TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A child born in the winter or fall may have better long-range eyesight and less chance of requiring thick corrective glasses, an Israeli study said.
Tel Aviv University investigation led by Dr. Yossi Mandel, a senior ophthalmologist in the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps took data on almost 300,000 Israeli youth ages 16 to 23 and retroactively correlated the incidence of myopia, or short-sightedness, with their month of birth.
The study published in the journal Ophthalmology, found babies born in June and July had a 24 percent greater chance of becoming severely myopic than those born in December and January. The December and January children had the least number of severely myopic individuals.
"It is probably a long-term effect of early-life exposure to natural light that increases the chances of a child becoming short-sighted," Mandel said in a statement.
"I am speaking about those people who would have to wear very thick glasses, if they did not use contact lenses or laser surgery for the removal of spectacles."
