SQUINT & PAEDIATRIC OPHTHALMOLOGY

Paediatric Ophthalmology

Routine check up of a child is very important because the eye of a child is immature and still developing. Good vision depends upon- proper development of the eye and formation of good connections between the eye and brain. Therefore any condition affecting the child’s vision should be treated at the earliest.

This involves checkup with dilating drops for the child - to know the exact refraction or glass number, and Evalution of Retina.

Squint

Squint means a misalignment of the eyes – each eye points in different directions.

One of the eye maybe turned inwards, outwards, upwards or downwards. Squint can occur in childhood or in adulthood. Squinting in children can lead to a decrease in vision (lazy eye or amblyopia)

Symptoms of squint

• Crossing of eyes or misalignment of eyes

• Turning the face sideways or tilting the head

Causes

1) Refractive Error : especially when one eye has a large number and the other eye is normal or has a small number

2) Cataract

3) Neurological

4) Muscular : eye muscles which move the eye in different directions are attached to the surface of the eye and imbalance in the function of these muscles can lead to squint.

5) Systemic : Diabetes or Hypertension - in Adults.

6) Trauma

Management

Depending on the cause, the type of squint and it’s severity, your doctor may choose to treat it with:

• Glasses along with Occlusion therapy or patching : to first improve vision of the affected eye

• Exercises

• Surgery : this may be performed on the muscles in one eye or both eyes. This involves shortening of a muscle along with readjustment of the position of other muscle to straighten the eyes.

• Prisms

• Treatment of the underlying problem - Neurological/ Cataract

It is important to detect squint at an early age and correct it because children with uncorrected squint go on to develop a lazy eye or amblyopia which is a permanent loss of vision.