Child vision problems: These are its symptoms

 Child vision problems: These are its symptoms

There are many signs that may mean that there is a defect in vision in a child, so what are these signs? What is the most important thing that you should pay attention to in infants and older children?

Vision problems may not be apparent in infants and children, however, there are certain signs that may mean a problem, and in general it is preferable to have an eyesight examination done in the first year of the child's life, and then once a year.

Eye test in a child's first year

In the first year of a child's life, his ability to see should be at its best (or as it is said 6/6), and his eyes should be able to see colors and see depth (3D vision).

In order for the child's ability to see sound, the communication and link between the eye and the brain must be sound, any disturbance in vision may disturb the signals sent to the brain, which causes vision problems such as strabismus or amblyopia.

If these conditions are not diagnosed and treated in time, they can become permanent problems. Upon an early examination, congenital eye diseases such as:

Cataract.

Glaucoma.

And other syndromes and tumors.

Symptoms of vision problems in preschool children

Here are the most important signs that may indicate vision problems from early childhood:

1- Squint

Strabismus is the deviation of one of the eyes, while the second eye is looking in the other direction, and when one eye looks in a different direction, the brain ignores the image that reaches it through this eye.

Not treating this problem early means that the eye affected by squint may become a lazy eye, that is, affected by amblyopia, which leads to the child's loss of the ability to double vision.

When it is suspected that one of the eyes has amblyopia or squint, these are the available treatments:

Fix the defect by using glasses and covering the healthy eye, in order to train the lazy eye.

Training the brain by performing exercises that compensate for the defect in vision, through the technique of Neurovision.

When strabismus is severe, surgery is performed to change the location of the affected eyeball muscles and correct the deviation, but the surgery does not treat the affected eye with amblyopia.

If the defect is not addressed in time, the brain will get used to receiving a partial image and will not construct an image based on information from both eyes. Strabismus has many effects on a child's development in several areas, such as:

Facing difficulties in activities that require fine motor skills, such as drawing and writing in the future.

Faulty distance assessment.

Also, hyperopia that is not diagnosed may lead to strabismus or amblyopia, so an ophthalmic refraction test should be performed.

2- Approaching the objects

If the child tends to approach objects and cannot perform activities that require simple coordination, there may be a defect in his vision, but it should be noted that children tend to approach the TV screen without having a vision problem, for example.

What happens here is that the children's eye lens is able to focus greatly, and thus they can see things that an adult cannot see up close, so getting close to the screen gives them a feeling that they are close to the characters on the screen.

3- Variation in the size of the pupils in the eyes

The difference in the size of the pupils between the two eyes requires an examination by a neurologist, or a neuro-ophthalmologist. In this examination, special drops are instilled to check whether the pupil reaction is equal.

If the child suffers from uneven pupils and a drooping eyelid, this may indicate that he has Horner syndrome, a neurological disorder that is in most cases congenital.

Asymmetry between the pupils cannot be treated (and often is not necessary), but eyelid ptosis can be treated with muscle surgery and an eyelid lift to get better vision and avoid amblyopia.

4- Ptosis

 In about a quarter of cases of eyelid ptosis, the drooping is in both eyes, and when the eyelid covers the field of vision, it can lead to amblyopia, so this case calls for eyelid surgery at an early stage as possible.

5- Rubbing or rubbing the eyes frequently

Rubbing the eyes may indicate the presence of an allergic (allergic) infection called vernal inflammation. It is a disease that tends to appear during the spring, as it is the flowering season, and in it there are many molecules that cause allergic reactions.

In other countries, spring infections may appear during other seasons, not just in the spring. The disease can be treated topically with drops of several types:

Tears alternatives.

Antihistamines.

And anti-allergic.

In more difficult cases, steroids can also be used.

The disease tends to return with seasonal episodes, but it disappears by the age of 20.

6- Blinking or blinking

Frequent blinking in children may indicate dry eyes or the presence of inflammation or sensitivity, and sometimes it may indicate a neurological problem.

7- Head tilt in one direction

A one-way tilt of the head may indicate a problem in one of the six eye muscles, and this may lead to a problem in the child's double vision.

8- Inability to distinguish colors

This may indicate a disturbance in color vision. To diagnose the problem, an examination is performed with colored plates of various types. On the surface of these panels there is a number or drawing on a specially adapted background.

A child who has trouble seeing colors may see a different shape or be unable to see the shape at all. This problem is caused by a genetic disorder due to a deficiency in one (or more) types of photoreceptors in the retina. There is no cure for this disease yet.

9- Congenital eyelid deficiency

The failure of the eyelid to grow normally during the growth of the fetus may sometimes cause severe dryness in the eye, and it may require a plastic surgery to reconstruct the eyelid.

10- Large or cloudy cornea

The cornea is the front part of the eye, and through the healthy and transparent cornea we can see the pupil and the color of the iris, but when the cornea is cloudy, it may appear white in color and it is difficult for the viewer to see the pupil and iris in the child's eye.

There are several congenital diseases or types of infection that may lead to this condition, such as glaucoma.

Symptoms of vision problems in children of school age

These signs may indicate a vision problem, so it is important to diagnose and treat the problem at an early stage as possible. Untreated vision problems may cause concentration disorders (ADHD) in a child:

When a child complains of double vision in the eyes while they are open, this usually indicates a squint due to the lack of coordination between the eyes.

When a child complains of double vision in one eye, this may indicate a visual problem, which requires wearing glasses or surgery to treat the problem (cataract, cornea).

When a child complains of headache, dizziness or nausea - this is not usually an indication of an eye problem, with the exception of some rare cases (such as tall or short-sighted).

The tendency to bring the head closer to a board or computer, difficulty reading what is written on the board or skipping words or lines, or illegible handwriting deviating from lines - all these are signs that may indicate difficulty focusing eyes when shifting from looking away to looking close or vice versa.

Blinking or blinking too often, may indicate inflammation or sensitivity, or it may be on the background of stress.

The bottom line is

The aforementioned signs may indicate a vision problem, and the more we diagnose and treat the problem at a more early stage, we allow the child to have a healthy vision, whether it is through glasses, or even through surgery.