A Brief Overview of Children’s Eye Conditions

To ensure your child can enjoy a lifetime of healthy vision, it’s best to have their eyes examined during well-child visits, starting around age three. This way, your trusted optometrist can detect any conditions or diseases that may trouble them later on. Which eye conditions are these exactly? Lumen Optometric, the trusted eye exam doctor in the area, offers a quick overview of some of them.

Refractive Errors

These refer to conditions that can cause blurry vision. Refractive errors include farsightedness (hyperopia), when close objects appear distorted, nearsightedness (myopia), when objects viewed at a distance are blurry and astigmatism, when objects both near and far are unclear. They may occur when the cornea doesn’t bend, or refract, light properly. Symptoms include a disinterest in reading or viewing distant objects and squinting or turning the head in an odd fashion when watching television.

Children diagnosed with refractive errors can be treated through prescriptive glasses, and even corneal reshaping, or orthokeratology (Ortho K). The latter refers to the use of gas-permeable lenses to temporarily reshape the cornea and correct myopia, hyperopia and refractive errors. Ortho K is a safe and effective alternative to eyeglasses, refractive surgery, or contact lenses.

Amblyopia

Another common eye problem in babies and young children is amblyopia or ‘lazy eye’. This happens when the vision of one or both eyes did not develop properly during childhood, or when eye conditions, such as refractive errors, weren’t corrected promptly.

Strabismus

Also known as cross-eyes, strabismus is when the eyes aren’t aligned properly–instead pointing at different directions. This causes loss of depth perception because the child learns to ignore the image received by the misaligned eye, relying only on the one from the straight, or better-seeing eye. Treatment options for strabismus may include eyeglasses and vision therapy.

Ptosis

When the upper eyelid droops and restricts or blocks vision, this is called ptosis. A child with this condition may tip their head back, lift up their chin, or raise their eyebrows to try to see better, which may cause head or neck problems over time. Visit your local eye doctor for a thorough eye exam if your child exhibits these symptoms.

Color Deficiency

Also called color blindness, this eye problem makes it difficult for the child to distinguish specific shades of color. This is usually an inherited condition, but there are also certain diseases that can cause color deficits. While there is no cure for color deficiency, there are special glasses and contact lenses your child can wear that allow them to see color differences.

To prevent or avoid lasting vision problems for your child, make sure to visit a premier eye doctor like Lumen Optometric for a regular eye exam. We proudly serve Sierra Madre, CA and the surrounding areas. Call us today at (626) 921-0199 or fill out this contact form to schedule your appointment.