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Eye Fitness
Natural Techniques to Improve Your Child's Vision
By Anat Cohen
Blurred sight at a distance is the primary symptom and complaint of nearsighted kids. Both eyes are usually involved, but one may be worse than the other. When worried parents attend the classical eye doctor's appointment, they'll probably be told that nothing can be done for their child's poor vision – except glasses or contact lenses. This solution, however, focuses on the immediate treatment of symptoms instead of on the cure.
The conventional explanation of myopia is an excessive muscular tension of the eye that leads to an excessive curvature of the cornea. In such cases, the image accommodates just short of the retina, and the vision is blurred. Dr. Grossman finds this explanation too simplistic, narrow and limited. In his opinion, there is also a clear mind-body connection to the onset of myopia in adolescence.
According to Dr. Grossman, nearsightedness could be one way that teens cut themselves off from the outside world. The nearsighted teen can exist in unconscious thoughts. "[It's] no wonder that myopia tends to start in the early teens," says Dr. Grossman. "The myopic child usually goes through a shy stage, withdrawing because of fear of entering and being rejected by relationships."
The good news is that much can be done to fix this shortsightedness before introducing artificial lenses to the child. "Prescribing lenses right at the beginning of myopia gives the child something to hide behind, and then they get used to the distance lenses, and then they usually get worse again within one to two years," says Dr. Grossman. "If prescribed, they should usually only be given for distance and not used for near work."
