With the holidays approaching, which children look forward to, specialists point to unsatisfactory reports, when assessing children's underachievement, and remind families of possible visual impairment in children. Claiming that Turkey has a high rate of visual impairment in children, surgeon Dr. Tülay Arıcı from Dünyagöz Ataköy Hospital said: “One in three children in our country suffer from an eye disease. Families who are unaware of this problem may describe their children's failures in class as "poor learning ability". However, there is no lack of the child's ability to learn, the child may fall behind in the lessons because he does not see well. Most importantly, if the necessary precautions for eye diseases are not taken in time, the child may develop lazy eye syndrome, which will be more difficult to treat in later years”.
While the incidence of visual impairment increases with age, amblyopia, strabismus, myopia, hypermetropia, and astigmatism are some of the most common problems in children. Surgeon Dr. Tülay Arıcı from Dünyagöz Ataköy Hospital listed the symptoms to be monitored for eye diseases in children as follows:
- Cross-eye,
- Droopy eyelid,
- Burring, swelling,
- Covering one eye,
- The child does not see the board well,
- Skipping lines while reading,
- inger swiping on a sentence,
- Squinting eyes,
- Watching TV up close,
- Eye watering,
- Frequent eye rubbing,
- Pain in the eye, head,
- Demonstrates poor performance in activities,
- Difficulties in doing homework.
The digital age exacerbates eye health problems
Surgeon Dr. Tülay Arıcı noted that tablets, mobile phones, and computers are among the main sources of eye strain and added: “Children can sit in front of these screens for hours. In addition, they do not take into account that their eyes get tired, and do not complain to their relatives. However, staring at a fixed screen for long periods can cause many vision problems such as dry eyes and strabismus in children. For this reason, a limit should be applied for children not to exceed 1 hour per day until the age of 5 for play purposes. If the child is 7 years old or older, the use of a computer, mobile phone, and tablet should not exceed 1.5-2 hours a day”.
Eye examination under special anesthesia for children
Claiming that refractive errors (hypermetropia, astigmatism, and myopia), strabismus, and lazy eye syndrome are the most common visual impairments in children, surgeon Dr. Tülay Arıcı said: “Children often do not realize that they have vision problems. For this reason, the awareness and sensitivity of families are of great importance for children's eye health. To protect the eyes of children aged 0 to 16, they should have regular eye examinations immediately after birth, if possible, or between 6 and 12 months of age, before entering school and during their studies.” Mentioning that Dünyagöz Ataköy Hospital conducts examinations under anesthesia, in particular for very active children or in situations that are difficult to examine and diagnose, surgeon Dr. Tülay Arıcı added: “For a more detailed and healthy eye examination of children, we also perform eye examination with the use of anesthesia together with pediatric anesthesiologists of our center”.
