Re: does children or adults have better eyesight?

Hi Amber, This is a very good question but there is no easy answer for it. In fact, there are some children who have better eyesight than adults and some adults who have better eyesight than children. Of course this depends on many different factors some of which include age, eye health, and exactly what you are measuring. Eyesight can be measured in various ways, like our ability to see fine detail at distance or close up, color perception, binocularity (which is the ability to use both eyes together well for depth perception), or peripheral vision perception. Children's eyesight develop in various stages and rapidity. Most school age children have the ability to see 20/20 but may not have the eye coordination or binocularity to discern small objects at far or near distances. Some children develop myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism, or hyperopia (farsightedness). If they do not see an eyedoctor and wear corrective lenses, they may develop a lazy eye (amblyopia). Sometimes a lazy eye develops because the eyes do not work well together and these patients may need to undergo extensive vision therapy or in some cases, surgery to align the eyes. Adults who do not have a lazy eye may have decreased vision because of eye diseases. Some of the more common types of eye diseases are cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration. Unfortunately, even with the best medical and surgical eyecare, some patients eventually go blind. In fact, some children are born with eye diseases and may also be legally blind. I hope this helps and best of luck with your science project! If you want or need more information, check out this website: www.aoa.org Kenton L. McWilliams, O.D.