24th
Jan 2012
In
Eye Care
A recent development has many people in the ophthalmology industry cheering. One of the most troubling issues in this field is the vast number of children who need vision correction, but are never properly tested or fitted with corrective eyewear. It is, in fact, estimated that approximately one in four school-aged children have difficulties seeing properly. With economics playing against many families and a lack of necessary education on this matter, many of those problems go undiagnosed or are incorrectly attributed to learning disorders.
While vision screenings in schools are becoming increasingly common, they do not resolve the issue, though they can point out children who may need further vision care. Those issues are often overlooked or parents are left with too little funding to get their children the eye care that they need. Even the vision screenings are not mandatory in all schools. Just thirty-three of the fifty states in the country require the testing. Combine this with the fact that many current vision screening processes have serious shortcomings because they are so narrowly focused on visual acuity that many children are never given the necessary referral to an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Figuring that the child performed well in the screening, many parents will opt not to take the extra step and an underlying vision issue will continue to go untreated. Those hidden problems can increase a child’s likelihood of developing very serious eye conditions in the future.
With more than eighty percent of what a child learns coming as a result of visual stimuli, the need for better and more affordable testing is necessary. The good news is that there may be a solution that will properly fill that spot in the American school system. Developed by Pediavision, Spot is a tool that allows for very quick, very effective eye screenings for children of nearly any age.
Due to nervousness, language barriers, and inability to read, the youngest children in the school system were often difficult to test visually. This tool will allow for easier testing, which will be less taxing on the child. It can check for myopia (nearsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness) as traditional chart method did, but it can also evaluate pupil size, eye alignment, and can detect astigmatism.
The handheld tool looks a lot like a camera, which will likely reduce the stress children feel when seeing it for the first time. The digital screen gives immediate readings and the tests take just moments. There will still be a need for full examinations to determine the extent of troubles a child is suffering from, but the ability of Spot to test an entire school’s population in a single day or two will make screenings less taxing on the budget. Furthermore, the ability of Spot to detect vision issues aside from problems with acuity means that a larger percentage of those children who require further care will actually receive the referrals needed.
There is still a need for improvement in this area, as many children will continue to go without the contact lens exams that they need, but Spot may be the tool that this industry needed to get a greater percentage of those kids on the right track to a clearer tomorrow.
Tech Ridge Vision
500 Canyon Ridge Dr
Austin, TX 78753
(512) 837-3200
