Parents being urged to get their children’s eyes tested

Mo Ismail, lead orthoptist at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital and also president of the Guernsey Blind Association, said she was ‘very concerned’ by the report published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

It involved researching more than 5m. children and teenagers from 50 countries across all six continents, and found that short-sightedness, also known as myopia, had tripled between 1990 and 2023.

It is estimated that 15% of UK children are short-sighted.

Mrs Ismail said that she suspected eye checks were happening less frequently for local children than they should.

‘Going to the optician should be like going to the dentist, something you do at least once a year,’ she said.

‘Nothing may feel wrong visually but there may be things going on that you can’t see or feel that need checking out.’

As a children’s development specialist, Mrs Ismail only sees patients between the ages of 0-8, and so did not have overall figures for the number of local children that were going for eye tests.

She said that myopia in children most commonly developed between the ages of eight and 12.

Currently in Guernsey, all children receive a free, universal primary orthoptic screening at the age of three-and-a-half.

Mrs Ismail said that this screening was more comprehensive than what children of the same age were offered in the UK.

‘As well as their sight, they are checked for a squint and whether or not their eye muscles are in good health.

‘In the UK it is only a visual screening.’

She said that between 3-5% of three-and-a-half year-olds were diagnosed with a squint or a lazy eye from this screening.

Up to the age of eight, children are able to be seen for free at the orthoptic clinic, and parents do not have to have been professionally referred in order to make an appointment.

However, after this age eye tests are no longer free, in contrast to the UK where free NHS sight tests are available at opticians for children under 16, and for young people under 19 in full-time education.

Mrs Ismail said there would ‘undoubtedly’ be more islanders getting their eyes tested if tests were free in Guernsey, but acknowledged that there was a ‘money barrier’ preventing such a move from happening.

She said that there were precautions that parents could take, including ensuring that children spend time outside every day, limiting screen time to 20-minute sessions, and going for eye tests at least once a year.

She added that work was currently progressing on a new programme designed to increase awareness of eye health and to promote the importance of going for tests, and was hopeful that more details could be announced soon.

The national report’s researchers said the Covid pandemic was one of the biggest reasons for the rise, with children spending more time on screens and less time outdoors.

As well as more screen time and less time outdoors, she said the lack of access to an optician during the pandemic was another significant reason for the increase.