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Pediatric ophthalmology
Pediatric ophthalmology
Pediatric ophthalmology
In the CLÍNICA NIVARIA We are aware of the importance of early detection of any type of eye condition in children. Visual problems in childhood can have serious consequences such as a delay in school learning. That is why we have professionals specialized in children's eye health.
Refractive defects in childhood
Refractive defects (myopia, farsightedness and astigmatism) can appear from very early ages. Both detection, diagnosis and timely treatment are vital to avoid future problems. When these eye diseases are not treated properly, the brain chooses the vision of the eye with the least refractive defect and cancels or stops using the other.
Refractive defects can be difficult to diagnose in children, which is why in the next point we leave a series of tips that can help detect them.
Symptoms that the child has a vision problem
- It is very close to television or books.
- Stop paying attention easily (reading, games, class explanations).
- He doesn't like to read, skips words, even lines or reads silently.
- He has a habit of vocalizing when he reads silently and continues reading with his finger.
- It has a poor visual perception, for example, it confuses "a" with "e", "u" and "n".
- Avert your eyes to look or look at distant details.
- You have frequent or unexplained headaches.
- He seems to have his eyes lost when talking to someone or presents pendular eye movements.
- Adopts torticollis (crooked neck) positions when reading or doing homework, which can eventually manifest as neck or back pains.
- He has bepharitis or styes of repetition.
- He rubs his eyes frequently.
- Wink at sunrise.
- However, the diagnosis corresponds to the Ophthalmologist, so if you detect any of these symptoms ask for an appointment at the NIVARIA CLINIC for its correct assessment.
Recommended revisions
At birth (pediatrics / ophthalmology):
Discard congenital anomalies: Congenital glaucoma, congenital cataract, malformations, tumors, congenital strabismus, congenital ptosis.
At 3-4 years (pediatrics):
- Visual acuity (rule out lazy eye).
- Eye motility (strabismus).
At 6 years:
- First full eye scan.
- Visual acuity (lazy eye).
- Eye motility (strabismus).
- Graduation with drops.
- Fundus
From the 6 onwards:
- Biannual Review
Child strabismus
Strabismus is a deviation of the eyes due to deficiencies in the eye muscles. Its appearance in childhood is very frequent, especially since birth. The deviation can be ESOTROPIA (inwards), EXOTROPIA (outwards) or HYPER / HYPOTROPY (upwards or downwards).
Detection at an early age is essential for its correct treatment. If strabismus is not treated before 7 years of age, the deviated eye will not be able to receive the image in the correct place of its retina. This will generate an irreversible visual decline, called striambic amblyopia, along with the loss of normal binocular vision.
Strabismus treatment varies depending on the reason that generates it. One of the most frequent causes is the imbalance of forces of the eye muscles. In this case the treatment is surgical; if an optical alteration is also suffered, corrective glasses will also be used. If strabismus is only due to optical abnormalities, its treatment will be the permanent use of glasses to correct the proper alignment.
It is also important to avoid amblyopia, or "lazy eye," using a healthy eye patch so that the other develops a better vision.
It is of vital importance to go to the Ophthalmologist as soon as any evidence of strabismus is detected, in order to rule out that the causes may be related to tumors or lesions in the retina, in addition to starting treatment as soon as possible.
Amblyopia
The "lazy eye" or amblyopia consists in the low vision of one or both eyes due to the lack of use in the period of visual development of the child, which is usually before 7 years. This may be motivated mainly because the child suffers from strabismus or because there is a large difference in graduation between both eyes.
Symptoms that can help identify this condition are, for example, that the child frequently deflects an eye, does not properly identify family members over long distances, that objects are close to the face, that there is a white spot on the pupil or that is excessively sensitive to light.
Its treatment consists on the one hand in correcting the cause that causes this amblyopia and on the other in stimulating the "lazy eye": the "healthy" rests and the "lazy" must perform all the visual work. There are several ways to penalize the healthy eye, but occlusion of the eye with a patch is one of the most used. However, it is the ophthalmologist who must decide on the most appropriate treatment depending on each case. Its early detection is very important to avoid major consequences such as total loss of vision.
Related treatments
Laser refractive surgery
Different refractive defects such as myopia, hypertherotopia and ASTIGMATISM, so far corrected only through the use of glasses or contact lenses, with the
Intraocular lens surgery
Intraocular lens surgery The phakic lens is an intraocular lens that is added to the eye's optical system without removing any structure. This lens
Presbyopia surgery
Presbyopia Surgery Presbyopia, better known as "tired eyesight" refers to the progressive appearance of difficulty focusing near images (reading,
