Eyesight condition in first-year pupils

Purpose: to determine the characteristics of eyesight in frst-year pupils. Material and Methods. Parents were initially interviewed to establish the presence and severity of symptoms of dry eye syndrome in their children. The second stage involved ophthalmologic examination which included non-contact autorefractometry on Plusoptix A09 device and checking visual acuity with and without correction. Results. Autorefractometry revealed emmetropia in the majority of cases (79.16 %), myopia was identifed in 3.34 %, accommodation disturbance - in 11.25 %, hypermetropia - in 3.75 %, astigmatism - in 2.5 %. Visual acuity test in the majority of children revealed the maximum acuity, while visual acuity of less than 0.5 was detected in 5.4 % of frst-year pupils. A survey for symptoms of dry eye syndrome showed minimal manifestations in frst-year pupils from 0 points for the majority, up to 8 points. The most frequent complaint among the respondents was hypersensitivity to light (33.75 %) and frequent eye infammation (23.3 %). Watching TV was the most frequently reported visual workload. Conclusion. The majority of frst-year pupils (78.3 %) had high visual acuity of 1.0; 3.34 % of the children had myopia; 11.25 % had accommodation disturbance.