How to protect your child’s eyesight
Childhood eye problems are common Eyes that ‘wander’, vision problems, eye infections, and eye injuries are all common among children. You can help protect your child’s eyesight by watching out for warning signs and taking your child to a doctor at the first sign of a problem.
Wandering eye
Sometimes a child’s eyes do not work together as they should. One eye may be ‘lazy’, or wander in or out, or up or down (strabismus). In such a case, the brain receives a different image from each eye. The brain may switch back and forth between the two images, or it may turn off the weaker image.
If it turns off one image, the child stops using that eye (amblyopia/lazy eye). One eye may be crossed all the time or only under conditions of stress- when your child is tired, ill, or looking at nearby objects. Infants’ eyes normally wander but if one eye shows signs of wandering past the age of two or three months, your child needs eye care. Treatment may involve glasses, patching, eye drops, or surgery.
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