Eye Health from A Z Did You Know? 13.5 Vision problems affect - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Eye Health from A – Z

Did You Know?

75% of all blindness and vision impairment is either

preventable or treatable

Vision problems affect nearly million children in the U.S.

13.5

Students, especially young ones, may not know that what they are experiencing is a vision problem

Leads to frustration and worsening academic performance

Start Young!

• Discovering vision problems

early on in a child’s life is an important part of helping him

• r her do well in school.
• Avoid frustration
• Make reading easier
• Make learning more

enjoyable

• In the case of some vision

conditions, early detection and treatment is the only way to prevent loss of sight in the afflicted eye

Common Eye Disorders in Children

Nearsightedness (myopia)

• Most common visual problem among students
• Close objects are clear, far-away objects are blurry
• Students may squint to see blackboard or

presentation materials

• Can be corrected with corrective lenses such as

glasses or contact lenses Farsightedness (hyperopia)

• Close objects are blurry, far-away
• bjects are clear
• Students may squint while reading or

hold reading material farther away from face than normal

• Can be corrected with corrective

lenses such as glasses Astigmatism

• Often co-occurs with nearsightedness
• r farsightedness
• A type of refractive error caused by an

abnormally shaped cornea

• Can be corrected with corrective

lenses such as glasses or contact lenses

Common Eye Disorders in Children

Strabismus

• Issue with eye muscles
• Student’s eyes appear to be

focusing on two different points

• Often co-occurs with amblyopia
• Glasses or eye muscle exercises

can treat strabismus. Sometimes surgery is needed.

Lazy Eye (Amblyopia)

• One eye is stronger than the other
• Student may show signs of

strabismus, but the two do not always co-occur

• Over time, the brain may begin to

disregard signals from the weaker eye

• If it is not detected early,

amblyopia can lead to a permanent loss of sight in the weaker eye

• This disorder is only detectable

through an eye exam from an

• ptometrist or ophthalmologist

Common Eye Disorders In Seniors

• By age 65, one in three Americans have some vision-impairing eye

disease

• Most don’t know it—often there are no early warning signs
• Poor sight is not a natural part of aging
• You can take measures to

preserve your sight

• Have eye disease detected and

treated early

• Visit an eye doctor at least every

1-2 years

Common Eye Conditions in Seniors

• Presbyopia
• Diminished ability to focus on near objects
• Results in need for reading glasses or bifocals
• Dimming of vision
• Slight loss of retinal function
• Beginning cataract(s)
• Cataract(s)
• Caused by eye’s lens becoming
• paque
• Smoking increases incidence of

some types

• Nearly everyone will have them by age 90

Common Eye Conditions in Seniors

• Dry eye
• Caused by insufficient tears or by eyelid inflammation
• Persistently painful, stinging or itchy eyes
• Glaucoma
• Gradually destroys optic nerve
• Peripheral (side) vision lost first
• Essential for seniors to have comprehensive

eye exam at least every 1-2 years

• AMD (age-related macular degeneration)
• Leading cause of blindness and

irreversible vision loss in seniors

• Gradually destroys central retina (macula)

needed for sharp vision

• Three times more common in smokers

Facts about Eye Health – Worldwide

• Somewhere in the world, someone goes

blind every 5 seconds.

• A child goes blind every minute.
• 80% of all blindness is preventable or curable.
• It is estimated that at least 7 million people

go blind every year.

http://www.eyecareamerica.org/

• Worldwide some 180 million people are blind or visually disabled—the

equivalent of two-thirds of the entire U.S. population.

• Rates of blindness will double by the year 2020 unless prevention efforts are

intensified.

• People in developing countries represent 90 percent of the world’s blind

population and are 10 times more likely to go blind than those in developed countries.

• Africa averages just one ophthalmologist for every 1.25 million people

Facts about Eye Health in America

• By age 65, one in three Americans has some form of vision impairing eye

disease.

• Of the 119 million people in the United States who are age 40 or over, 3.4

million are visually impaired or blind. This level of blindness and visual impairment costs more than $4 billion annually in benefits and lost income.

• In California, over 13,000,000 people are age 40 or over, and 356,000 are

visually impaired or blind. This represents approximately 10% of all visual impairment and blindness in the United States.

• People with diabetes are 25 times more likely to become blind than

people without diabetes.

• Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States,

and the most common cause of blindness among African Americans.

• Nearly three million people have glaucoma, but half do not realize it

because there are often no warning symptoms

http://www.eyecareamerica.org/