Importance of Eye Examination in Babies

The most basic mistake made by families in our country regarding the eye health of infants and children is to wait until the child is old enough to say that he/she has a complaint. As a general health policy in developed countries, infant and child eye examinations are performed systematically and regularly, just like childhood vaccinations, and are repeated at certain periods.

With this system, which we have been striving to make widespread in our country in recent years, not only eye disorders that cause laziness, but also rare diseases such as glaucoma (eye pressure), cataract, diabetes, hypertension, childhood eye tumours, which are thought to be seen in adults but are also found in infancy / childhood and cause severe damage when delayed, can be diagnosed. For example, there are patients who are sent to rheumatology and diagnosed with rheumatic disease and started treatment with a diagnosis of rheumatic disease, although they have no obvious joint  complaint  although abnormal findings are detected in routine  eye examination.

Eye examination in children should be performed in the first 6 months. If this period is missed, the first examination should be completed by the age of 2 at the latest and repeated at the age of 4 and when starting primary school. Eye examination, not eye screening, should determine whether both eye structures and eye numbers are appropriate for their age by making measurements with drops that enlarge the pupil.

Eye disorders are of genetic origin and the absence of a disorder in the parents does not mean that the child will not have an eye disorder. When we consider that the prevalence of eye disorders in pre-school children is 25%,  lazy eye is seen in 3-4% of the population,  the first few years are very important in the development of laziness, the response to treatment in the early period is better, but after the age of 7, the importance of early and regular examination is better understood.

Myopia is the inability to see far away well. Myopic children often do not realise that they are nearsighted and think that everyone sees far away in this way. Hypermetropia is not the exact opposite of myopia. The child struggles at a distance but can partially sharpen the distant image by using the eye muscles, but after a while the near image starts to blur (e.g. during long readings) because the child has to make more adjustments. In addition, the endeavour to focus sometimes leads to inward shifts at close range.

Wearing glasses does not change, increase or decrease the number, it allows us to see well. Glasses should be worn regularly and continuously. There is no such method as taking off the glasses from time to time and resting the eye, on the contrary, glasses rest the eye. 

What are other symptoms that may alert parents to eye disorders?

If one of your child's  pupils appears white, the shape and size of the pupils are different from each other, one of the eyelids is low enough to close the pupil significantly,  there is trembling in the eyes (nystagmus),
Your baby's eyes are larger than normal  If your baby's eyes are larger than normal, very uncomfortable with light and watery,
In infants, if the slipping continues after 6 months, in older children when they are tired and sleepy   or if you suspect that the eye is slipping   when examining something nearby,
If he closes one eye in the sun,

If the child does not make age-appropriate eye contact, does not show interest in his/her toys, wants to look at the television by getting too close because he/she cannot select it from a distance,
blinks frequently, rubs his/her eyes too much, keeps his/her head tilted in one direction,
says that the writing is confused while reading a book, gets tired quickly, does not want to read, skips lines, cannot follow the line without driving with his/her finger, cannot perceive three-dimensional images in the cinema, bring him/her to an eye examination.
It may facilitate the examination if the family prepares the child for the examination by talking to him/her and, if possible, draws the letter E and teaches him/her to show the direction of the lines with his/her hand. 

In summary,  let's make sure that every child has an eye examination at the first one year of age, at the latest at the age of 2 years, and even if there is no complaint at the ages of 4 and 6, let's repeat the examination and ensure that our most precious asset, our children  look clearly and brightly into the future.

Prepared by the Editorial Board of Eye Foundation Hospitals.