Without vision, ordinary activities such as walking a dog, tending to the garden, and simply crossing the street become impossible.
No disrespect meant towards the vision-impaired among us, but the majority of people rely quite heavily on their ability to see the world around them, so why don’t more of us take care of our eyes?
I had the chance to discuss this with local optometrist, Dr. Grant Balen, and his opinion was that life is busy.
He is right, but I believe that we can, and should, still find the time to look after one of our greatest assets.
After all, without our sight, most of us would be quite lost wouldn’t we?
My parents were quite busy when I was younger, yet they still found the means to get me to my regular eye examinations.
While I have to wear glasses due to a lazy eye and some near-sighted [myopic] issues, my situation could have been a lot worse.
More scientifically referred to as amblyopia, lazy eye occurs when the vision in one eye is reduced because the eye and brain are not working together properly, and the result is a decrease in visual acuity.
Together with strabismus, a condition where a person’s eyes are not aligned with each other, which if left untreated can develop into amblyopia, these are vision problems that are becoming more prevalent as we spend more and more time indoors, or attached to our electronic devices.
And regrettably, despite the fact our daily lives are becoming busier, if caught early enough, these are generally avoidable issues.
In a worst-case scenario, surgery might be involved, yes, but the alternatives are likened to a domino effect.
According to Dr. Balen, 80 per cent of all vision problems in children that are undetected or untreated can be misdiagnosed as other developmental issues such as attention deficit disorder syndrome, dyslexia, and speech problems too.
Wouldn’t you feel bad if you thought your children had ADHD and you medicated them, when all they really needed was a pair of glasses?
Do yourself and your children a favour, and book them an eye-exam.
They are covered by Alberta Health Care, quite painless, and it doesn’t hurt to check.
