Causes of astigmatism in children and methods of treatment of the disease

1 General information on the pathology of

To begin with, it is worth noting that the word astigmatism from the Greek language is translated as "absence of a point", that is, light is not projected into a single point when it hits the retina, but spreads through several. Therefore, a child with the presence of such an ailment as astigmatism usually sees the world around him not as it should be in reality, that is, the retina of his eyes takes images of all objects in a somewhat distorted, vague form. For example, the usual point drawn on paper seems to the child an ellipse or a straight line. A similar phenomenon is explained by the fact that the cornea or lens of the eye has an irregular structure.

Children's astigmatism is not very common today. If the child's astigmatism has a low degree of development, then the very course of the disease can go unnoticed, that is, no bright manifestations of the disease are detected and the child does not suffer from this ailment. However, if the disease begins to progress rapidly, it can lead to very serious visual impairment of the child. In very severe cases violations were observed even from the psychological development of children. In order to prevent such a deplorable complication and protect the child from painful suffering, it is necessary to show it to the doctor in time and to pass a number of very important examinations. Timely detection of the onset of the disease is the key to successful treatment and getting rid of the disease.

2 Types of the disease

Before considering the causes, symptoms and methods of treatment of astigmatism in children, it is necessary to focus on the types of this disease, but they are distinguished only 2: physiological astigmatism and pathological.

As for physiological astigmatism, this type of disease manifests itself without a perceptible influence on the visual acuity of the child. Treatment, as a rule, it does not require.

Pathological astigmatism, in contrast to the physiological, reduces the vision of children.

3 Etiology of the onset of the disease

Astigmatism in children, the causes of which will be discussed in more detail below, is a disease in which corneal deformity, often caused by the curvature of the lens, is observed. Children's astigmatism can be congenital or acquired.

Astigmatism in children before the year often occurs immediately after birth or is congenital in nature. The main cause of the manifestation of this disease in the newborn lies in the farsightedness or myopia of his parents, that is, the disease can be inherited.

Astigmatism in children under one year can develop with lightning speed, therefore it is very important to reveal the initial stage of its development in 1 year. If a number of examinations are carried out in a timely manner and a course of conservative treatment is conducted, then distortion and blurriness of images can be avoided.

Astigmatism in children's eyes can be acquired. Various eye injuries, surgical interventions, corneal diseases can lead to such a disease. In all these cases, the correct shape of the cornea is broken and scarring occurs, which leads to astigmatism. Subluxation of the lens of the eye also leads to the development of the disease.

Some pathological disorders of the dentoalveolar system are often the cause of the disease.

In addition, astigmatism in children can develop against a background:

• of alcoholic fetal syndrome;
• albinism;
• of congenital retinitis.

4 Diagnostic measures

Astigmatism in children's eyes is treated, but very careful diagnosis is necessary to detect the disease. Modern state and private medical institutions are equipped with all the necessary equipment, with the help of which doctors can make an accurate diagnosis and determine the degree of development of the disease. To this end, up to 10 special medical tests are conducted.

It is important for parents to know that if a child complains of vision, it urgently needs to be shown to a specialist. Special attention should be paid to complaints about a different vision of the surrounding world. In other words, a stretched or fuzzy image of objects should force parents to lead the child to a doctor for examination. If the child complains about the convergence of the letters during the reading, this is also a signal to the medical institution.

Often astigmatism in children of primary classes is manifested in severe headaches. Parents are often not in a position to make a child read. The difficulty of getting a doctor on time is that children at this age usually do not complain about their eyesight. In some cases, this is due to the fact that children of this age have a fear of wearing glasses.

Very often people can not even guess about their astigmatism. The wrong and vague vision of the surrounding world, they do not perceive for the development of any disease, and simply write off for severe fatigue.

So how can parents determine in time whether there is astigmatism in their offspring? What are the main symptoms they should pay attention to?

