When children and young people have monocular vision, it’s even more important to preserve their eyesight. But that doesn’t mean that they have to miss out on all the fun of sports and activities. Zishan Naeem, Lead Orthoptist for Retinoblastoma Services at The Royal London Hospital, gives some tips on eye safety and using protective eyewear…
Monocular vision relates to having useful vision from one eye only – this could be the case for children and young people (CYP) who have both eyes (where one eye has poor vision and the other eye has good useful vision) or one eye only (and have lost their other eye). With monocular vision, it is vital to preserve this vision, and for this reason it is important to consider the use of protective eyewear such as protective glasses/sports goggles.
Most CYP’s activities, as enjoyable as they may be, carry a significant amount of risk and children may sustain injuries, some of which are easily preventable. Since your child has monocular vision, it is important to try and prevent any injuries to your child’s seeing eye. It is vital to teach eye safety to your child, just as you would teach general safety with day-to-day activities such as scanning around their environment so that they are aware of their surroundings.
It is important that you are positive when teaching eye safety to your child so that they do not feel that they are being isolated. It is a given that your child’s monocular vision (and need for protective eyewear) makes them different to other children, but it should be highlighted to your child that it is this difference which makes them special and everyone is special in their own way.
CYP usually require protective eyewear at a secondary school-going age, but this is dependent on the types of activities; activities at primary/junior school usually involve a lot of soft-play. We certainly do not expect children to wear sports goggles all of the time as this would go against the ethos of encouraging monocular-vision children to lead as regular as a life as possible in line with their peers. If a CYP is involved in any kind of contact support/activity, then it is strongly advised for them to wear sports goggles as a means of protective eyewear.
Before introducing your child to any kind of activity it is important that you and your child are aware of the risks of injuries during play. Your child may well get some bruises and or cuts during rough play, but the most important thing for them to remember is to protect their only/better seeing eye as much as possible, such as by scanning their environment or by ‘breaking their fall’.
For all kinds of contact sports (such as football, netball or rugby) then sports goggles are a must.
Obtaining protective eyewear (if required as above)
Your child should attend a local optician to obtain protective eye wear. If a prescription has been found, then you will be issued with a pair of prescripted glasses – it is important to note that the lenses must be POLYCARBONATE lenses, which is a stronger material used for the lenses and will add to the protection of your child’s seeing eye. These can be worn with a sports band. Stronger, durable frames must be chosen, and these can be recommended by the dispensing assistant at the opticians.
Contact lenses will not protect the eyes, therefore it is strongly recommended for contact lens wearers to also wear appropriate eye protection.
If your child does not have a prescription, then sports goggles should be purchased with POLYCARBONATE lenses. We would advise that these are purchased for all CYP with monocular vision who participate in contact-sport activities. These can be purchased from their local optician, or online from trusted websites.
If there are any concerns or queries about this, then please do not hesitate to contact your Rb team.
For more information on taking part in sports and activities, have a look at our at school or nursery section.