High Refraction Index In Children Is Due To Laziness To Wear Glasses

JAKARTA - Ophthalmologist Dr. Mirella Afifudin, Sp.M said the high refraction index in children's eyes is caused by children being lazy to wear glasses due to discomfort.

"Actually, we have conducted a survey research in all elementary and junior high schools in Makassar, which has a high refraction index. The problem is that the main reason why children don't wear glasses is discomfort," said the doctor who graduated from Hassanudin University, quoted from Antara, Monday.

The doctor who is a member of the Indonesian Ophthalmologist Association (PERDAMI) said that people who do not use glasses or contact lenses to support vision means they are forcing their eyes to focus more on seeing things that are not visible.

This will actually cause forced focus so that the child can get headaches and feel nauseous.

"That will actually cause accommodation or forced focus, eventually headaches, nausea, even if it occurs in children with high cylinders or minus, it will be very dangerous," said Dr. Mirella.

She said most parents are also reluctant to give glasses to their children for fear that the minus will increase. Even though the situation can actually happen the other way around, there will be what is called a lazy eye or a condition of the eye nerves that is not optimal in seeing.

"That's very dangerous because everyone knows that minus eyes and lazy eyes are difficult to correct, vision is not up to 100 percent while people must see 100 percent," she said.

She explained that according to research conducted at the Universities of Australia, China, Malaysia, and Singapore, many children and adults have myopia because they often read too closely and in a room with insufficient lighting. So if a child or adult has been exposed to minus eyes, it is advisable to exercise, especially outdoors and if needed, refractive surgery can be done.

"Myopia or cylindrical eyes will indeed experience changes as long as a person is still growing, so one of the requirements in refractive surgery must be at least 18 years because it is estimated that by the time someone is 18 years old they have stopped growing, automatically there will be no minus or cylindrical changes in their eyes, said Dr. Mirella.