In keeping with the new Disney/Pixar film “Elio” organizations provide free information about eye patches
Prevent Blindness and the National Center for Children’s Vision and Eye Health at Prevent Blindness (NCCVEH), are taking the opportunity to educate the public on a variety of children’s vision issues as excitement builds for the new Disney/Pixar film, “Elio.” In the movie, the main character Elio wears an eye patch. While it is unclear why Elio might be wearing one, eye patching is a recommended treatment for many vision issues, including amblyopia (sometimes called “lazy eye”), which is the most common cause of vision loss in young children.
Amblyopia is caused by reduced vision in one or both eyes that has not received adequate use to support its development during early childhood. Most often, it is caused by a misalignment of a child’s eyes (known as strabismus) or a difference in image quality between the two eyes from refractive error. In both cases, one eye becomes stronger, suppressing the image of the other, weaker eye. If this condition persists untreated, the weaker eye may have permanent vision loss.
Fortunately, amblyopia and strabismus are highly treatable if detected early. Eye patching may be recommended for other vision and eye health issues as well, such as eye injuries. However, compliance with children wearing their eye patches as prescribed can be challenging for families.
Prevent Blindness and the NCCVEH are offering a variety of free resources on tips for eye patching, amblyopia, preventing eye injuries, and other children’s vision topics, including dedicated webpages and shareable social media graphics. Additionally, to spread awareness and help encourage positivity for eye patching, both groups are asking parents to share photos of their children wearing their eye patches on social media with #EyePatchSuperPower.
