In May 2009, according to the World Health Organization , more than 314 million people worldwide were visually impaired out of this 45 million were blind and 85% people had low vision & avoidable blindness. Childhood blindness remains a significant problem, with an estimated 12 million blind children below age 15. Children suffer from a wide range of problems such as uncorrected refractive error (that is easily corrected with glasses), congenital or developmental cataracts, squint, childhood glaucoma, tumours of the eye etc. most of these are treatable if seen early. Here at Sankara we have trained paediatric ophthalmologists who can help these children
Common Problems
The most common conditions which affect eyesight during childhood are:
- Developmental disorders, which are often diagnosed shortly after birth or within the first year of life
- Refractive/optical problems (short-sightedness, long-sightedness, astigmatism)
- Amblyopia (commonly known as lazy eye)
- Strabismus
- inflammation on the surface of or inside the eye, including allergic eye disease
- infections of the conjunctiva
- Eyelid lesions
Undiagnosed and untreated vision problems have an impact on the academic performance as well as in extra-curricular activities of a child thus making it important to identify and address such problems
Treatment
Refractive errors including Astignmatism: Spectacles
Blocked Tear Ducts: Gentle massaging of the tear ducts shoud usually be sufficient to relieve the blockage but in some cases, tear duct probing or even surgery may be warranted
Cataracts: Rare condition but if present, will need surgery
Droopy eyelids (Ptosis): If severe, this can cause poor vision development and may need surgery
Amblyopia (Lazy Eye): Applying patch or special eye drops to the ‘good’ eye. Other treatments include glasses or eye muscle surgery for misaligned eyes
Strabismus (Misaligned Eyes): Glasses, patches or surgery depending on the severity of the problem
Conjunctivitis: Eye drops or ointment and hand hygiene to contain spread
Corneal abrasions: Antibiotic drops or ointment
Stye: Warm compress and Antibiotic drops or ointment