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Eye institute fronts up to help Kiwi families treat lazy eye condition

June 17, 2018

The cost of an optometrist can be too much for many in New Zealand.

Amblyopia, or lazy eye, is a condition that affects around one in 25 children but it regularly goes unnoticed or ignored, but now a group of Kiwi surgeons have launched a fund to help treat it.

The Eye Institute Community Trust's Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer says: "Several hundred dollars is a significant financial burden, so this initiative is aimed at identifying those children."

Year 3 student Maria Rodgers was struggling with the condition just a few years ago.

"It made a big difference and I'm really happy that they took me, because now I read properly and I really like it," Maria said.

"My eye - it wasn't really good and I couldn't really see well."

The condition often leads to blurred vision, which therapeutic optometrist Hadyn Treanor says affects "driving, police [and] armed forces applications".

Maria's mum, Fiona Rodgers says: "Unfortunately, there is that saying out there that it will come right but with lazy eye, it has to be treated, and sooner the better."

Any optometrist who spots the condition can then refer the costs to the Eye Institute, with $100,000 of funding expected to help around 400 children whose families are undergoing financial hardship or who do not qualify for financial assistance.

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