Question

The nurse assesses a 4-year-old child's vision as 20/40. This finding is considered:

1) Myopia
2) Hyperopia
3) Normal
4) Presbyopia

Answer 1

A 4-year-old child with a vision assessment of 20/40 is considered to have normal vision, not indicative of myopia, hyperopia, or presbyopia.

Step-by-step explanation:

The visual acuity of 20/40 in a 4-year-old child is considered normal vision. It means that the child can see at 20 feet what a person with unimpaired vision can see at 40 feet. This level of vision is typical for a child of that age and does not indicate the presence of myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), or presbyopia, the latter of which typically occurs in middle adulthood.

Myopia is characterized by the ability to see nearby objects clearly while distant objects appear blurry, corrected with a diverging lens. Hyperopia is the inability to see close objects clearly, corrected with a converging lens, and usually, distant objects will appear more clearly than close ones. As for presbyopia, it involves a loss of the eye's ability to change its focus to see objects at different distances and often necessitates the use of reading glasses. This condition is not relevant to a 4-year-old, as it typically begins in middle adulthood.