The Eye Surgeon in Dubai explains that the most important factor in the care and safeguarding of a child’s eyesight is a thorough eye health examination between the ages of three and four years of age. Most parents don't realize the importance of having an eye exam for children, especially when they are at such a young age, and they often overlook this. However, there is a good deal of critical information that can be determined, even for babies, with a regular eye exam.
A common condition known as amblyopia or lazy eye is one of the key conditions that can be prevented if its underlying cause can be diagnosed and treated early, in children.
The main cause of amblyopia or lazy eye are,
- One eye being more farsighted than the other. Children are not aware of this because the more normal of the two eyes will simply take over.
- One eye having more astigmatism. The good eye takes over in this case also.
- One eye being turned in or out relative to the straight eye. Parents of the child may often detect crossed or deviated eyes.
A casual eye examination will not be able to detect that something is wrong, especially with the first two scenarios, a thorough examination by an Eye Surgery in Dubai, is the only way a proper diagnosis can be made.
Lazy eyes or amblyopia, and the conditions that leads to it, are one-sided in nature and only one eye at a time gets affected. Those with amblyopia function well, but their depth perception decreases, and this will restrict their choice of daily activities to a certain extent. An important factor to keep in mind is that a person with good eyesight in only one eye should always wear impact-resistant eyeglasses to protect the good eye.
You may wonder why it is so important to diagnose the conditions that can lead to amblyopia by age three or four. The central nervous system can be stimulated and enhanced in children until six to eight years old, therefore their vision can be improved and this is very important for a child’s education and development. Unfortunately, children with lazy eye or amblyopia, are not brought into the Eye Clinic in Dubai until the parent realizes that the child can't see poorly out of one eye. If the child is older than seven or eight, there is little that can be done to improve his or her vision. Studies have shown that children who are successfully treated for eye problems show increased performance in school.
The two-step treatment for amblyopia or lazy eyes is relatively straightforward. First, precision-matched eyeglasses are prescribed to fully correct the vision in each eye. This provides clear, crisp images focused on the retina in the back of the eye. These sharp images are then transmitted to the optic nerve to reach the occipital cortex where special vision cells are sufficiently stimulated so that they can develop to their fullest potential.
The second step in treating amblyopia is to selectively patch the better eye. This forces the weaker eye to be used more and this stimulates the specialized vision cells in the brain to develop properly, thereby allowing good vision development in both eyes.
Special dilating drops are used by the Eye Surgery in UAE, to determine the exact prescription for the child. All patient's with amblyopia is unique, so the duration and outcome of the treatment will vary depending on the visual status of each patient.
Some of the behaviors that might be observed in young children with potential vision problems are, frequent eye rubbing, blinking often, squinting, covering or closing one eye and stumbling over small objects.