Pediatric Ophthalmology

Since the infants and very young children cannot complain of reduced vision, every child needs an eye examination at birth, at one year of age and again at three years so that any potentially vision threatening condition can be diagnosed and treated in time.  This allows early detection of the diseases and their treatment.  This results in proper development of vision in these children. 

Glasses

If the child requires glasses to see and it was not prescribed at a proper age, then the eye fails to see properly thereby permanently affecting the process of visual maturation.  Hence proper dispensing of glasses in a child is very important.  Minor corrections need not be prescribed.  Prescribing glasses in kids is an art best handled by Pediatric Ophthalmologists.

Lazy eye (Amblyopia)

A child’s eye is not the same as an adult eye.  It is still in the process of maturation and thereby the eye needs constant stimulation by clear images so that proper vision can be developed.  In the event that the child’s eye does not receive a proper image because of non-prescription of glasses or cataract or drooping lids or squint, then the vision fails to develop properly in either one or both the eyes.  This condition is known as lazy eye (Amblyopia).  The treatment of amblyopia involves prescription of proper glasses, patching the better eye so as to force the child to use the lazy eye.  In some cases medications may be prescribed to blur the vision in the better eye so that the child prefers the lazy eye to see.