Abstract In recent years, the prevention and treatment of eye diseases in children has become one of the worldwide recognized public health issues. Both genetic and environmental factors can influence the development of offspring visual systems, leading to abnormal vision acuity such as refractive errors, strabismus, and nystagmus. With the aim of elucidating the influencing factors and mechanisms of early life adverse exposures on offspring vision outcomes, the article summarizes the research on exposure in early life and visual acuity in offspring from different perspectives, including tobacco exposure during pregnancy, exposure to microelements, gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and drug abuse during pregnancy, so as to provide scientific evidence for the development of more effective strategies to prevent and control eye diseases in children and adolescents.