Children's myopia: 6 signs that a child has vision problems

Children's myopia (or, scientifically, myopia) has become more common in recent years. According to WHO, approximately 30% of adolescents leave school with this diagnosis. Moreover, if earlier myopia was diagnosed in children from the age of 9-12, now the disease has become younger: it is increasingly being diagnosed in younger schoolchildren. One of the main reasons is the increased load on vision due to the excessive presence of gadgets in a child's life. They provoke the development of both true and false myopia. What is the difference between them? How do you know if a child has vision problems? When should he be taken to the doctor? Read in our material.

Causes of myopia in children

Myopia is a defect of vision in which a person distinguishes well objects near, but poorly sees objects that are located at a far distance. This disease is most often caused by an abnormal structure of the eyeball. Normally, light rays are refracted in the lens of the eye in such a way that the "picture" is focused on the retina. Thanks to the eye muscles that change the shape of the lens, this system works regardless of the distance at which the object of observation is located.

With myopia, the eyeball has a slightly elongated shape. Because of this, light rays during refraction are scattered not on the retina, but in front of it. But if for objects that are at a close distance, this defect is not critical, then for objects that are far away, a person sees indistinctly, but as if blurry. Because the disease is popularly called myopia.

Physicians believe that the main cause of myopia is heredity. If one of the parents has myopia, then with a probability of 40% the child will have the same diagnosis. If both parents are nearsighted, the child will inherit this defect with a probability of up to 80%. Also susceptible to the development of myopia premature babies or those who received birth trauma brain and spinal cord. There is a version that the development of myopia in children provokes a sedentary lifestyle, lack of walks in the fresh air and excessive visual stress (hello smartphones and tablets).

Myopia true and false

It is worth talking about visual loads separately. Most often, before school, parents do not even suspect that the child may have some kind of "malfunction" with vision. Firstly, at an early age, myopia can be insignificant and not cause discomfort to the baby. Secondly, a small child simply does not know how it is to see “correctly”, and therefore cannot talk about his problem. However, already from the first grade, the load on the eyes increases dramatically, and this triggers the development of myopia. So, in a year a child can lose sight by 1-2 diopters (minus 6 diopters is already a high degree of myopia).

In addition, increased visual load has another effect - it often leads to the appearance of the so-called "false myopia". This is a condition in which the structure of the eye is normal. However, due to the fact that the muscles of the eyeball are always in tension, there is a spasm of accommodation. Simply put, the eye loses the ability to focus on objects that are far away. This is a reversible diagnosis: false myopia is treated with drops, eye exercises and hardware treatment. But if it is not noticed in time, it will develop into true myopia, which cannot be cured.

Signs of the development of myopia in a child

Both false and true myopia require medical supervision. In the first case, having noticed the problem in time, you can return one hundred percent vision to the child with simple routine measures and exercises for the eyes. In the second case, it is possible to stop the development of myopia in the early stages: unfortunately, this disease is not treated, but it can be corrected well.

Given that it is difficult for a child to talk about vision problems, doctors advise paying attention to his behavior. There is a list of red flags that will let you know that something is wrong with the eyes. You should schedule a visit to an ophthalmologist if:

1. The child cannot distinguish familiar or native people at a distance; confuses objects that are familiar to him (for example, a bus and a trolleybus, a truck and a concrete mixer, a dog and a cat); finds it difficult to read the sign or name familiar letters in it.
2. When looking at distant objects, the child tenses up, squints, blinks frequently and rubs his eyes.
3. The child complains of pain, burning or stinging in the eyes - especially with prolonged exposure to the sun or in a room with bright artificial lighting.
4. Doing homework (or other work that requires visual concentration), the child cannot focus for a long time, often switches attention.
5. During lessons or reading, the child bends low to notebooks and textbooks; during the game often brings toys close to the face; tries to get closer to the screen when watching TV
6. After lessons, homework, reading or working with gadgets, the child complains of a headache, the appearance of “flies” and “flashes” before his eyes.

Even one of these alarm bells is a reason for an unscheduled visit to a specialist. If you notice several symptoms in your child, you should immediately consult a doctor. The ophthalmologist will conduct the necessary examinations: usually ophthalmoscopy, echobiometry (ultrasound) of the eyeball, determination of visual acuity and refraction (refractive power of the eye). Based on this, he will be able to determine the type of myopia and its degree, and choose the right treatment or corrective therapy for the child.

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