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Eye problems in children
Eye problems in children-Does my child really need glasses? This is a patient education and information article about common eye problems in children.
Eye problems in children’s eyes
Eye problems in children can range from just a red eye to serious eye sight threatening diseases.
Common Eye Problems in kids
At times non verbal,pre-school, or even school going children are not able to communicate and complaint about their eye problems.Thus the job of parents and the eye doctor of your child – pediatric eye specialist or pediatric ophthalmologist is a challenging one.
Eye problems in children and Adults
One of the most frequently asked questions by parents in our Pediatric Eye Specialist clinic in Mumbai at LATIKA Children Eye Clinic & Squint Clinic, Mumbai,India is – Eye problems in children-Does my child really need glasses?
Does my child really need glasses?
Does your child really need glasses,for the eye sight or vision problems your child is suffering from.
If so than,
- When does a child need glasses,
- How to know if your child needs glasses and
- what about eye benefits of carrot,
If such questions are bothering you, then this is a must read article for you.
Eye problems in child
This step by step article, easy & helpful guide clears all your doubts regarding eye problems in your child and vision problems in child.
We have made an effort to explain and answer all the most common FAQ’s about Eye problems in children,
- Causes of reduced eye vision in children &
- Need of eye glasses
- Eye sight & eye vision improvement with carrot
- Health benefits of carrot juice
- Side-effects of mobile phones on eyes and body
Treatment of eye problems in children
Learn everything about your child’s eye sight problems and vision problems from kids eye specialist doctor @ Latika children’s eye care Mumbai,India.
How to know if your child needs glasses, is a frequently asked question by all parents who have doubts regarding their child’s eye sight and Eye problems in children.
Does my child really need glasses
Vision problems in child
Does my child really need glasses and How to know if a child needs glasses, these are most frequently asked question of parents in pediatric ophthalmologist’s clinic.
Such questions commonly arise when the child belongs to pre-verbal age group child.
Common eye problems in children
Parents are often confused about their child’s,baby,toddlers, or preschool kids need for glasses.
As the child is unable to communicate, parents are neither sure about the child eye problems nor about child vision problems or kids eyesight.
This easy step by step guide to children eye problems and explains all aspects of child’s eyesight and need for kids eyeglasses.
Vision problems in child-Does your child really need glasses or not, what is the purpose of eyeglass in children, such questions are discussed here in detail.
This guide is published in public interest with the view of patient education and information. Dr.Manish Shyamkul , a pediatric ophthalmologist in Mumbai @ LATIKA Children Eye Clinic&Squint Clinic, Mumbai,India is the author of this guide.
Vision problems in child eye
Statistics show that 70% of the children who have got difficulty in reading are also associated with some kind of Visual impairment.
Now if you understand that your child already has reading difficulty then it is obvious that child might require glasses.
But bigger problem arises when parents are not aware of child eye vision problems.
When parents themselves are not aware of child’s eyesight problems, nor the child has ever complained about eyesight problems, these are called as undetected refractive errors in children.
Eye problems in children’s eyes
Children with undetected refractive errors often have
- poor concentration and
- lack of interest in studies at school.
Thus parents of such children with eye problems have,
- poor concentration,
- pre-verbal children,
- babies,
- infants and
- toddlers
often ask me, how do i know if my child really needs glasses?
This easy and helpful guide to child eye problems & vision problems in child, explains it all.
List of common signs and clues about child eye vision problems and need of eye glasses in children is explained in detail.
This is an in-depth article which explains you in a step wise manner about ,how do you know if your child needs glasses.
How to tell if your child needs glasses
How to tell if your child needs glasses – Such a questions usually point towards the undetected cases of refractive errors in child.
These undetected cases of errors in children, are the most important causes of lack of concentration or poor concentration in children.
Such kids are unable to perform well in school,and at times may also lose interest in studies.
In such situations the child suffers, and may develop behavioral changes.
Many children’s become
- Introvert ,
- Avoid outdoor activities and
- Prefer to engage in Indoor activities as they are not able to see clearly.
