
Our children’s eyes are their most precious organ. In order to keep their eyes healthy and illness-free to communicate with them perfectly, we have tips from Dr. Walid Abdalla, Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dubai Healthcare City, Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow, UK, Fellow of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, Miami, USA, Fellow of Limoges University, France, and Fellow of International Council of Ophthalmology.
* First tip for the parents is to observe their child and any changes occurring in his behavior like sitting near the television or how he looks at things. Does he see well in dim light? Is he different from his peers with regards to his vision? Do his neck and head take a certain posture when he watches TV? Can he distinguish colors well? Such observations should draw the parents’ attention to the health condition of their child’s eyes. They should check with a doctor so that the child avoids a lot of complications in the future.
* Tip two: The parents should have the child’s sight examined even once before school, from the age of 6 months until the age of 2 years. Abnormal results might be found during the examination. One visit before school to examine any abnormalities is enough to make the child enjoy illness-free and healthy eyes.
Prevention is better than cure:
Relative/cousin marriage is considered the most common cause of birth defects in children. The mother should also avoid taking medications, such as hormone medications and other medications, during the early months of pregnancy as this leads to eye deformities. Prevention is better than cure, so the mother should not take any special medications during the early months of pregnancy and should avoid infectious diseases and interaction with infected people during pregnancy.
Children and Eyeglasses:
If the physician recommends eyeglasses, the family should do so promptly. The damage resulting from the child not wearing eyeglasses could be serious and lead to lazy eye, which is one of the most serious diseases. The child might not need the eyeglasses in the future when his sight improves. The purpose of wearing eyeglasses is to make him see well, which improves his ability to see to the fullest. It is far from true that the child will be used to wearing the eyeglasses.
One of the frequently asked questions these days is about electronic devices and their effect on our children’s eyes. The answer is that screens do not make children wear eyeglasses or cause poor eyesight. However, when the child sits in front of a screen for a long time, this leads to dry and red eyes, and the vision quality gets worse. It is better to limit the time the children spend in front of screens.
Lazy Eye in Children:
The parents might not notice it as only one eye does not see well. If the condition is neglected and the cause is not treated before the age of 7, this results in lazy eye. If not discovered early, it will not be treatable it in the future.
Discovery and Treatment of the Disease:
Lazy eye happens as a result of the delay in discovering a certain disease in the child’s eye, such as monocular vision, strabismus or other conditions, which results in lazy eye. The child’s condition can improve if discovered and treated before the age of 7. Once the child gets older, no eyeglasses or treatment can treat the cause of the Lazy eye as the brain gets used to the eye condition even though the lazy eye could be treated, and the sight could improve. It happens in some children until 6/6. It is important to discover the disease early at an appropriate age, and delay might make the condition deteriorate.
When we speak about sight problems in children, we should be talking about strabismus. Strabismus of different types is associated with childhood as well as lazy eye. Treatment and remedy of strabismus are possible at any age; however, it is more successful in children at early age, depending on the condition, and the vision could get even better. Therefore, you should check with a doctor to coordinate the strabismus treatment surgery in time.
– Blocked tear duct in children leads to the continuation of tears which might cause continuous inflammation and contamination. Therefore, it should be treated at an early age. Stenting procedure gives better results when the patient is younger.
One of the rare diseases in children is glaucoma. It is associated with adults; however, it can occur in children at early age. In this case, it should be treated by a doctor specialized in removing glaucoma in children as soon as possible.
At the end, Dr. Walid Abdalla says: Blindness at childhood is the severest. This is why Prophet Isa’s miracle was to heal lepers and those who were born blind. Despite the great advancement in science, this type of vision loss is still the worst and cannot be treated. Therefore, we should take care of our children’s eyes and have them examined by a doctor regularly so that they enjoy perfect vision over their lifetime.