
- Remember to blink to avoid dry eyes.
If you spend a lot of time in front of a computer or with a gadget in hand, you forget to blink. As a result, the eyes practically cease to moisturize, a feeling of discomfort appears. This can cause eye health problems and, in severe cases, lead to corneal injury. So remember to blink 5–6 times a minute.
For children with increased eye sensitivity, doctors prescribe special drops.
- Improve your child's workspace
The computer monitor should be positioned so that it is no closer than at arm's length from the eyes, and the top of the case is at the level of the child's eyes.
Adjust the height of the child's seat for maximum comfort.
It is worth working at the computer only in a sitting position. When a child is tired, he definitely needs to get up, walk around the apartment and relax.
- Adjust lighting
The monitor should be positioned so that the light from the lamp is not reflected in it. It is necessary to monitor its cleanliness, periodically wipe it with special napkins, because dust and stains can also provoke glare that irritates the eyes.
You shouldn't sit with a gadget in a dark room. In the absence of light, the screen appears brighter and clearer. And the eyes in these contrasting conditions get tired faster, as they try to adapt immediately to both darkness and bright light.
It is worth making sure that no direct artificial light enters the child's eyes. Therefore, it is so important that the work surface is illuminated.
During the day, the windows should be curtained to create diffused light in the room.
- If your child often gets tired eyes, adjust the lighting level of the monitor and gadget.
Parents need to set up the automatic brightness control of the gadget's screen: during the day, the illumination level changes, and the child himself probably won't remember changing the settings.
- Remember to rest
A child must take at least two minutes an hour to rest from a gadget or computer. You can just close your eyes and imagine black. It happens that, having closed his eyes, the child sees glare or bright points. Then he must repeat the exercise until he is completely relaxed. Such training will relieve eye muscles from fatigue and increase their blood supply.
These guidelines will help keep your kids healthy eyes. But do not forget that children often cannot notice the deterioration of vision themselves, and parents need to carefully observe how the child reads, and be interested in how he sees objects near and far.
For any changes in vision, you must seek the advice of a specialist.
Igor Erikovich Aznauryan: “We understand how important it is to diagnose changes in vision at the earliest stage, but not all regions of Russia manage to do this promptly. Especially during quarantine and self-isolation. To make helping children more accessible, we have come up with distance treatment courses that can treat vision in children and adolescents without visiting clinics. The child can be anywhere: at home, in the village with his grandmother, in another country - this does not matter with remote treatment. You can take courses of therapeutic treatment under the compulsory medical insurance, and if surgery is necessary, our charitable foundation will select children from low-income families or those who find themselves in difficult life situations to provide them with financial assistance for the operation. "
