Astigmatism in children up to a year - why it arises and what to do

Health problems in young children are sometimes difficult to identify, because the children themselves can not tell about them yet. And if it is possible to understand very simply by behavior that they have some painful symptoms of other organs, then in the case, for example, with the pathologies of the eyes, everything is many times more complicated. Consider a specific example, namely astigmatism of the eyes in children under one year.

Definition of disease

Astigmatism is a special refractive defect that arises because of the altered optical structure of the eye.As a result, the focusing of objects on the retina is wrong.

Although the danger for the child is not, but the quality of his vision can be very strong.

When there is astigmatism, light rays do not gather at one point, they gather in several, and not on the retina. And the image goes blurry.

There are five main types of astigmatism:

• myopic;
• farsighted;
• complex myopic;
• complex farsighted;
• mixed.

You can also classify the problem by type (direct, reverse and oblique axes) and by degree - the higher the degree, the more problematic the treatment will be.

Causes

There are several reasons that are key in the occurrence of this kind of pathology:

1. Hereditary factor, then astigmatism is innate.
2. The nature trauma,when the orbit is deformed. The bony system of the child in the form of lack of calcium or its small content in the body is more like a cartilaginous tissue - elastic and flexible. Therefore, any injury to the head of the newborn can lead to distortion of the orbit and the shape of the eyeball.
3. Congenital pathologieseye sockets (microphthalms and others).

Most children have physiological astigmatism, which does not exceed one diopter. It does not affect vision, so treatment does not need to be done, it's just that the baby is looked after more and visits the ophthalmologist more often.

Symptoms

It is quite difficult to diagnose astigmatism at such an early age.First, the child has no understanding that there is something wrong with his eyesight - after all, he initially sees the world as vague. And secondly, he is not yet able to clearly explain something to his parents.

Children up to a year often hang all kinds of moving toys. This contributes to the development of pupil accommodation and improvement of the focus of vision.

To determine the presence of astigmatism can only by indirect signs, in particular:

• The child is irritable, often capricious (reaction to increased fatigue and headaches).
• He often squintes, brings toys closer to his face or leans heavily over them.
• Regularly rubs his eyes and closes one of them.
• When studying new subjects, he shakes his head a lot, trying to find the optimal angle of view in this way.
• Often stumbles upon furniture and people.
• He puts objects past (the hands of those with whom he plays, tables or something else).

The optical system of the child's eye is formed during 6 years from the moment of birth, and focusing is acquired only after six months of life. Therefore, diagnosing astigmatism at such an early age is almost impossible.

Possible complications

The main and, in fact, the only real complication is a serious decrease in vision.If the family has one or both family members diagnosed with astigmatism, then the child is carefully monitored by the attending physician in the first three years of life. Because the disease rarely exists without additional deviations, then in the case of the detection of the disease, such progressive pathologies can be observed:

• myopia;
• hypermetropia;
• strabismus, leading to amblyopia;
• increased intraocular pressure.

Strabismus occurs against the background of dysfunction of the oculomotor muscles due to the fact that initially the image is displayed incorrectly. The brain perceives the information incorrectly, and the analyzer gives an "order" to refuse this body. Those. The eye will function at the physical level, but the information will not be processed.

Treatment

There are several different approaches to treatment depending on the situation.

With a weak degree of astigmatism, it is enough to periodically visit an ophthalmologist to monitor the state of vision of the baby. Very often, as you grow older, the problem disappears completely or partially.

Medication

In more neglected cases, drug treatment (drops) or daily wearing glasses with special cylindrical glasses can be prescribed.It takes about 7-10 days for the person to get used to wearing the frame and for a new vision of everything around him, during this period, unpleasant sensations and a headache are possible.If, at the end of this period, it is noticeable that the toddler is uncomfortable with glasses, you should visit the doctor, you will most likely need to replace the lenses.

Optical correction is not assigned until the age of two.

Surgically

As the child grows up to 6-7 years with the preservation of astigmatism, glasses can be replaced with contact lenses. And by the age of 18-20, an operation for laser correction of vision is often prescribed. But to a 1-year-old kid all these methods are inapplicable. He himself can not wear lenses, their installation by an adult person is fraught with eyelid and eye injuries, and the operation is forbidden to be carried out until the visual system of the body has not yet formed. So there can not be any surgical intervention.

Prevention

Prevention of astigmatism is simple - do not allow eye injuries and listen to the ophthalmologist's recommendations in everything, and do not act randomly. When the child is a little older - do with it simple exercises for the eyes, including frequent blinking, turning the eyeballs left and right, alternating between focus and objects Further.

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conclusions

Astigmatism in children under one year is undeniably not a pleasant phenomenon, but one should not be afraid of it. You can always take measures that will help to cope with the problem. If you doubt whether the child has a problem and do not understand what to do with it, contact either the ophthalmologist or simply your pediatrician, he will tell you what to do next.

Pass the test for astigmatism can be in this article, but not for young children.