A young student wears glasses at the Nguyen Binh Khiem Primary School in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1.

Doctors at the city’s major eye hospital are concerned about increasing vision problems among students.

More and more students in Ho Chi Minh City are having vision problems, including nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, say doctors at the HCMC Ophthalmology

Hospital. (Astigmatism causes headaches or eyestrain and distorts or blurs vision at all distances.)

Nearly 40 percent of 2,774 surveyed students at primary schools, secondary schools and high schools have vision problems.

This compares to 8.65 percent in 1994 and 25.3 percent in 2004.

Of all the surveyed students, nearly 39 percent suffer from nearsightedness (Myopia) and 0.47 percent from farsightedness (Hyperopia).

Students from schools in the city center account for the highest percent (57 percent) of nearsighted students, while 38.8 percent of suburban students are nearsighted, according to the survey.

Secondary and high school students make up nearly 90 percent of students with vision problems.

During the survey, the doctors also found out many students had differences between their left and right eyes. Some suffered from a difference of more than four diopters or even 10 diopters.

This, according to the doctors, is their greatest concern since it can put students in danger of visual impairment or squinting.

Moreover, the vision of 26 percent of students with vision problems is lower than 6/10, they said.

Although basic knowledge about eye conditions and vision problems has been propagated through the media and at school, there are significant shortcomings in awareness among students, parents and teachers. The survey showed just 16.6 percent of students have good knowledge about eyes and visions.

Many parents still think that wearing glasses will make their children’s vision problem worse. They are also not aware that these problems can lead to visual impairment and squinting.

Many even ignore the advice that students should have their eyes and vision checked every six months or once a year, the doctors said.

Due to the knowledge deficiency, not many students with vision problems wear glasses, or do not wear glasses corresponding to their vision.

Around 67 percent of students with vision problems wear glasses, the survey found.

“Downstream” impacts

Le Thi Thanh Xuyen, vice director of the hospital, says it is common in HCMC that a class has more than 40 students, some even 50 to 60 students, causing many of them to sit as many as seven meters away from the blackboard.

This will affect the studying performance of those students who have problems with their vision, she said.

Other social impacts are also considerable, Xuyen says.

She estimates that there are over one million students citywide with 39.35 percent of them having vision problems, meaning that around 393,500 students have to wear glasses.

A pair of glasses costs VND200,000 (US$12.17) on average, so every year the minimum expenditure on glasses for students is around VND80 billion ($4.87 million).

Xuyen advises parents and students to protect their vision by eating cooking useful for the eyes; keeping a proper distance from books, blackboards, televisions and computers; engaging in more outdoor sports; and avoiding studying all day in a room with vision range restricted by walls.

Source: SGGP