Children’s visual defects

Visual defects in children

Introduction:

Children’s visual defect causes blurred vision, so you find the child sitting near the TV, or it is difficult for him to read and study.

Visual defects have several sections, including far-sightedness, near‑sightedness, and astigmatism, knowing that most children when they are born have a specific degree of far-sightedness that naturally decreases over the years.

It is necessary to check the child’s vision and the ability of the parallel of the eyes and to check the visual acuity when the child is three to four years old, so that if the child finds any visual problem, this is treated early so that the disease does not develop further and becomes difficult to treat.

1.    Spring ophthalmia

Ophthalmia is one of the seasonal diseases that threaten eye health, and among its types is spring ophthalmia, which affects some in the spring of each year, and ophthalmia is an allergy that affects the conjunctiva of the eye, and children are the most likely to suffer from this problem due to the exposure of their eyes to dust and sunlight.

What are the symptoms of spring ophthalmia?

Symptoms usually begin in the spring and continue until the end of summer, the most important of which are:

• Redness of the eye.
• Itchy eyes.
• Eyelid swelling.
• Blurry vision.

How is spring ophthalmia treated?

• Using moisturizing eye drops.
• Make cold compresses.
• Avoid exposure to dust and sunlight.
• Wear sunglasses.

Delayed treatment of spring ophthalmia may damage the cornea, so the person develops keratoconus, which impairs vision.

2.    Constant tears and discharge from birth:

For the new born, this is due to the severely narrowing or complete blocking of the tear ducts, which leads to infections in their eyes constantly, and then to an increase in the secretion of lacrimal matter around the affected eye, and this results in blockage of the duct that connects the inner edge of the eye and the nose, instead of tears flowing in the direction of the nose, they return again and collect in the eye, which leads to the multiplication of bacteria in the tears, so the child begins to secrete tears in abundance.

The disease often goes away on its own during the first months of the child’s life, and this is helped by carefully massaging the child’s tear ducts, but if it is not cured until the age of one year, then we resort to a simple surgery through which the tear duct is opened under general anesthesia.