Poor vision doesn’t hurt, so children usually don’t complain about their refractive error or vision problems. But children who have poor vision find it harder than necessary to do many things: Studying, playing sports, or walking to school. Regular examinations of children’s eyes are not problematic, but are essential for their visual health and continued development.
How does defective vision develop in children?
A defective vision occurs when the eye deviates from its ideal shape. If it is too short, the eye is farsighted, whereas if the eyeball is too long, it is nearsighted. If the curvature of the cornea deviates from the spherical shape, this is called astigmatism. Then the image of a point appears as a line – hence the term astigmatism.
Detect ametropia early
Ametropia is not always noticeable in childhood. Children’s eyes have a very strong accommodation ability, which means that they can compensate for refractive errors via the deformation of the flexible lens of the eye. Therefore, it can sometimes take some persuasion for the child to see the need for glasses. Compensation of the visual defect is especially important in children so that their vision can fully develop. Especially if the child is cross-eyed or if the refractive power of both eyes is very different, the brain may suppress the visual impression of one eye. If this happens in the long term, there is a risk of one-sided visual impairment that can no longer be reversed. Therefore, all children should be examined by an ophthalmologist at the latest when they are two and a half to three and a half years old.
Eye examinations at the pediatrician
As part of the legally recommended preventive examinations at the pediatrician, the focus is on the child’s sense of sight a total of three times: at U 5, U 8 and U 9. These examinations are good, but not enough: the rather large time gap between the examinations is a problem
- U 5 is recommended between the 6th and 7th month of life,
- The U 8 at the age of about 3½ to 4 years and
- The U 9 just before the start of school at about 5 years.
During these years, the performance of children’s eyes changes quite a bit. Finally, children and so their eyes do not grow evenly and proportionally. Thus, the eyesight is also constantly changing. Especially in the first years of life, however, a targeted treatment from the ophthalmologist can make a decisive contribution to the full development of the children’s sense of sight. Kerstin Kruschinski of the Curatorship for Good Vision: “The visual acuity of a young child is refined by the processed visual impressions. It is therefore particularly important to detect visual defects as early as possible and to take appropriate countermeasures. Even babies can already wear glasses!”
Symptoms of vision problems
The preventive examinations offered are not sufficient to reliably detect vision problems in little ones. Therefore, parents should definitely monitor their little ones’ sense of sight themselves and on a regular basis. Signs that indicate that a child is defective in vision are complaints of headaches, burning eyes, increased blinking or sensitivity to glare. Also, if the child is reading “with his nose,” it is reasonable to suspect that ametropia is the cause. In most cases, the eyes of cross-eyed children also have a refractive error. Glasses often help to reduce the squint angle. Since a child cannot distinguish good vision from bad vision because of the lack of comparison – it does not know any different – and poor vision can manifest itself in many different symptoms, parents should take the alarm signals described below seriously.
Symptoms of vision problems in babies
- Strabismus
- Eyelid changes
- Cloudy cornea
- Gray-whitish or yellowish pupils
- Trembling, inflamed, watery or yellowish eyes
Symptoms in kindergarten and school children
- Constant rubbing of the eyes
- Frequent stumbling, general balance disturbances.
- Low eye distance to book, screen or television
- Increasing difficulty in twilight or darkness
Book Candy Test
With the so-called “Book Candy Test”, parents can quickly and easily test the vision of young children: Small sugar balls on the hand arouse the attention of children from the sixth month of life.If the child – even when covering an eye – follows the sugar pellets with his gaze or reaches for them, everything is fine.
Conclusion
- Legally recommended screenings are not sufficient to detect visual impairment in children.
- Regular examinations at the ophthalmologist and optometrist are essential. They are performed quickly and without problems.
- Parents, pay attention: Watch out for alarm signals such as watery eyes or a crooked head position.
