Thankfully, The Diva does not seem to have any vision problems. But at her last physical, she was asked to do a "shapes" eye chart. She was not exactly cooperative. She knew what all the shapes were, but just didn't feel like performing right then. That got me to thinking that maybe there is something wrong with her eyes {There isn't} and it also took me back to my own early childhood eye problems.
I was born with astigmatism in both eyes, a form of strabismus called esotropia {commonly, but inaccurately referred to as lazy eye} & anisometropia {I am farsighted in one eye & nearsighted in the other. I told you all before, I am unique!}. My left eye drifted so far in towards my nose, that I saw everything about 1 foot over from where it was actually located. I was constantly running into walls and door jambs as a small child. When I found out about the Enfant™ Pediatric VEP Vision Testing System, I was very excited and wanted to know more. I knew this would be perfect to test The Diva's eyes accurately.
I went to their website, www.enfantvision.com, to check it out and was very impressed. This system can be used to test babies as young as six months of age and is non-invasive. No dilating of the eyes necessary. Can you imagine a toddler, who is already unsteady on their feet, trying to walk around with extremely blurred vision? Or a baby, who's eyesight is already myopic not being able to focus on anything at all? How scary must it be for these small children to have their eyes dilated, anyway?
Although I am not sure if young babies/toddlers actually do get their eyes dilated for a comprehensive vision test, I remember being 5 and having it done to me. It was not fun. So when I was asked to do a review of EnfantVision.com and help spread the word, I said yes, of course.
The system works like this:
After positioning three sensory pads on the child’s head, an operator initiates the test. Cartoon characters appear and music plays while a series of “attention-catching” stimuli are presented to the child on a video display. The Enfant™, using Visual Evoked Potential technology ( VEP), recognizes the child’s neurological responses and processes the VEP data.
At the completion of each test, simple "pass/fail" results are immediately presented on the menu-driven operator screen in both graphic and numeric formats. The results are then printed out for the patient's medical record.
We are testing children six months of age and older in order to detect visual deficits such as strabismus, optic nerve disorders, and severe refractive errors, which could lead to amblyopia.
Go here to see a video demonstration.
Why is it important to get your child's vision accurately tested as early as possible?
Early detection is the only way to correct vision problems before treatment becomes ineffective. Leaving these kinds of conditions untreated can lead to blindness. Please get your children tested as soon as possible. www.enfantvision.com
- An estimated 200,000 children are born each year with visual deficits.
- According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), vision disorders are the number one childhood handicap.
- Only 21 percent of children in the United States have their vision screened before Kindergarten.
- 72 percent of children with vision deficits go undetected until after the window for effective treatment expires.
- More than one in 50 children have amblyopia, a serious vision disorder, which can lead to blindness in one eye.
- Amblyopia is poor vision in an eye that otherwise appears normal. It occurs when the brain does not recognize the sight from that eye. It is very difficult to detect Amblyopia.
- 3.8 million adults are legally blind in one eye or visually incapacitated due to amblyopia.
I was compensated for this post. But, because this is something I feel passionately about and have gone through myself, I would have posted about it anyway.
6 comments:
I'll have to keep this in mind if/when the time comes. Thanks.
I so wish this was around yrs ago My oldest has eye problems and wears glasses from the age of 8 yrs old. I took him when he was 5 but they said it was early what a wonderful resource thanks for letting me know I have 2 more boys I'll give this a look into
It really does seem like a great system. I can't wait until it is available in my area!
How interesting, I had never heard of a system like this before.
What a great idea! I wish this was offered in my area.
Wow that's really interesting! I know someone who would benefit to know about this. Thank you!
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