Regular visits to an ophthalmologist in infancy are also important, as are vaccinations, examinations by the pediatrician. The very first examination of eyesight in children under one year is carried out after birth in the hospital for the purpose of early detection of congenital eye diseases (glaucoma, retinoblastoma (retinal tumor), cataracts, inflammatory diseases of the eye). Children born before the term are examined for signs of optic nerve atrophy and retinopathy of prematurity.
Visual examination in infants should be performed at the age of 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. It is especially important to conduct in relation to infants at risk, they include children:
- whose parents or only one of them has a visual impairment;
- born before the term;
- whose relatives suffer from glaucoma.
At the time of the examination, the physician draws attention to:
- eyelids, their position, mobility, skin color, the shape and width of the eye gap, the mucous membranes, the conjunctiva state. Pathology refers to the turning and turning of the eyelids, the lowering of the upper eyelid, vascular proliferation, inflammation, reddening and thickening of the eyelids, the presence of scales, itching;
- pupil. Normally round, black, the diameter varies depending on the lighting - 0,15-0,25 cm. At the age of 4-6 weeks, an important sign of normal vision in the baby is the narrowing of the pupils of the eye with a sharp inclusion of the light source;
- mobility and position of eyeballs. Strabismus, nystagmus (twitching of the eye), limited mobility refer to pathology.
- tear-related pathways and their condition. In the norm of lacrimation should not be;
- color vision. Kids early start to discern the colors. But if the child confuses colors (green, red, blue), then this is permissible up to 3 years of age;
- visual acuity is checked in 3-4 years with the help of a children's table with an ophthalmologist.
Common eye diseases and their diagnosis in the eyesight test in children under one year of age
False and true strabismus
Such a violation parents usually notice themselves, but an expert can only give an accurate diagnosis. Often, the outward appearance of the child's eyes is mussed, but this is a false strabismus, the cause of which lies in the features of the face and is observed mainly with the broad nose. Over time, the size of the nose increases, and the phenomenon of false strabismus disappears. In addition, false strabismus is common in infants of the earliest age due to the immaturity of their nervous system.
In the event that during the examination by an ophthalmologist a true strabismus was established, it is necessary to determine and eliminate the causes of this pathology. Otherwise, one eye will start functioning as a lead, and the vision of the second eye begins to deteriorate rapidly.
Inflammation of the lacrimal sac
This problem is common with a frequency of 10-15%. Inflammation of the lacrimal sac, the so-called dacryocystitis, is accompanied by secretions from the eyes, teardrop, crusts on the eyelashes. Often, parents and sometimes pediatricians mistakenly accept this condition for the symptoms of conjunctivitis. Then the child does not receive the proper treatment on time and only after the senseless use of medications in the form of eye drops, he gets to a specialist.
Eyes "float"
The eyes of the baby can perform oscillatory movements of different directions and amplitudes. Such a lesion of the eyes is called nystagmus. With this pathology, a qualitative image on the retina is not focused, vision begins to deteriorate rapidly (amblyopia).
Problems with focus
In order for the vision to be 100%, the image should always be focused precisely on the retina of the eye. With a large refractive force of the eye, the image will be focused directly in front of the retina. In this case, they say about myopia, or, so-called, myopia. With a small refractive power of the eye, on the contrary, the image will be focused behind the retina, which is designated as hyperopia, or hypermetropia. The ophthalmologist determines the refractive power of the eye in a child at any age with the help of specially designed rulers.
Babies under the age of 1 year can prescribe a correction for correct formation of connections between the projection of the picture on the retina and the reception of a signal by the brain of this so that the child's vision does not fall.