By Muniratu Akweley Issah, GNA
Accra, Oct. 29, GNA – Dr Gladys Fordjour, Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, has urged parents and caregivers to prioritise children’s eye health and promote healthy visual habits to prevent avoidable vision problems that could affect their education and development.
She said undetected eye conditions could affect children’s ability to read, write, follow lessons in the classroom and participate fully in school activities.
Dr Fordjour, who is also the President of the Ophthalmological Society of Ghana, encouraged parents to provide adequate lighting for children when reading or doing homework, noting that poor lighting could cause eye strain, headaches and discomfort, making reading difficult and tiring.
She said although reading in poor lighting was not generally considered a direct cause of permanent eye damage, persistent eye strain and discomfort should not be ignored, particularly when they affected a child’s ability to study.
“When reading, you need good lighting to see well. When you read in the dark, the eye is straining to see, and it comes with headaches and pain with a lot of discomfort. So, it is essential that you use good light to avoid eye problems,” she said.
She urged parents to seek professional eye examinations for children who frequently rubbed their eyes, squinted to see distant objects, complained of headaches, held books unusually close to their faces or struggled to read from classroom boards.
Early detection and treatment, she said, could help address vision problems before they significantly interfered with children’s learning and development.
Dr Fordjour also encouraged parents and teachers to pay attention to children’s visual habits, particularly their use of mobile phones, computers and other digital devices.
She said prolonged screen use could contribute to eye strain, dryness and discomfort, and advised parents to encourage children to take regular breaks from close-up activities, maintain appropriate viewing distances and spend more time outdoors.
“For a child to develop they need to see, so if you let your child focus on screens near work, that development also goes down. They are not able to play and interact with their peers and elders. So, it is essential that we limit screen time in children,” she said.
“Other countries have passed laws that prevent children from using phones and tablets completely. It is essential that we limit this in children, otherwise we stunt their growth, they develop problems with their vision, they develop refractive errors and they need to wear glasses, so limiting screen time in children is extremely important and we should follow that,” she added.
The ophthalmologist emphasised the importance of making eye care an essential part of children’s healthcare rather than waiting until they experienced significant difficulties with their vision.
Schools, she said, could also contribute to protecting children’s sight by promoting eye-health education, ensuring adequate classroom lighting and referring pupils with suspected vision problems for professional assessment.
She encouraged the public to seek timely eye-care services and cautioned against relying solely on visible symptoms to determine whether a child had a vision problem, as some eye conditions could develop without obvious warning signs.
Dr Fordjour reiterated that regular eye examinations, healthy reading habits and early intervention could help children maintain good vision and participate more effectively in their education and everyday activities.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Muniratu Akweley Issah
Email: [email protected]