I. Mileage of visual development in infants and toddlers
Vision is the most late maturing and slowest developing sense. To baby, the world is mostly blurred.
At birth: Newborn babies see only light and shadow. Their optimal focal length is between 20 and 38 cm, which means that baby can just see mommy’s face when she is feeding.
3 months: Your little one can follow moving objects with their sight.
4-7 months: Your little one’s color vision is complete. At this time, brightly colored play can attract their attention.
6 months: Your little one’s sense of depth and jumping distance can function reliably, which is useful for a baby who is just starting to move quickly.
2 years: Most babies have reached about 0.3 vision.
Ages 3-5: Visual acuity will increase one after another to 0.6 to 0.8, and the clarity of vision will continue to strengthen.
After the age of 9: Baby’s vision will be about the same as a normal adult.
Loving reminder.
When an infant is shielded from one eye, if he or she does not show crying or tear the shield with his or her hands, it means that the shielded eye is likely to have poor vision.
When an infant has asymmetrical eye position, internal or external obliquity, frequent head tilting when looking at things, fear of light when the body is normal, or normal intellectual development but often shows behavioral characteristics such as slow movement, dislike of strenuous activities, and a small range of activities, it also indicates that there are some problems with visual development.
II. What is amblyopia? What are the risks?
Amblyopia is a condition in which the best corrected visual acuity in one or both eyes is lower than the corresponding visual acuity at age due to monocular strabismus, uncorrected refractive error, high refractive error and form deprivation during visual development. Or the difference in visual acuity between the two eyes is 2 lines or more, and the eye with lower visual acuity is amblyopic.
In children with low visual acuity (below age-standard visual acuity), it is important to be aware of the possibility of amblyopia, especially low visual acuity in one eye, which is often easily overlooked. It is usually detected by examination by a pediatric ophthalmologist. Amblyopia is a direct result of low corrected visual acuity and, if not treated promptly, can cause permanent visual impairment. Also, imbalances in binocular development can lead to loss of binocular fusion and failure to establish stereo vision and depth perception. This has a serious impact on the healthy physical and mental growth of the child and adds a burden to the family and society.
Parents should also clarify the concept that low vision is not the same as amblyopia. For children with low vision, we parents must pay attention to them and take them to a pediatric ophthalmologist in a timely manner for a systematic examination to rule out organic eye diseases (ocular tumors, congenital retinal tears, retinal dystrophy and degeneration) and neurological diseases (inflammation, tumors, malformations of the optic nerve and brain, etc.). At the same time, we should find out the precursor factors that lead to amblyopia, and we should not diagnose amblyopia based on only one index of visual acuity, nor should we diagnose visual acuity below 0.9 as amblyopia without considering the age, only a clear diagnosis will lead to effective treatment.
How can we detect amblyopia in children at an early stage?
Observe whether the child’s eyes are too close to the book when reading and writing; whether both eyes are looking at the same thing, whether one eye is looking and the other is skewed; whether the child has the habit of looking at the TV or the blackboard with a tilted head; or whether the child is prone to looking at the wrong line and not concentrating. If you have the above, you should go to the hospital for examination, which is an effective way to detect amblyopia at an early stage. From the principle of children’s eye care, it is necessary to routinely and regularly go to specialized hospitals and pediatric ophthalmology specialty clinics for children’s eye care checkups.
How to treat amblyopia?
The key to amblyopia treatment is early detection and early treatment, which is usually more effective before the age of 8 and less effective after the age of 12. During the critical period of visual development (from birth to 3 years old) and the sensitive period (before 12 years old), children are prone to damage of visual function such as strabismus, monocular form deprivation, refractive aberration and high refractive error (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism), resulting in amblyopia.
The treatment of amblyopia is a combination of refractive correction (i.e., wearing frame glasses or contact lenses), dominant eye masking, visual training, strabismus correction (surgery), and restoration of binocular monocularity.