Common Eye Diseases in Children

Eye diseases are common among children, of which some are caused due to viral or bacterial infection, dust, pet dander, etc and some other are caused due to some defects. In this article, there is a brief discussion on the common eye diseases in children.

Common eye diseases in children
Eye diseases are common among children, some of them are listed below.

• Amblyopia: It is also referred to as ‘lazy eye’. It occurs in 75,000 kids of years age per year in the US and about 2 to 3 % of infants. Kids with this condition, might develop poor vision in either one or both the eyes which may result in misalignment of eyes or the eyes may become strabismus (eyes become crossed). The disease amblyopia may be due to uncorrected refractive error or may be inherited.
• Strabismus: it is a medical term used for ‘turned’ or ‘crossed’ eye. It occurs in 2 to 4 percent of kids. There are 3 common types of the disease strabismus, which are as follows.
  1. Esotropia (crossed eye)
  2. Exotropia (wall eye)
  3. Vertical deviation (one eye pointing downward or upward)
• Blocked tear duct: This is also referred to as nasolacrimal duct obstruction, which is most commonly seen in babies. In this disease, the drainage tube which is delicate at birth, which leads from eye to nose is blocked or the membrane which covers the drainage tube’s entry does not open. This results in blocked tear duct.
• Refractive errors: These are the problems in which the cornea or the crystalline lens focus the light on the retina. For a clear vision, the eye must send a sharp and clear picture to the brain, the light rays from outside must be brought directly on the retina in the center. Eye specialists recommends contact lens or glasses which are needed by the patients to focus the light.
  1. Myopia (Near-sightedness): It occurs in about 4% of infants. In near-sightedness patients, the light rays are not focused directly in the center of the retina but in front of the retina. This may occur when the cornea is too curved or the eye is too deep.
  2. Hyperopia (Far-sightedness): It occurs in about 20% of infants. In far-sightedness patients, the light rays are not focused directly in the centre of the retina, but behind the retina. This may occur when the cornea is not enough curved or the eye is to shallow. This condition can be corrected by flexing the inner muscles in the eyes. This constant eyes flexing can cause eyestrain, turning of eye and headaches.
  3. Astigmatism (Distortion): It occurs in about 10% of infants. In this disease, the patients cornea is in football-shape rather than spherical, as a result the light is reflected in a distorted way. The light rays traveling in two perpendicular rays focus a different points near or on the retina, thus the image received by the brain is unclear or wrapped. It can occur together with other types of refractive errors or by itself.

These are the common eye diseases in children, consult your eye specialists for an early treatment.