Parents are worried about children who starts wearing eyeglasses at a young age. Due to rapid changes in our environment and exposure to technology, the group of young wearer's degree got worse gradually. In just 1 year, the vision got worsen to a degree change of more than SPH-100 degree equivalent of VA from 6/6 to 6/18. Sudden increase in degree is inevitable in the current society. Most parents just accepted the facts. As they grow older, the degree increases and stabilize in their teenage times. What should we do and How?

Few points to note;

1. Annual check-up by the Professional - This is to prevent the sudden increase of degree if left undetected

2. Frequent adjustment of frames  -  Prevention of optical center de-focus causing fatigue

3. Maintenance of glasses - To increase the life-span of the glasses

4. Adopt a right posture for reading, computer and watching TV - Sitting position and distance will cause fatigue level in either eye or backache.

5. Rest eyes for 5 to 10 mins for every  hour of  near work. - To rest the eye muscles and to coordinate us to see the things clearly

Lastly and most importantly, "The eyes are the Window to the World"

As parent, we know that children are not sure whether they are doing the right things. Especially at their young age, they will assume that it is right if no one correct their mistakes. These mistakes will snowball to become a problem in their teenage time. As time passed, these mistakes will become their habit. 

During my walkabout, I notice some children don't have a proper fit of the glasses, sitting nicely on the "nose bridge". This is part of controlling myopia where the clearest is located on the center of the lens. Vision improved when the glasses is pushed up. This caused unnecessary fatigue to the childrens' eye. Frequent adjustment is important to ensure the stability of the myopia thus giving the wearer the full benefit of a clear vision.

Few important points;

• Ensure the eye is position between 1/2 and 1/3 of the frame height.

• Nose pad rested well on the bridge of the nose with ample adjustment if necessary.

• Frame must be fitted on the face nicely without pressing on the side of our face temporal.

• The ear loop/ frame tip must have sufficient adjustment to prevent drooping of glasses, additional spectacle hook may increase the holding position.

• Ensure the eyeglasses alignment is checked frequently.

The wonders of technology amazes me with utmost respect. The evolution of hand-phones,  tablets and now we have "Phablets". In the past the phones are getting smaller but now here we are bigger and BIGGER!. To me, its a great news!

 Wherever you go, in the train, in the bus, in the car, at the coffee house, 8 out of 10 people are gazing at their phones every seconds. Ever since small phablets are introduced, "Asthenopia", the complains of headaches, pain in around the eyes, loss of concentration, double vision or worst case drop in visual acuity , increases over time. All these problem did not happen in the "past". How did this happen?? 

Hope you still remember when you purchased your television. Based on the calculation on the right TV size at the distance, eg; the recommended for a 42 inch TV is about 6 feet ~ 2metre. How about reading a book? The recommended distance is minimum of 30 to 40cm (depends on individual height). Proper convergence is necessary to prevent diplopia (Double Vision). So what happen to those who uses a smaller phone to watch movies, check emails and playing games? The distance of the phones to the eye is so much nearer than normal reading, thus causing long term problem surfacing. Recommendation of hand-phones are also one reasons due to the enlargement of fonts and the phone size available in certain brands, reducing the  problem to the minimum.

Now since the technology have become one of us, let's help ourselves by getting a bigger phablets to reduce the long term effect on our eyes and prevent this condition to be part of us.