Eye Healt in Children

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eye diseases/eyehealtinchildren

Ophthalmologic examination during infancy and childhood ages has vital importance sometimes. Many eye disorders encountered in adult ages may be encountered in young ages as well as some disorders specific to these ages are detected and treated during such controls.

Lachrymal ducts are closed in 20 percent of every healthy baby and eyes are hydrated. Massage with pressing fingers on lachrymal ducts until the age of 12 months might be therapeutic. However massage is not sufficient to cure 1-2 % of these babies and lachrymal duct should be opened with a catheter applied under general anesthesia when the baby reach age 1.

It has vital importance to understand whether babies and children have myopia, hypermetropia and astigmatism disorders. For instance, amblyopia develops in the eye with higher hypermetropia number of the babies having different number of hypermetropia more than 1 between two eyes. Amblyopia develops one myopic eye of the baby who has high myopia number on one eye and free from defect on the other eye. Any kind of amblyopia must be treated before 9 age because it is extremely difficult to treat after this age. Strabismic amblyopia risk is high fort he cases such as strabismus appearing on one or two eyes towards inward (towards nose). These children must be treated during early ages by use of glasses, closing healthy eye or strabotomy according to type of strabismus.

Fundus oculi of the babies must be examined who was born premature and left in incubator and exposed high rate of oxygen. A dangerous eye disease which might end up with blindness in the event it is not intervened early called premature retinopathy (ROP). This disorder may develop on the eyes of babies born lighter than normal and those exposed to high gloss of light for a long time. ROP disorder must be treated by cooling certain areas of outer wall of the eye down to -70 degree (cryotherapy) or a surgical method called vitrectomy.

Certain leukemia (blood cancer), lymphoma (lymph cancer), Wildon disorder causing hepatic cirrhosis with accumulation of copper due to enzyme disorder, brain tumors and certain kidney cancers may be detected during eye examination of the babies.

Therefore, eye examination must be conducted for babies when new born, 1 age, 3 age and preschool period.