Common eye problems in child
Children are often unable to communicate or comprehend about their eye problems or the decrease in eye sight. And this is how the burden of the undetected cases of refractive error in children keeps on increasing. Not to mention these undetected refractive error also adds to the suffering of the child.
The aim of this article is to spread awareness among parents regarding possible undetected child eye problems hampering vision development in child.
There is always a possibility of undetected refractive error which might be present so it is essential for parents to get there kids eye test done. this will rule out and confirm presence or absence of any causes of bad eye sight, eye problems or eye vision problems in a child.
In this article we have also mentioned few signs and symptoms commonly seen in children with blurred vision or reduced eye sight. These sign symptoms can be easily recognized at home by parents. This will also help you to answer, how to tell if your child needs glasses.
Once you are sure, you have noticed the warning signs as discussed below in this article, you can take paediatric ophthalmologist consultation without any delay.
I know you are curious to learn about, how to know if your child needs glasses, or how to tell if your child needs glasses.But before this let’s try to understand, one of the most frequently asked question by parents.
parents keep of wondering about,
Why does my child need glasses?
What is the purpose of eyeglasses?
What are the benefits of wearing glasses?
these are the common questions, parents keep on asking about there children’s eye status and are common eye problems in children .
Why does my child need glasses?
- It is essential for children to wear glasses if they were prescribed by pediatric ophthalmologist.
- Children are often prescribed glasses for different reasons and purpose
- Glasses help children to see well and focus clearly on the object of interest.
- At times glasses are prescribed in children to control strabismus or squint
- Glasses are also prescribed in cases of lazy Eyes treatment or Amblyopia treatment to strengthen vision.
- In few cases glasses are prescribed to relieve eye strain
- Glasses are also prescribed as a means of protection for their eyes.
Now that you have understood , why glasses are prescribed in children, the very purpose of eye glasses in children and what are the benefits of wearing glasses, - let’s learn more about million dollar question,Does my child really need glasses.
Does my child need glasses?
A child requires glasses obviously when he has difficulty in seeing and is one of the most common eye problems in children.
But this is a scenario in which child’s complaints are obvious and are pointing towards the sure diagnosis of refractive error in children.
But what about the “undetected and not yet complained cases refractive errors”. Here child needs glasses but child has not yet complained about eye sight problems or eye vision problems.
Such undetected cases of refractive errors forms the majority of cases in pediatric age group.
When we are talking about undetected refractive errors, it is a tricky situation.As parents always deny and are never ready to accept that there child has eye vision problem.
For example even though your child has not yet complaint about decreased vision or you may have not noticed any instance where child is having difficulty in seeing,but this does not mean child has normal vision.
There is always a possibility,unless and until confirmed by kids eye test performed by eye doctor for your child (pediatric ophthalmologist).And that is why it is essential for parents to take there child for a normal vision screening eye test at 6 months, 3 yrs and 5 yrs of age.this eye screening test will bring to notice any child with refractive error or any other eye problem of child.
How to tell if your child needs glasses
- Sure!you can easily tell if your child needs glasses or not and does your child have eye problem ,if you observe the following signs and symptoms in your child.
- Just because a child is not complaining eye sight problems or eye vision problems , it does not mean he or she has normal vision.
- Most of the times pre-verbal children,and toddlers are unable to comprehend and also unable to understand that they are having eye sight problems or eye vision problems .
- Many children usually remain as undetected refractive errors.This hampers the normal vision development of the child during the developmental years.
- Such cases get detected for the first time, during their School eye check up. This means round the age of 5 to 6 years, child and parents come to know about decreased vision in the child’s eye.
- At this stage also parents are not ready to accept reduced vision in child.Most of the parents keep on asking the same question,
Does my child really need children eye glasses?
How to tell if your child needs glasses?
Parents are usually not convinced because the child has never complained about eye sight problems or eye vision problems and hence deny any eye problem in childrens eyes.
And that is the reason why parents are not ready to accept the child is having eye sight problems or vision problems and might require glasses for the correction of refractive error.
so the most important question here is how do you know if your child needs glasses?
