Up to 80 percent of your children’s academic, social, and extracurricular performance depends on their vision. Children between the ages of two to five fine-tune their current visual abilities while evolving new ones. As a parent, you need to be keen on the existence of vision issues in your children.
Your child may experience headaches, squint, or complain about blurry vision.
Toddlers around three months old should be able to follow the motion of objects like toys as they move. Before this age, they often look like they have strabismus. The condition gradually fades as they grow older. They have a problem if their eyes are still outward drifting or inward crossing. They should also be able to maintain steady eye contact. Any problem with these requires immediate medical consultation.
Strabismus or misalignment of the eyes may also occur at this age. Vision issues like uneven focus, lazy eye, or amblyopia may occur without warning. Asymmetrical focus is a problem difficult to detect in children this age. It is a condition where a single eye sees farther than the other.
The issue is tough to spot since children do not comprehend the state of their vision. Without medical intervention, nerve connections to the weaker eye gradually become weak. Their brains ignore images from it, making the stronger eye the dominant one.
Vision loss in the frail eye may become permanent when your child reaches ten years old. It is advisable to take your child for their first vision screening.
Signs to look for in older children include:
Oversensitivity to light
Whitish or greyish pupils
Drooping eyelids
Quick multi-directional fluttering eyes
Teary eyes
Crust or pus in one or both eyes
Squinted eyes
Consistent redness in the eyes
Itchiness or pain in the eyes
Some symptoms are difficult to recognize at a go like:
ADD, or hyperactivity, is when children hurriedly lose interest in studies, projects, games, or lengthy activities. All of these require them to have good eyesight to execute. Your child may be ignoring them due to vision problems.
If your child must turn their head at an angle to see well, they may have a vision issue. A child doing this may have hyperopia, astigmatism, myopia, or minor eye misalignment.
If you suspect your child has a problem with their vision, observe them keenly as they read. Losing track of words or sentences as they read may signify a problem with their eyesight. Such an issue can result from multiple vision problems like amblyopia.
Most children enjoy reading, playing games, drawing, or doing activities that require up-close attention. If your child finds participating in any of these arduous, the issue may stem from their vision.
Most children with vision issues may appear weary and have trouble learning or concentrating. Visual involvement greatly dictates their success in gaining knowledge in class or at home. Eye exams can help improve the overall health of your child.
For more about vision problems in children, visit Southwest Orlando Eye Care at our office in Orlando, Florida. Call (407) 271-8931 to book an appointment today.