The Most Common Eye Problems for Children

As a parent, you know how important it is to monitor every aspect of your child’s health to ensure they are developing at a proper pace.

When it comes to certain health and developmental issues, the warning signs can be rather obvious. Regarding vision conditions, however; it’s not always easy to catch problems.

In fact, it can be downright impossible to know if your baby or child is contending with a vision issue because they can’t fully communicate concerns with you yet.

Despite this, you can make yourself aware of specific warning signs and ensure your child is getting regular eye exams and checkups. This will help your child avoid potential or lurking eye problems and ensure they see the bright future they have ahead of them.

Amblyopia vs Strabismus

In this article, we will discuss amblyopia and strabismus, among other conditions. It can be helpful to know that:

• Amblyopia is also referred to as lazy eye
• Strabismus is also referred to as crossed eyes

Common Eye Problems Seen in Infants & Babies

It is totally possible, and not uncommon whatsoever, for a baby to have vision problems at birth. The most common causes of vision impairment in infants can include:

• Cortical vision impairment or neurological conditions that affect parts of the brain that control vision
• Infections from viruses at birth
• Damage or injury to the eye during birth

While these issues may be more obvious to identify, a good majority of infants who have vision problems may have normal looking eyes with no visible damage or infection.

That is why observing the child’s behavior or the manner in which their eyes move and process information is essential. Most babies will begin to focus on objects and faces by four to five weeks and will begin smiling at familiar faces at six to eight weeks.

If a baby has a vision problem, you may notice significant delay in these achievements.

Other problems can include:

• Eyes don’t follow a face or an object
• Eyes move quickly from side to side (known as Nystagmus)
• Eyes don’t react to bright light being turned on in a room
• Eyes don’t appear straight but instead turn toward the nose or drift outwards

Other specific eye problems seen in infants are amblyopia and strabismus. These common issues carry their own specific symptoms and require professional diagnosis and treatment in order to correct.

• Amblyopia, found in about 2% of 6 to 72-month-old children, is the most common cause of vision loss in children. With amblyopia, vision is impaired due to abnormal development of the neural connections between the brain and the eye during early childhood.
• Strabismus affects between 2-4% of children under the age of six years old. It is defined as a misalignment of the eyes that can lead to the development of amblyopia. With the eyes oriented in different directions, the brain receives conflicting visual input, interfering with binocular vision development and depth perception.¹

Common Eye Problems Seen in Toddlers and Children

Eye problems that affect a toddler’s vision are typically broken into two categories:

• Refractive errors – Eye disorders in which the eye does not focus the light that enters the eye, resulting in blurred vision

• Non-refractive errors – Eye disorders that are caused by eye disease

Refractive errors are seen in almost 20% of children and include:

• Hyperopia or farsightedness is a type of refractive error in which a child can’t see things close to him or her, but he or she does not have a problem seeing things far away. Most children normally have a small degree of this until they are 7 years of age.

• Myopia or nearsightedness is the most common refractive error seen in children. Myopia means that a child can see close up but has problems with seeing things far away.

• Astigmatism is a condition in which an abnormal curvature of the cornea occurs, resulting in decreased vision. This can start in childhood or as an adult and can be easily corrected if it is causing problems. Some signs and symptoms of astigmatism may include headache, eye strain, difficulty reading and fatigue.

Additionally, common refractive errors include:

• Amblyopia or lazy eye is characterized by decreased vision that occurs in one eye, usually as a result of another problem in which that eye is not receiving proper visual stimulation. This is usually preventable if the underlying cause is treated before the child is six years old.

• Strabismus or crossed eyes is one of the most common eye problems in children in which the eyes are misaligned. One or both eyes may turn inward (crossed-eyes), outward (wall eyes), turn up or turn down. At times, more than one of these conditions can be present.²

Non-refractive errors, while rarer, can pose significant issues to your children if left untreated.

Some of these impairments, or eye diseases, include glaucoma, cataracts and retinoblastoma.

We’re a Team of Experienced Pediatric Eye Doctors: Let’s Ensure Your Child’s Vision is Supporting Their Living & Learning Needs

If you notice any issues regarding your child’s vision or the natural functionality of their eyes, make sure to contact an eye care professional immediately.

The sooner you address the issue the sooner you will know the best course of action to take to help your child achieve proper vision.

In all cases, early diagnosis and treatment can help correct an issue and provide your child with improved eyesight. Consulting with a qualified eye care specialist – like the experts at iCare Vision – is essential to addressing the issue early on and avoiding negative vision issues.

Schedule an appointment for your baby or child to come in and see us soon:

Hey, Kids! Did You Know Amblyopia & Strabismus Can Almost Always Be Treated?

If a doctor or parent suspects a kid has lazy eye or crossed eyes, a special doctor called an ophthalmologist (or, an eye doctor, for short) will examine the kid’s eyes and ask him or her to read a chart on the wall or look into a microscope-type machine. None of these exams hurt.

If the eye doctor thinks a kid has lazy eye or crossed eyes, there are a few different ways to treat the conditions.

• Some kids just need to wear glasses.
• Some kids may need surgery to straighten their eyes.
• Some kids who have amblyopia may need to wear a patch over the good eye to strengthen the weaker one.

For any kid who has strabismus or amblyopia, it’s always best to start treatment as soon as possible to improve vision.

If you have strabismus or amblyopia, there is good news! These conditions can almost always be treated, and, with the right treatment, you won’t have to worry about it anymore when treatment is over.

Resources:

¹ WebMD. Signs of Vision Problems in Young Kids. Accessed January 31, 2020. https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/features/child-eye-and-vision-problems#1.

² Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials. 3 Problems That Affect Kids’ Eyes and What to Do About Them Accessed January 31, 2020. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/child-risk-3-common-eye-problems/.