The article here is written in the interest of public education and patient information by paediatric ophthalmologist in Mumbai. The main focus of this article is to explain parents, that just because child is not complaining of eye sight problems or eye vision problems does not mean that the child has normal vision unless and until proved otherwise.
And to prove the child has normal vision the child needs to undergo a kids eye test performed by pediatric ophthalmologist. After performing kids eye test in detail, the diagnosis can be confirmed.
Only after this comprehensive eye check-up of the child and it will become clear whether the child has any eye sight problems,eye vision problems or not. Only after doing the child’s eye test, paediatric ophthalmologist will be able to answer the question,
Does your child really need glasses.
How do you know if your child needs glasses?
- Its easy for parents to know,if your child needs glasses or not.
- If you ever observe few warning signs and symptoms in child’s behavior,then you will Know easily whether your child needs glasses or not.
- The warning signs,clues and symptoms are explained below.
When does my child need glasses?
- Your child might require glasses if your child shows the following signs and symptoms or change in child’s behavior.
- The following signs and symptoms indicates that the child is experiencing difficulty in focusing of objects of interest.
Child complaining of eye pain and headache
- Child complaining of frequent frontal headaches, then it is important for such a child to undergo kids eye test, to rule out any refractive error.
- Children with refractive errors do complain of frontal headache and eye pain.This is also called as Asthenopia.
- Such kind of headaches occur usually because of over exertion of the eye muscles present inside the eye.
- This over exertion or eye fatigue occurs due to excessive straining of eye muscles in an attempt to focus clearly.
- If child is having refractive error, then will child see is a Blurred image.
- Subconsciously the brain of the child send signals to the eye muscles about the blurred image. The eye muscles after receiving such signals make an attempt to focus on the object of interest.When this occurs frequently and for prolonged duration then eye strain and eye fatigue and eye pain occurs.
- This overexertion of eye muscles in an attempt focus the image clearly leads to headaches. Child is complaining of headache typically after school then it is a common indication which may point towards the need for eyeglasses in children.
- Child watching television very closely or holding hand held digital devices or objects very close to face– this is one of the Sure signs that a child is having difficulty in seeing the distance or near objects. Most often parents consult pediatric eye doctor or kids eye specialist with similar complaint.
Toddler tilting head to one side
- Toddler tilting head to one side is a common presenting complaint in children with eye problems.
- Most of the parents complaint about, the child is making an abnormal posture while watching television.
- The common abnormal posture being tilting of head any any one particular direction.
- This is commonest sign ,symptom and a compensatory mechanism of our body to focus little better and thus clears vision temporarily.
- Often normal head posture is seen in cases like
- Squint,
- Lazy Eyes,
- Astigmatism,
- Nystagmus,
- Refractive errors and
- At times it could be habitual.
Closing one eye in sunlight
- Closing of one eye, when the child is going outdoors is a very common presenting sign and symptom noticed in cases of strabismus.
- Also,sometimes children tend to close one eye or prefer closing one eye to read.
- This is present in cases like
- Refractive error
- Nystagmus,
- Lazy Eyes and
- Astigmatism.
Squinting eyes
- Squinting of eyes is common problem in children.
- Most of the times parents complain that the child usually squints while watching television or while viewing distance objects.
- Squinting is yet another compensatory mechanism which enables the child to focus clearly.
- This is commonly seen in cases of myopia.
Double vision in children
- Double vision in children could be temporary or persisting in nature.
- This double vision can be temporary double vision or sudden double vision.
- Child having double vision is a serious issue.
- There are lot of causes for child having double vision.
- This can occur due to misaligned eyes (strabismus) or
- due to excessive strain of eyes while focusing the object of attention.
- Strabismus occurs due to problem in nerves supplying the eye muscles,brain diseases, or nervous imbalance.
- If you notice child complaining of double vision ,then without any delay you must take your child for a pediatric ophthalmologists consultation and double vision treatment.
- Excessive strain in eyes can be relieved with the help of eye glasses.
Missing word in a sentence
- Children missing word in a sentence is a common complaint of mothers and school teachers.
- Children with refractive errors often tend to skip words while reading.
