This article was originally published in a sponsored newsletter.
When I purchased my optometry practice several years ago, I did a lot of community outreach. I love supporting my community and I love children, so it made sense for me to reach out to the local schools. I had several patients who were teachers and school principals, so I decided to offer my time and teach the children all about eyes and vision. I purchased a real skull to demonstrate the orbit, and a golf ball to show them the size of a full-grown eyeball. I printed photos of the most interesting animal eyeballs and pasted them on cardboard to use as props for my presentation. For the first few classes I taught, I paid attention to the details that interested the kids the most. As long as I used the props and tools and let them ask questions, they were intrigued.
As time went on, I found that the same information (with or without props) was beneficial for my patients in the exam room as well. Here are some of my favorite fun facts:
- Did you know the animal with the largest eyeball is the mammoth squid? Their eyes are 10 inches in diameter; about the size of a dinner plate or human skull. Their eye size is likely important for detecting predators. It has been found that they can detect a moving sperm whale from 394 feet away.
- The animal with the longest eyelashes is the elephant. Their eyelashes are five inches long! Their lash size, shape and texture protect them from dust, bugs and sand in the wild.
- Several animals have three eyelids including (but not limited to) cats, beavers, polar bears, seals and elephants. This third eyelid cleans and lubricates the eye to give them maximum protection and vision.
I like to use these tidbits to segue into a discussion on the importance of our eyelids and eyelashes. I tell my young patients that, just as eyelash size and shape is important to elephants, our lids and lashes help us too. When we forget to clean them, all the “stuff” we were exposed to all day stays with us until the next one. When we don’t keep our eyelids clean, they can’t protect our eyes and give us maximum vision and comfort. We can even permanently damage our lids when we go without caring for them. Kids will listen and remember these conversations when we attach the message to something that’s of interest to them.
As we spoke about in last month’s article, it is important to be proactive in our conversations with all our patients. I am grateful for those classroom visits that taught me to become a better communicator with my young patients in-office.
