The B.V.C. Foundation In The News

Neighbors In The News

'Lazy Eye' Treatable If Someone Takes The Time To Look
by Davie Ann Browder

The Class of 2000, at least for my son, will begin its final year of high school on Aug. 26.

Before that, orientation for students already enrolled at Hobart High School, along with photos, starts on Aug. 19 for seniors. It will be from 8 a.m. until noon.

All orientation will be from 8 a.m. until noon. For juniors, it will be Aug. 20; for sophomores, Aug. 23; and for freshmen, Aug. 24.

Since I'm sending my son off for, I hope, his final year, I've been thinking about what makes for a successful stint in school and in a career afterward.

Above all, comes reading and comprehending, at least as far as I'm concerned. I read before I started school and to me, reading has been as much refuge as it has been a way to learn about writing — my chosen career.

That's why I was astounded to find out that every year, about 500,000 children in this country lose the sight in one eye. Not because of an eye problem, but because of a malfunction in their brain that causes "lazy eye."

Until recently, only pediatric ophthalmologists could diagnose this problem, called amblyopia. The screening process takes about one and one-half hours and there aren't that many of these types of doctors around, according to Tom Cataldo of the not-for-profit Better Vision for Children Foundation, based in California.

"We have about 20 million adults in this country with one good eye or maybe no good eye," Cataldo told me recently. "Even if a child between one and four gets to the right kind of ophthalmologist, it doesn't always get diagnosed, because amblyopia is usually not visible, nor does it affect the child until it's too late. That's what happened to me."

Cataldo's group has been screening preschoolers for free for more than 10 years in San Diego and Baja, Calif., using a specially modified digital camera developed by NASA.

We can screen 50 to 60 children in an hour, in virtually any location, with a high degree of accuracy," he said.

How, I asked, does this help kids in Northwest Indiana?

"Exactly my point," he replied.

It seems that the Foundation is prepared to establish chapters throughout the U.S. and abroad. One person from this area could volunteer, he said, using only a couple of hours a week, and do the screening. That's why he and his group have been sending out press releases.

"We would like to have branches all over the country," he said. "What we need is a volunteer; somebody who would like to help children."

Lazy eye, he said, was first diagnosed by Hippocrates 2,600 years ago and the treatment today is the same as it was then — cover the good eye with a patch to make the brain start working and using the lazy eye.

Yet, in this country, despite all the good things we say we want to do to help children, amblyopia is the leading cause of monocular blindness among Americans who are 20 to 70 years old, said Dr. S.L. Sella, a leading authority on amblyopia.

We have another 500,000 children a year that develop amblyopia," Cataldo said. "Yet in Sweden, they have eliminated the problem.

"If you want to know how it feels, just walk about for 30 minutes or so with one eye closed. But don't try driving. It ought to scare you that there are 20 million of us out there driving cars.

Surprisingly, its first chapter will may be in Rome, from where he's just returned. "Doctors over there couldn't believe we're doing what we do. It takes 10 seconds to screen a kid."

The question has always been, he said, is how do you get these preschool kids to a doctor? Well, you don't. Instead, you go to where they are, and in California, it's been Wal-Marts and preschools with the help of Lions Clubs there.

Cataldo, an engineer, got involved with early diagnosis when he retired about 10 years ago.

I went to Mexico and started helping children down there with this problem," he said. "It's unconscionable we're letting this happen to kids, when it's all preventable. On a local, state or county level, we have to do what they did in Sweden."

Davie Ann Browder is Deputy West Lake Editor.