Poor vision in children is one of the problems that worries parents, especially when it occurs at an early age. The most prominent causes of poor vision in children are genetic factors or defects in the formation of the eye. Therefore, you find that doctors examine the child’s vision from the moment he is born, and advise on the necessity of careful examination when he reaches the age of 6 months, and follow up on it until he reaches school age. This is because poor vision has a significant impact on a child’s life, causing difficulty in coexisting with the outside world, without wearing corrective medical glasses.
Causes of poor vision in children
Poor vision in children includes many causes that can be treated in the early stages and prevented from developing, including what becomes permanent vision problems. The most prominent causes of poor vision in children are:
Genetic factors
Genetic factors play a major role in children becoming visually impaired. This is what you find frequently within families consisting of parents with visual impairment of varying degrees, especially severe ones.
Genetic causes are always the correct answer to families’ questions: What are the causes of my child’s myopia?
This is due to the effect of genetic diseases on children’s vision, especially on the cornea and retina. The most common of these diseases are:
Ocular albinism
It is a hereditary disease that affects the eye, and appears in the early stages from the birth of the child in the form of light eye color and white eyelashes. It affects visual acuity, and makes it difficult to see when exposed to direct light and sunlight, which makes children always need to wear sunglasses .
eye lens darkening
A child usually develops cataracts as a result of genetic factors, which impede vision and the appearance of black spots in the field of vision. This is what appears on the child in the image:
- Blurred or double vision.
- Sensitivity to light.
- Night blindness.
- color blind.
Eye lethargy
One of the most prominent causes of poor vision in children, which affects the eye in the early stages of childhood, whether in one eye or both. This problem usually occurs as a result of drooping eyelids, strabismus, and the brain not sending signals to the affected eye, which affects its visual acuity, unlike the healthy eye.
Retinal infections
The most prominent causes of poor vision in children resulting from a defect in the signals of the optic nerve to the brain. It is the process responsible for distinguishing things and seeing them clearly. It is one of the diseases that infants can suffer from, as a result of a lack of retinal blood vessel development. Children also develop it in advanced stages, as a result of retinal diseases from:
- Uveitis.
- Coats' disease.
- Partial retinal detachment.
And other problems associated with it and require rapid therapeutic intervention.
Macular degeneration
One of the common vision disorders in children, which affects the retina, blocking part of the vision, and gradually spreads. It is usually difficult to identify this problem in the early stages, without undergoing a medical examination. It is an eye disease that causes shortsightedness in children.
Dry Eye
Dry eyes are one of the most annoying causes of poor vision in children, which makes them always feel the desire to rub their eyes. It usually occurs due to many reasons, such as:
- Light sensitivity.
- conjunctivitis.
- Tear duct defect.
- Exposure to damage from electronic screens .
- Exposure to fumes and sunlight without protection.
Eye injuries
Children are most vulnerable to eye contact and falling during daily movement. This may expose it to scratching and damage quickly, as it is one of the most common causes of poor vision in children when treatment is neglected. First aid should be given as soon as it becomes red as a result of the collision.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma, also known as glaucoma or glaucoma, is an eye disease that may affect infants and children, and is usually the result of a congenital defect in the formation of the eye during pregnancy. This is what makes it affect vision greatly, and requires the child to undergo treatment to prevent its development and total vision loss, in the long term.
Degrees of visual impairment in children
Degrees of poor vision in children vary, depending on the type of weakness the child has, whether short or long-sighted.
The degree of weakness is detected when undergoing examination for various vision examination tests , which include examining:
- Clarity of vision.
- Field of view.
- Fundus, retina.
- Eye muscles.
This is to reveal the degree of weakness that he suffers from, whether it is:
- Slight weakness: which is of a degree of 12/6
- Moderate weakness: degree 18/6.
- Severe weakness: score of 60/6.
Therefore, you must pay attention to periodic examination of the child’s eyes from the sixth month until puberty and stability of vision, at a rate of twice a year.
Signs of poor vision in infants
The child may be born with signs of poor vision, and this begins to appear during breastfeeding, through the extent of his interaction with light and movement around him. The clear signs of double vision are:
- Not tracking the mother's movement or toys around him.
- Strabismus when focusing on a visual stimulus.
- Inability to trace the source of sounds with the eye.
- Not blinking or reacting when direct light shines on the eye.
- The presence of a white membrane blocking the eyeball.
Symptoms of poor vision in children
Symptoms of poor vision in children appear in the form of a group of clear indicators, which children always express, such as difficulty seeing clearly, and frequent headaches with eye redness. The most common symptoms that help you confirm your child's poor vision are:
Eye redness and rubbing
One of the involuntary movements that a child makes, believing that it will improve vision and help him see things clearly. It is also used as a result of severe dryness of the eye and the feeling of the presence of an external body inside it.
Get close to things to see them clearly
When a child has poor vision, it is usually difficult to express his difficulty in seeing things at a distance, and this is what makes him approach things to see them clearly, especially electronic screens and television.
Frequent headaches
Poor vision directly affects the brain, which appears in the form of recurring headaches, especially when focusing on visual stimuli for long periods. It is one of the most common symptoms that children frequently express, and some people think it is a way to evade daily chores and academic achievement.
Light sensitivity
When exposed to light rays, the child suffers from difficulty opening his eyes and seeing clearly. You usually find him complaining of seeing black or white light in the middle of the picture, which forces him to partially close his eyes to try to see.
