Paediatric Eye Care And Squint Surgery

Refractive error or the need for glasses is the most important cause of vision impairment in children. This may lead to permanent deficiency in vision if not detected and treated in time

Amblyopia or Lazy eye is the term for poor vision in one or both eyes. It can result from refractive error, squint or other causes. This needs to be identified and treated at an early age to recover vision.

The WHO working definition of Low Vision (WHO, 1992) is as follows:

A person with low vision is one who has impairment of visual functioning even after treatment, and or standard refractive correction, and has a visual acuity of less than 6/18 to light perception or a visual field of less than 10 degrees from the point of fixation, but who uses, or is potentially able to use, vision for the planning and/or execution of a task.

Globally, in 2002 more than 161 million people were visually impaired, of whom 124 million people had low vision and 37 million were blind. Worldwide for each blind person, an average of 3.4 people have low vision, with country and regional variation ranging from 2.4 to 5.5.

Squint, also known as cross eyes, is the condition where the eyes do not work together. Squint is to be operated at the earliest (even before two years). Treatment includes glasses, eye exercises or eye muscle surgery.

Infants born prematurely (not full term) with or without low birth weight or short for date babies (SFD) are at high risk of developing Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) which may lead to permanent blindness. These babies requires frequent screening, examination and treatment which can prevent future complications.

Cataract (pacification of the lens) can also occur in children. This might present at birth or develop later in life. A trauma in childhood can also cause Cataract . Earliest surgery with IOL implantation can give full vision to the child.