Summer is a time when the eyes suffer especially. Pool chlorine, salt, beach sand and air conditioning can irritate and make them more prone to infections or other pathologies.
Therefore, it is recommended that we take advantage of the end of the holidays to take our children to the ophthalmologist. A complete review of your vision and of his eyes he will advise us, in addition, a happy start of course.
The importance of periodic reviews
Perhaps this summer your children have complained about the eyes: itching, irritation or dryness are very common symptoms during summer vacations due to the amount of external agents that can lead to the appearance of eye discomfort or problems.
With the start of the course just around the corner, it is essential to ensure that your eyes and eyesight are fine and if there had been any small problem during the summer, it has been correctly solved.
But although the start of school can be a good time to check your eyes, we must not forget to do it routinely as a prevention and health measure so that, if there is a problem, it can be stopped on time and with greater guarantees.
"It is estimated that 5% of the population under 6 years of age may have significant visual difficulties, and when they have symptoms (strabismus, winks, visual torticolis etc ...) they have already lost qualities of their vision sometimes unrecoverable" - warns Dr. Ines García-Ormaechea, pediatric ophthalmologist and General Secretary of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology (SEDOP).
"Therefore, it is important to make early clinical reviews both in children with a family history of people with glasses and in those without a history"
One of the things that generates more uncertainty for parents when they consider taking their children for review is the right time to do it. Do I need to know how to read numbers or letters? Can we take you as a baby if we believe there may be a problem? Is it enough to take you to an optician for a quick check?
Although without a doubt the pediatrician of the child is the one who will give us all the indications, Dr. Ines García-Ormaechea reminds us:
In any case, the ophthalmologist García-Ormaechea advises us to make a first preventive consultation before two years of age, and an evaluation of vision before the age of five. And depending on the diagnosis, future reviews will be marked."Clinical reviews of the eye state and the level of visual development of a minor must be made by pediatric ophthalmologists, because they have the necessary preparation and equipment. "
"A review should never be done by a optician or an optometrist, because they have no neurophthalmological clinical training. In Spain there are few but excellent pediatric ophthalmologists, and we have learned to empathize with babies, and to study their visual behavior. So, there is no limit on the age of consultation of a child, if your family or pediatrician are worried about your eyesight "
In the case of children wearing glasses, the doctor insists on importance of periodic reviews, both during his academic stage and at certain moments of his social and emotional life.
"For the child to accept the glasses, it is important that they are correct. A correct glasses is one that is well graduated, well chosen, and well made. Small, centered in the orbit and with full nasal support. Organic lenses do not split and reduce the risk in a break "- advises.
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Acknowledgments Dr. Ines García-Ormaechea, Pediatric Ophthalmologist and General Secretary of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology (SEDOP).
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