Difficulty seeing from a distance
One of the evolving symptoms that warns of the child being short-sighted. This is one of the symptoms that clearly appears when walking on the streets and playing with his teammates, as it is usually difficult for him to distinguish faces from a distance.
Obstruction while walking
Obstruction while walking is a symptom of farsightedness. This is due to blurred vision of nearby objects, so it is easy to obstruct yourself on bricks or bottles thrown in the street when walking.
Difficulty in academic achievement
Academic achievement depends mainly on sight, as it is the sense that works to collect information and send it to the brain, whether when reading from books, or from the patient in the school classroom. A child with blurred vision usually suffers when reading and writing.
Wrong habits weaken children's eyesight
Children follow a set of wrong habits that may affect their vision and weaken it, especially when parents neglect to warn them of the need to avoid them. Therefore, one of these habits is usually the main reason behind a child’s poor vision in the early stages. Among the most famous of these habits are:
Constant exposure to blue rays
These are the rays emitted by tablet devices such as mobile phones, iPads, computers, and televisions. It is one of the most negative habits that affect your child’s eyesight, which you must limit by limiting the amount of exposure to it throughout the day.
Touching the eye
The most common habit among children, which occurs repeatedly dozens of times throughout the day. It is one of the wrong habits that affects the health of the eyes, as a result of touching them with contaminated hands full of invisible germs and bacteria. In addition, this habit causes rupture of tiny capillaries in the eye.
Irregular sleep
Staying up for long hours and having irregular sleep are bad habits that affect the health of the eyes and cause them to become tired and dry in the long term. Here comes the role of parents, with the need to regulate your child’s sleeping hours and ensure that he gets enough rest, at least 8 hours, to maintain vision.
Exposure to fumes
A child's exposure to smoke from cigarettes, hookahs, barbecue grills, or even car exhaust is one of the wrong habits that you must protect your child from exposure to. It is one of the causes of poor vision in children in the long term.
Neglecting to wear sunglasses
Some people think that sunglasses are only necessary for adults, but that is not the case. This is due to the importance of wearing polarized sunglasses , which protect the eyes from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, which affect the safety of vision and cause various eye diseases.
Neglecting to drink enough water
Water is the first factor in preventing dehydration, both for the eyes and the body in general. Therefore, avoiding drinking sufficient water throughout the day is a bad habit that leads to poor eyesight, as a result of the eye losing the necessary hydration.
Treating weak vision in children
Does poor vision in children improve? It is one of the most common questions parents ask as soon as they learn that their child has low vision. Which is easy to answer after diagnosing the child’s condition and the type of weakness he has.
However, weak vision in children is usually easy to treat in many ways, with different degrees. But it is better to go to the doctor early to treat the problem as soon as it occurs, and to be able to correct the weakness faster. The treatment methods available to correct vision in children are:
Prescription glasses
Prescription glasses for children are an ideal solution to treat the problem of weakness and contribute to improving vision. It is easy to use at an early age without facing difficulty. You can place it for your child starting from the age of 3 years and above.
There are also many types and shapes available that suit your child, and encourage him to accept wearing them, without feeling discomfort.
contact lenses
The use of contact lenses comes in the advanced stages of childhood, which may suit some medical conditions and not suit others. This is what the treating physician can determine. However, it is not a solution likely to be used for children, due to its difficulty in dealing with it and its need for special care to avoid its potential harm.
Vision correction operations
It is the final procedure to correct poor vision and obtain clear, healthy 6/6 vision permanently. But it is one of the solutions that can be considered after clear vision. This is after reaching the age of 18 years, and after a medical examination of the eye and whether it can tolerate undergoing surgery or not.
Tips to protect children's eyesight
When your child does not suffer from any of the genetic diseases that cause poor vision, and he enjoys healthy vision during the early stages of his childhood, before being exposed to the factors that lead to poor vision. It will be easy for you to maintain your child’s vision by following a set of necessary tips, the most important of which are:
- Eat foods that are beneficial to the eyes , rich in vitamins and minerals.
- Drink enough water throughout the day, and natural juices.
- Legalize exposure to electronic screens of various types.
- Give your child a period of eye rest every hour, by motivating him to close his eyes for at least 5 minutes.
- Constantly wash your face and hands to avoid transferring germs to the eyes.
- Wear blue-ray protection glasses, if necessary. The child uses tablets.
- Avoid eye injuries by providing complete protection from wooden bumpers, doors, and anything solid, especially in the first years of a child’s life.
- Providing eye-friendly lighting at home.
- Urge the child to wear sunglasses outside the home to protect against sunlight, dust, and dirt.
- Use antiseptic eye drops designed for children.
- Pay attention to regular examination by the ophthalmologist.
Related questions
How is myopia treated in children?
Myopia in children can be treated by wearing glasses, contact lenses, and undergoing vision correction procedures such as LASIK.
Do prescription glasses treat poor vision in children?
Yes, it is a temporary treatment for treating weak vision and improving vision immediately after wearing it. It is also one of the best therapeutic solutions suitable for children at an early age.
How is myopia detected in children?
Myopia is detected by undergoing a medical examination and careful examination of different parts of the eye. It can also be detected by observing the child and the appearance of symptoms of poor vision, such as blurred vision and other obvious symptoms.