Doctors travel to Armenia to perform eye surgery

A group of eye doctors from Los Angeles recently traveled to Armenia to help prevent a group of children from losing their sight. The Glendale News-Press reports that six doctors traveled to Yerevan and performed surgery in a hospital's neonatal clinic.

The surgeries were performed on infants who have a condition known as retinopathy of prematurity, which means that their eyes have not developed to the point where they are able to be exposed to the elements. While the illness may sometimes correct itself, the news provider reports that if the condition becomes serious, doctors have very little time before vision is lost.

"It is a very time-sensitive disease, not like cataracts or glasses, when you have all the time in the world to take care of it," Dr Thomas Lee told the news source. "If you don't get to the kid in a brief, specific period of time, that kid will go blind."

According to AllAboutVision.com, maintaining good eye health is especially important in youngsters, as 25 percent of school-aged children have eye problems. Experts recommend kids have their first comprehensive eye exam at six months, and then again when they are three.