Vision development in normal children
Vision develops gradually as a child grows. Children are born with developing vision and do not achieve normal vision immediately. Therefore, the normal visual acuity of children at different ages is different.
It is generally considered to be 0.5 at age 3, 0.6 at age 4-5, and 0.7 at age 6-7.
What is amblyopia?
Amblyopia is a common and frequent disease in the development of children. It is essentially a disorder of binocular visual development, with lower than normal corrected visual acuity in one or both eyes, and without perfect stereo vision, or even stereo blindness.
Amblyopia is defined as a condition in which there is no obvious organic lesion in the eye and the corrected visual acuity is lower than normal for children of the same age, or the difference in visual acuity between the two eyes is more than two lines.
Is amblyopia congenital?
In clinical practice, many parents ask doctors, “Is my child’s amblyopia congenital?” We believe that parents ask this question out of concern for the prognosis of their amblyopic child, thinking that congenital amblyopia is not treated well, and that if it is not congenital, treatment will be confident. In fact, it is mainly formed during the development of visual function after birth and is therefore acquired. The most common of these are strabismic amblyopia, refractive reference amblyopia, refractive error amblyopia, and form deprivation amblyopia. Congenital amblyopia is defined as a visual impairment that occurs before the child is born. True congenital amblyopia is extremely rare.
What are the dangers of amblyopia?
The greatest danger of amblyopia is that the child not only has poor binocular or monocular vision, but also does not have perfect binocular vision and does not have fine stereo vision. Experts believe that the harm of amblyopia is greater than myopia, because children suffering from simple myopia, see far blurred look near clear, visual cells and nerves can also be stimulated by external images and will not decline; amblyopia is different, because the visual cells and nerves of the affected eye long-term stimulation by external clear images and decline, if not timely prevention and control, the patient’s vision will be forever low. In the long run, it will certainly increase the burden on the key eye, and the vision of the key eye will also decline step by step. Therefore, amblyopic eyes will affect the life of the affected children, learning and work. In their eyes, stereo vision is blurred, and thus they cannot accurately determine the orientation, location and distance of objects.
How to detect amblyopia early
The key to treating amblyopia lies in the early detection of amblyopia, which is a critical period of visual development for children within 3 years of age, but children during this period do not know how to check their visual acuity, which makes early detection of amblyopia very difficult. For early detection of amblyopia, parents are required to closely observe their children for abnormal eye position, nystagmus, and skewed posture when looking at things. If any of these conditions are present, an ophthalmologist should be consulted promptly. Through careful observation by parents and specialized examination by ophthalmologists, most children with amblyopia can be detected at an early stage, and visual electrophysiological examination can be performed if necessary, which is a very important tool for early detection of amblyopia.
How to choose an amblyopia treatment method
There are many ways to treat amblyopia in children, but no matter which treatment method is used, it has its indications and also its limitations, so the appropriate method should be chosen according to the nature of amblyopia. The following principles should be considered.
(1) The primary treatment for children with amblyopia is to wear appropriate corrective glasses to first correct their farsightedness, myopia or astigmatism. For children with strabismic amblyopia, proper corrective glasses facilitate the correction of strabismus.
(2) Comprehensive therapy. Since the mechanisms of various treatments are different, comprehensive therapy is superior to single therapy.
(3) Choice of family therapy. The course of amblyopia treatment for children is long, and home treatment is more convenient, can reduce the burden of parents, and is also easy to adhere to. At present, there are more small instruments and methods for home treatment, and the treatment plan should be selected under the guidance of a specialist according to the degree and type of amblyopia.
(4) Tertiary functional training. When amblyopia treatment reaches a certain stage, fusion function, stereopsis function training and strabismus surgery are required.
The younger the age of amblyopia treatment, the better the effect, and the best age is before 3~5 years old. The best age is before 3 to 5 years old because it is a critical period for visual development. However, most children with amblyopia cannot be detected and treated before the age of 3. It is now believed that amblyopia can be treated up to the age of 12. Children between the ages of 3 and 5 are taught to check their vision and are able to adhere to treatment with parental supervision. After a few months to 1 or 2 years of systematic treatment, the vast majority of these amblyopic children can be cured before they start elementary school.
Amblyopic children over 8 years old are less effective. However, as long as they adhere to reasonable treatment, they can also achieve more satisfactory results.
Why do children need dilated pupils for optometry?
Children under the age of 14 have a strong ciliary muscle, and if they are not dilated with a strong pupil diluent, the error in optometry will be large. The purpose of dilating the pupil is to paralyze the ciliary muscle, thus paralyzing the adjustment effect, so that the optometry can be accurate and the glasses can fit properly.
What is strabismus?
Under normal circumstances, all eye positions are consistent at all distances, and even after the fusion mechanism is broken (such as covering one eye), the eye position can be maintained, called orthokeratology. If there is a clear deviation of the visual axis (inconsistent eye position) in one or several eye positions or at a certain distance, it is called apparent strabismus. Strabismus is classified as internal strabismus (opposite eye), external strabismus, upward strabismus, and special types of strabismus.
What to do if your child has a strabismus
If you find that your child has a strabismus, you should go to the ophthalmology department of a hospital as soon as possible and have a specialist examination. There are many types of strabismus, and different types of strabismus have different treatment principles. The younger the child is, the better the treatment effect. Sometimes it is not obvious that the child’s eye position is skewed, but the neck is crooked, which may also be caused by the skewed eye position.