Child Health: Using 3D to Spot Vision Problems

3D movies are all the rage. From Alice in Wonderland to The Avengers, moviegoers get to see many newer movies using the magic of 3D. Put on a pair of glasses and you're good to go. But 3D is doing more than simply entertaining the masses. Thanks to the power of 3D movies, many people are discovering that they have permanent vision problems, and sometimes these are problems that could have been corrected in childhood if they had been detected early enough.

If your children see a flat image or two of one character instead of the 3D effect when watching a 3D movie, your child may have what's called binocular vision disorder. This disorder, which affects up to 10% of the population, is really a blanket term to cover a problem with the way the two eyes work together. For example, if the muscles in one eye are stronger than the other, the brain may actually "shut off" the weaker eye. This can be corrected, but in most cases intervention must happen before the age of seven.

Many other conditions are just as easy to treat. Muscles that are too weak to properly turn one eye toward the toher can be strengthened by playing special video games designed for this purpose. Surgery is an option of last resort, but it really can save the vision of many children, including my older son who almost went blind when he was three years old. The trick is knowing there's a problem in the first place.

If your child complains about not being able to really see the 3D effects on any movie (when wearing the 3D glasses), take him or her for an eye exam immediately. If you've never taken your child for an eye exam, start now and repeat annually. A basic vision checkup can catch many problems, and some of these are easy to fix.