After getting a response to a blog I posted about McKenna’s Pediatric Ophthalmologist I followed thier link to The Children’s Eye Foundation webpage. This is what I found…
About The Children’s Eye Foundation
Originally founded in 1970 as the National Children’s Eye Care Foundation (NCECF), the Children’s Eye Foundation (CEF) is the official foundation of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS). The foundation was founded by the late Dr. Marshall Parks, who is also the acknowledged founder of the pediatric ophthalmology discipline. The mission of the CEF is to develop and implement programs that optimize the quality of life of children by eliminating preventable vision loss and eye disease.
CEF most directly combats Amblyopia, a condition caused when one eye receives inadequate use during early childhood, resulting in reduced vision or even blindness. The child’s brain suppresses the poorer quality image, essentially “turning on blindness”. Amblyopia can be caused by several vision disorders, such as:
- Strabismus: misaligned or “cross-eye”
- Anisometropia: uneven vision
- Cataracts: one or both eyes are cloudy
- Ptosis: or drooping eyelids.
Each year, close to four million children are born in the United States. Research suggests that 5%, or 1 in 20, of the preschool aged population suffer from a vision disorder that could eventually result in permanent vision impairment. Vision disorders have tremendous consequences for both the children afflicted by them and for society as a whole.
This is very reassurring to me as a mother, that there are people out there who care enough to devote their time and career to educating themselves and the public about the causes, treatments and cures of childhood eye disorders.
For Little Eyes 