Seeing well is child’s play!
Playing is good for health and a pleasant, constructive pastime during which children learn, grow and develop their abilities. And when they are adults, play also helps to improve mood and enrich the imagination. The only thing that must not be played with is health! This is why “G! come Giocare” fair is the playful context in which Commissione Difesa Vista (CDV) and Vision+ Onlus decided to promote an awareness-raising campaign by offering free eyesight checks for adults and children. And because Italian parents tend to pay insufficient attention to eyesight health. According to research commissioned by CDV in 2010, 51.4% of parents do not take an “active” part in prevention and 7 in 10 believe that seeing an optician is “unnecessary”. Alarming data that must be tackled by promoting the culture of prevention and checks.
At the CDV-Vision+ stand D60 (Hall 3, Porta Colleoni entrance) from 10am to 8pm every day of the fair (December 18 through 20, 2011) there will be free eyesight screenings thanks to the equipment provided for the occasion by Frastema Ophthalmics S.r.l. and New Tech S.p.A., for children (from 1 to 12 years of age) and parents who want to set a good example. The tests will be carried out by eye care professionals with the help of orthoptists who will be totally available to answer visitors’ requests for more detailed information about eyesight and to distribute useful reading materials for families.
All visitors can take the tests which will be performed with the help of a refractometer (an instrument for detecting refractive errors such as myopia, astigmatism, hypermetropia). For children it will also be possible to detect any presence of the so-called “lazy eye” (strabismus).
«The screenings are not instead of a medical exam», explained Cavaliere del Lavoro Vittorio Tabacchi, president of CDV «They are the first important and indispensable moments for raising awareness and prevention, especially for children who should have at least one eyesight exam at each important stage in their development (at birth, at 2, 6 and 10 years of age)». Prof. Demetrio Spinelli, ophthalmologist and president of Vision+ Onlus, added and concluded: «It is the fundamental duty of parents to look out for anomalies in their children’s vision during the first years of life, and to protect their eyes by avoiding dangerous games and toys that do not meet safety standards and could cause damage».
