23 April, 2015

Take Squint seriously !

Many babies till about three months can have squinting eyes. Once they begin to focus and track objects with their eyes between three months and four months, the alignment of the eyes gets well established to provide binocular vision. But if the squint persists beyond six months, it is necessary to consult  an eye specialist.  

If squinting eye does not receive medical attention,  it can lead to a laze eye status where one the the eyes does not participate in visual engagement.

From my experience, parents and doctors seem to ignore or wait too long  in the hope that this would resolve on its own. In fact, the opposite can happen, leading to delayed maturation of the visual functions, which affect the learning and processing skills  of children.

Take squint seriously in children and get medical attention. Often all that would be needed would be exercises for the eyes or correction of refractive error by wearing spectacles. Sometimes corrective surgery would be needed followed by regular follow up with  the Ophthalmologist, developmental neurologist and Occupational therapist. 

The outcome in children is good if  one eye did not suffer from amblyopia due to delayed treatment!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

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