The importance of children’s eyes and visual health The eyes are the windows to the soul and our most important sensory organ. We get 80% of our information from the outside world through our eyes. Normal eye and visual function is the guarantee of our access to external information and the basis of our normal work, study and life. After birth, newborns experience a process of gradual establishment and maturation of various visual functions through stimulation of the external environment, memory and learning. In the development of visual function, congenital and genetic factors play a decisive role, while acquired environmental and nutritional factors also play an important role. For example, the development of the eye is delayed so that the refraction of the eye develops into high hyperopia, and external environmental stimuli may cause abnormal development of the fragile collecting center function in infants and children, resulting in strabismus. The traditional normal eye is limited to the normal structure and visual acuity of one eye. With the development of society and the improvement of living standard, the concept of normal eye should be updated, that is, it is not limited to one eye, but should also include the normal visual function of both eyes. For example, a person with normal visual acuity, visual field and color vision in both eyes, but abnormal binocular vision (e.g., stereopsis), cannot perform complex and fine functions. Abnormalities in visual perception can lead to impairments in learning cognitive function, etc. Early, routine eye and vision care allows for the timely identification of factors that contribute to abnormal eye and vision development and the timely elimination of these factors to allow for normal development of various visual functions. Eye and vision care measures for infants and toddlers In order to prevent problems before they occur, to eliminate various factors affecting the eyes and vision, or to detect abnormalities in the eyes and vision of infants and toddlers in a timely manner, parents should have their infants and toddlers receive regular eye and vision care examinations. These examinations should be conducted in January, March, June, September, December, 15, 18 and 24 months, and every six months or once a year thereafter. Eye and vision care for infants and children is not only about eye and vision examinations, but also about receiving eye care advice or related measures from an ophthalmologist or optometrist. Infancy is a period of high prevalence of amblyopia and strabismus, and adolescence is a period of high prevalence of myopia and visual abnormalities, and these issues are outlined below: Prevention and treatment of amblyopia Strabismus and amblyopia are the main focus of eye and vision care for infants and young children. Amblyopia is a low vision development in young children caused by an abnormal visual environment during visual development. Therefore, amblyopia occurs only in early childhood. Common factors that lead to amblyopia are: form deprivation (e.g., congenital cataracts), strabismus, and refractive error. Amblyopia occurs as a result of a developmental arrest from the retina through the lateral geniculate body to the optic cortex and abnormal interactions between the eyes of the optic cortex due to these factors. If amblyopia is detected in early childhood and treated promptly, it can be cured basically or even completely, and good binocular vision can be obtained. If treated in childhood (7-14 years old), the treatment time is longer, the cure rate decreases, and binocular vision is poorly recovered. Treatment after childhood may improve visual acuity, but there is basically no possibility of cure. Observe the visual response of infants and children to their environment, including monocular and binocular vision. Particular attention should be paid to the other eye where abnormalities are overlooked because of normal development in one eye. If abnormal visual acuity is found in one or both eyes, prompt consultation should be made and the pupil should be dilated for examination and optometry. If the examination does not reveal other eye diseases and the optometry has an abnormal refractive error, such as hyperopia or astigmatism higher than 2.00D, the prescription should be corrected as early as possible to promote the development of vision and interrupt the occurrence and development of amblyopia. In addition to correcting hyperopic refractive errors, strabismus should also be corrected as early as possible, including surgery. If surgery is not yet available, some physical therapy for possible amblyopia can be performed under the guidance of an optometrist or pediatric ophthalmologist. Eye diseases that cause masked amblyopia, such as ptosis and congenital cataracts, should be corrected as early as possible. Prevention and treatment of strabismus In infants from birth to 3 months of age, because of the underdevelopment of the collecting movement, eye position deviation at this time is not a sign of strabismus and can be closely observed. However, eye position deviation after 3 months of age should be considered as possible strabismus and should be seen early. Infants with a family history of strabismus and premature infants should be closely monitored for changes in eye position to detect strabismus early. The prevalence of strabismus is about 1%, and it tends to occur in infants and young children, with congenital strabismus occurring within one year of age and acquired strabismus often occurring between two and five years of age. Strabismus may not only lead to amblyopia and binocular vision abnormalities, but may also cause abnormal psychological development in children due to the abnormal appearance. Therefore, early prevention and treatment of strabismus is not only to improve the appearance, but also to prevent amblyopia and binocular vision abnormalities and to promote the normal psychological development of children. The presence of strabismus or amblyopia should be detected by the head position of the infant, such as the infant likes to turn the head to see with one eye, there may be a visual abnormality in one eye, and if the head is fixed to one shoulder to see things, there may be a vertical strabismus. Once strabismus is detected, the child should be seen by an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. Strabismus can also occur in infants who have lost vision in one eye due to an eye disease, so the ophthalmologist should first perform a thorough examination of the infant’s eye to rule out the presence of a possible eye disease. If myopia, high hyperopia or astigmatism are found, the infant will first be prescribed glasses to correct the problem. If the strabismus has not disappeared after one month of lens wear, the child should be treated with early surgery. Strabismus surgery is currently a safe and successful procedure. Of course, since strabismus surgery is an adjustment surgery and depends on the experience of the surgeon, it may take more than one surgery to achieve the goal if the surgery is completely orthotropic. Early surgery not only prevents the occurrence or aggravation of amblyopia, but also restores and establishes a degree of binocular vision through some post-operative training. At the same time, normal eye position allows the child to avoid the psychological developmental deficits that result from the deformity in appearance. Prevention and treatment of visual abnormalities Visual acuity of 1.5 does not equal normal vision. In addition to visual acuity, we also have binocular coordination, regulation, stereopsis and visual perception, etc. Normal visual acuity, if other visual functions are not normal, although you can see clearly, but can not see comfortably and lastingly, easy to occur visual fatigue, resulting in inefficient learning and can not engage in fine and complex work. When children have eye pain after using their eyes, or avoid using their eyes at close range, such as reluctance to read and study, parents should not simply think that it is a matter of will, or buy some eye drops through advertisements and use them. You should find out the cause of the problem through the examination of an optometrist and carry out targeted training to restore normal visual function. Visual fatigue is the most common manifestation of binocular visual function and regulation abnormalities. Binocular vision and accommodation abnormalities can be divided into various types, and different types have different training treatments. Some eye drops can temporarily relieve visual fatigue, but they cannot solve the root of the problem and can only produce a drug-dependent type, or even delay treatment, leading to further deterioration of binocular vision and regulation.