Eye diseases in children
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Most of the information about the world comes to the human brain through the eyes. Eyes are called a region of the brain that has been taken out to the periphery. A poorly seeing person becomes incapable of many activities, has difficulty in working and studying. Therefore, from an early age, it is necessary to strive to preserve and improve the eyesight of the child and to contact the ophthalmologist in a timely manner.
In the newborn immediately after birth, the eyelids are somewhat swollen, they may have hemorrhages, but this is not a pathology, but a variant of the norm. Eyes during sleep can not be closed completely. Sometimes the eyelid is wrapped inside, and eyelashes can scratch the cornea. In another case, there may be a turning of the eyelid (outside), which leads to dryness of the inner shell of the eyelid. This pathology requires consultation and treatment from the oculist.
Eye color in newborns is gray. With time (three to five months), the color of the eyes changes. Sometimes the coloring of the eyes - right and left - can be different. Different can also be the width of the eye gap, and the pupils may have different diameters. All this requires consultation with the oculist.
The appearance of festering or mucous discharge from the eyes of the child should alert the parents. It can be conjunctivitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the eye - conjunctiva) or congenital obstruction of the lacrimal canal, or inflammation of the lacrimal sac - dacryocystitis.
With dacryocystitis, if you press your finger between the back of the nose and the inner edge of the eyelids, there will be a drop of pus that flows from the inflamed lacrimal sac through the tear point in the inner corner of the eye.
To instill drops, you need to move the upper and lower eyelids with the index finger and the thumb of the left hand and from the dropper in the right hand, drip one or two drops of the medicine into the outer corner of the eye.
With conjunctivitis apply a solution of potassium permanganate (a weakly-roughened solution), which is injected from the pipette or syringe under pressure into the eye slit in the direction from the outer corner of the eye to the inner corner. Then drop one or two drops of albucid (sodium sulfacil) or levomycetin droplets. After this, each eye is wiped with a separate fleece in the same direction.
Sometimes parents notice that the child has a strabismus. In such cases, it should be shown to the doctor. However, it should be remembered that often children can not keep eyeballs in parallel, because they do not yet have the correct fixation of objects with two eyes, it appears only for eight to twelve months.
During the first year of life, each child should be examined by an ophthalmologist. Sometimes children at such an age reveal hyperopia or myopia. When children with farsightedness begin to read, they often have a headache, such schoolchildren quickly become tired during the preparation of lessons. It is in children with farsightedness at the age of two or four years that a strabismus often appears. With a significant degree of farsightedness, you need to wear glasses, even if it seems that the child can see well without glasses. With myopia, a child does not see well what is in the distance, and well - close objects. To better distinguish distant objects, he squints. Myopia often occurs in children at school age.
One of the frequent eye injuries in children is trauma. If a liquid has entered the eye of the child, it can cause a chemical burn of the eye, therefore, an immediate rinse of the eye under the tap from the tap, from the teapot spout, a syringe, a douche enema is required. After a 15-minute rinse of the affected eye, you must urgently go to the eye clinic. If a foreign body gets into the eye, you should try to remove it yourself. Try to open the eye of the child, lowering its lower eyelid. If the foreign body is not visible there, then it can be either on the cornea, or under the upper eyelid. Unfortunately, you will not be able to open the upper eyelid without special skills, so there is nothing else to do but to call an ambulance or go to the eye clinic yourself. At blunt trauma of an eye (hit by a stone, blow about any subject, etc.) even if it is not visible damages, consultation of the oculist is necessary.
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