Children can have vision problems at birth or develop eyesight issues later in life. However, HealthyChildren.org warns your child is more likely to experience abnormal vision if your family has a history of children with vision problems. The best way to monitor your child's eyes and ensure they remain as healthy as possible is to schedule regular eye examinations for early detection and treatment, according to the KidsHealth website.
Types
Childhood eye problems fall into two general categories: common vision conditions usually detected during a routine eye exam and severe eye conditions that require prompt attention to preserve eyesight. Common eye problems in children usually concern the acuity, or sharpness, of eyesight, and they include amblyopia, refractive errors and strabismus. Severe eye problems are sometimes hereditary in nature, states KidsHealth, and they include congenital glaucoma, infantile cataracts, retinoblastoma and retinopathy of prematurity.
Common Conditions Features
Widely called lazy eye, amblyopia refers to poor vision in a single eye, which can lead to permanent vision loss if left untreated. The condition is typically the result of either crossed eyes or the affected eye's inability to bend light correctly. Refractive errors occur when an eye is misshaped and, consequently, unable to bend, or refract, light appropriately. Examples of refractive errors include astigmatism, or blurry vision; farsightedness, or poor vision for nearby objects; and nearsightedness, or poor vision for faraway objects. Strabismus involves a misaligned eye that may turn down, in, out or up. If the condition persists, it can produce amblyopia in the affected eye.
Other Conditions Features
The rare disorder called congenital glaucoma occurs when the canals responsible for helping a child's eye drain develop abnormally in the womb. Infantile cataracts are increasingly cloudier areas on the lens of a child's eye, and they can appear in newborns. Retinoblastoma refers to a cancerous tumor in a child's eye, and retinopathy of prematurity is a type of eye disease that premature babies develop.
Warning Signs
Although HealthyChildren.org cautions that no warning signs may precede amblyopia, other childhood eye problems typically do have symptoms parents can detect. For example, you should consult your child's pediatrician if you child is over 3 months old but unable to maintain continual eye contact or follow nearby moving objects with her eyes. Eyes that cross occasionally are common in infants under 4 months, states HealthyChildren.org, but regularly crossed or otherwise misaligned eyes require medical attention. Additional warning signs of possible eye problems include bulging eyes, crust or pus in eyes, difficulty seeing far or near objects, drooping eyelids, eye pain, persistent redness or tearing, regular eye rubbing, sensitivity to light, sitting close to the television, squinting, trouble reading, unfocused eyes and white or none-black pupils.
Treatments
Fortunately, early detection and treatment can reverse most childhood eye problems, according to KidsHealth. Treatment strategies may include wearing contact lenses or eyeglasses to correct amblyopia or refractive errors, as well as covering the unaffected eye with a patch to force the "lazy" or misaligned eye to function properly in amblyopia or strabismus. However, the Cleveland Clinic cautions that some children may require surgery to correct vision problems. For instance, children with strabismus may need surgery to realign their eyes, especially if the misalignment is continual or frequent. Childhood cataracts that affect vision often require surgical removal also.
