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207
REPORT ON THE WORK OF
THE OPHTHALMIC CLINICS.
To the School Medical Officer, May, 1939.
Barking Borough Council.
Dear Sir,
During 1938 the number of spectacles prescribed at
the clinics was much smaller than in 1937 but there
was practically no diminution in the number of
children tested. As all of these children had some
visual defect it follows that a considerable proportion
of them were told that they did not require glasses.
This seems to merit some explanation.
All the cases referred to can be said to form a definite
group which has the following characteristics. They
are slightly longer sighted and do not have standard
vision—it varies within narrow limits and is just short
of normal. They are able to read their ordinary school
work without complaining provided their general
health is good. This is due to the ability of the eye to
overcome the minor degrees of defect by means of its
internal muscular mechanism. The condition of this
mechanism depends on the state of the general health
and, if the latter is satisfactory, no ocular trouble is
experienced. Any condition which lowers body health
such as want of suitable food, fresh air, or the presence of
decayed teeth, produces early fatigue ; the eye is no
longer able to counterbalance its own inherent defect
and headaches or blurred vision results. When this
condition exists, glasses will relieve the child but they
will not cure. In fact, it is not the eyes which require
treatment so much as the causes of the lowering of body
well-being, for once these are remedied glasses will be
found to be no longer necessary.