Children’s eye disease strabismus amblyopia should not be ignored

  Strabismus and amblyopia are common eye diseases that affect children’s vision, and they are very harmful to the development of children’s visual function and physical and mental health.  Strabismus refers to the asymmetry between the two eyes, with one eye focused on the target and the other off the target, most commonly known as “cross-eyed”, and children who adopt a strange posture to look at things may also be strabismus, such as preferring to turn their heads sideways and roll their eyes upward. It is commonly believed that strabismus is unsightly, however, the strabismus affects the aesthetics is secondary, more serious is the strabismus is extremely harmful to the visual function of both eyes, resulting in lack of stereo vision, amblyopia and so on.  Amblyopia refers to low vision in both eyes or one eye, no matter what glasses are worn, the visual acuity is always below 0.9, and there is no perfect binocular vision. If left untreated, the vision will be permanently low, becoming monocular vision or binocular low vision. Amblyopia is clinically classified according to its etiology: strabismic amblyopia, refractive amblyopia, refractive error amblyopia, form deprivation amblyopia, and congenital amblyopia.  Once strabismus and amblyopia are detected, they should be examined and actively treated as early as possible, striving to be cured at an early age (i.e., before school age) in order to establish monocularity, adequate fusion and stereopsis in both eyes. After a child is diagnosed with amblyopia, he or she should be fitted with appropriate corrective glasses according to the refractive state and treated with amblyopia training under the guidance of a doctor. The key to the treatment is to have an accurate photometry and to fit the right pair of glasses. The duration of coverage depends on the age of the child and the degree of visual imbalance between the two eyes. The younger the child is, the shorter the initial coverage time and the shorter the review interval, so as to avoid the occurrence of amblyopia with coverage.  It is worth noting that when the visual acuity of the amblyopic eye improves to 1.0, amblyopia treatment should not be stopped immediately, and the child should still insist on wearing glasses and gradually shorten the duration of the mask to avoid relapse. Fine work training, through coordinated training of hand, eye and cerebral cortex, can make amblyopic eye macular function inhibition lifted sooner and central vision improved. Under the condition of wearing glasses to cover eyes, fine visual work is arranged for amblyopic eyes every day, from coarse to fine and from simple to complex, such as wearing beads, buttons and needles, drawing, tracing and cutting paper and other visual stimulation, which is carried out in separate stages.  It is important to note that the earlier the amblyopia is treated, the better the results. The cooperation between parents and the amblyopic child is a very important issue, even in relation to the success or failure of the treatment. Parents should fully understand that the process of amblyopia treatment is slow and that vision improves gradually, and that patience and persistence are needed to persuade the child to insist on wearing glasses, especially when covering the healthy eye.  The earlier the occurrence of strabismus, the greater the impact on the visual development of both eyes, and the smaller the possibility of functional cure; the later the occurrence of strabismus, the better the treatment effect is when the visual development of both eyes is adequate. Therefore, children with strabismus should be treated as soon as it is detected, and if the eye position cannot be corrected with glasses, surgery can be considered after the treatment of amblyopia with balanced vision according to the doctor’s examination.