- This occurs because of the confusion as child is unable to focus clearly.
- Children with refractive errors get confused with similar appearing alphabets. For example O and D, B and E and so on.
- While reading if they are confused they tend to skip such characters alphabets and words.
- When child is reading aloud it becomes very easy for parents to appreciate that child is skipping words or lines while reading.
- And that is how children tend to lose the pace while reading and also lose their interest in studies.
- Children missing words can present in various ways like,
- Skipping words when writing,
- Skipping words when reading and writing,
- Child substitutes words when reading,
- Inserting words while reading,
- Skipping words and lines when reading,
- Skipping lines when reading.
- This is one of the most important sign in cases of astigmatism.
Finger pointing while reading
- Though finger pointing while reading is normal and commonly seen during the early years when child is learning to read.
- But if this finger pointing while reading persists during the later years, then it might be abnormal.
- This can be one of the signs of Amblyopia or
- excessive eye strain.
- This often occurs because the child often suffers a crowding phenomena.
- This is nothing but while reading all the words appear very close together and lead to confusion.
- Also at times excessive straining of the eyes lead to jumbling of words.
- These are often seen in refractive errors lazy eye, excessive eye strain and squinting eyes in children.
Rubbing eyes feels good
- Rubbing of Eyes is a presenting complaint of child suffering from refractive error allergic conjunctivitis.
- This is also mechanism by which the child tries to relieve the eye fatigue and eye strain which occurs due to excessively straining of eyes to view the object of interest clearly.
- This excessive strain help to focus clearly but it can be exerted only for short period of time.The prolonged duration of excessive eye strain over a period of time leads to eye fatigue and, to relieve this child starts to rub Eyes.
Lack of concentration in studies
- Decrease concentration in school or lack of concentration in studies is a commonly seen in children when a child is not able to see clearly.
- Definitely due to blurred vision child is not able to generate any interest in any of the activities going in the school.
- If the child is unable to see the blackboard clearly he will not pay any attention to words written on the blackboard.
- That is how child will lose interest in school and school activities.
- So if the child is unable to do well in school and studies then get child’s eye test done by paediatric ophthalmologist.
- There may be other causes of poor concentration or lack of concentration but the foremost cause is eye sight problems or eye vision problems.
- A proper kids eye exam by a paediatric ophthalmologist,will confirm any eye problem in child’s eye.
- These are few signs and symptoms which parents must be aware .
- Make sure that you don’t miss any of the obvious signs of bad eye sight or eye vision problems in the child’s eye.
- If you have observed any of the above signs and symptoms then the next step for you is to get a kids eye test examination done by paediatric ophthalmologist.
If you wish to learn more about
- What to expect during the kids eye test and
- What is the next step after the kids eye test, click here to read further.
So the question does your child really needs glasses can be answered only after a detailed kids eye test. If you have noticed any of the signs and symptoms above, book your appointment now with paediatric ophthalmologist for kids near by.
Need our consultation?
Eye problems in children are treated by Dr Manish Shyamkul kids eye doctor, paediatric ophthalmologist in Mumbai at Latika children eye care is one of the best paediatric ophthalmologist and Child Specialist in Mumbai.
LATIKA Children Eye Clinic&Squint Clinic in Mumbai,India is a unique and best child eye care with modern child friendly equipment, and is one of the best child eye care hospital in Mumbai.
If you wish to get your child’s eye test , kids eye test, or second opinion for your child’s eye problem, feel free to contact us.
Book your appointment now!
Dr.Manish Shyamkul
M.S (Ophthalmology) Gold Medalist,
Pediatric ophthalmologist ,(F.L.V.P.E.I)
Strabismus and squint surgeon and
Neuro-ophthalmologist.
LATIKA Children Eye Clinic&Squint Clinic, Mumbai,India
CONTACT US : +91 7506643458
Email: [email protected]
(contact Dr Manish Shyamkul for eye problems in children,for second opinion,treatment of eye problems in children,eye vision problems,eye sight problems symptoms,how to know if your child needs glasses,does your child really need glasses)