Parents should be aware that astigmatism in children is an insidious disease, since at the initial stages of its development it often does not manifest itself at all. The first messengers of the disease are already manifested in the middle or even late stages of development.

So, the main symptoms of astigmatism:

• frequent dizziness;
• frequent headaches;
• chronic fatigue;
• constant eye strain;
• sensation of pain in forehead;
• narrowing of eyes;
• problems with view focusing;
• difficulties in reading.

Even if the child has a slight degree of development of astigmatism, to ignore this and hope that the disease will pass by itself, it is not worth it. The disease can behave unexpectedly, and its progression is just around the corner, which in the near future will lead to a significant deterioration in vision and even to its loss. Only having addressed to the expert, it is possible to hope for statement of the correct diagnosis and purpose of adequate therapy.

5 Therapeutic actions

It is natural that any parent is interested in knowing if astigmatism is treated in children. Yes, the disease is treated. Of course, it is unpleasant to hear about the presence of such a diagnosis in your child, but you do not need to panic.

It is worth remembering that modern medicine is developing very quickly, and current specialists will not be able to cure astigmatism in children, because today there are many painless and very safe methods of correcting vision.

There are no medications for astigmatism in children, as this disease is not inflammatory. In order to correct vision, the following methods are used:

• Points.

If the signs of astigmatism are detected and after an accurate diagnosis is established, the doctor selects the correct glasses for the small patient. At first, the child will have a hard time, because wearing such a "medical" accessory can cause severe lachrymation and dizziness. But these signs will not stay long. It is necessary to convince the child that this is a short-term phenomenon, that one needs to suffer a little and that soon all unpleasant symptoms will pass and the child will get used to glasses. If such a symptom does not work and continues to torment your child for more than a week, you should once again turn to a specialist and pick up other glasses.

• Contact lenses.

An alternative to glasses that cause not very pleasant sensations in children, will serve as contact lenses. Discomfortable sensations they do not cause, as when wearing glasses, but they need to be treated very carefully and carefully. In addition, they require some care. Of course, very small children they do not fit.

• Solid contact lenses.

This method involves the use of special solid lenses that are worn overnight. During the night, the vision improves slightly due to the fact that the cornea of ​​the eye acquires a correct shape for a while.

People who are interested in astigmatism in children, whether it is treated or not treatable, should be aware that glasses do not cure the disease. This is just one way to correct vision, but not getting rid of the disease. The only way to get rid of this disease is an operation. However, it is not recommended to spend it up to 18 years. We must wait until this age, until the entire visual system is finally formed.

6 Operation as an effective method of getting rid of the problem

The human eyeball is formed before the age of 15, therefore, it is not recommended to perform surgical interventions until this time, and laser correction can be prescribed only after 18 years.

What are the types of surgical intervention that exist today?

1. Keratotomy. This method of surgical intervention involves cutting the cornea in order to remove the curvature. This method is very rarely used today.
2. Photorefractive keratectomy is a kind of operation that uses a laser beam to accurately change the cornea. This results in a positive result. This method of correcting the vision is not suitable for everyone. It is used when other methods are not applicable.
3. Laser thermokeratoplasty is performed for patients who are already 18 years old. During the procedure, the patient experiences some uncomfortable sensations, a sense of presence in the eye of a foreign object.
4. Keratomilez laser is a procedure in which corneal burning is performed. Part of the tissue evaporates, which leads to correction of the shape of the cornea. After the operation, the seams are not superimposed, and the procedure itself is carried out very quickly, within 15 minutes.

The postoperative period of all the above procedures is not asymptomatic. Patients after surgery show photophobia, severe lachrymation.

7 Preventive measures

As it was said before, astigmatism in children, whose treatment was considered, is divided into congenital and acquired. It is known that it is impossible to prevent the onset of congenital astigmatism. If this happens, you should regularly be examined by an ophthalmologist, if possible, to monitor the condition of the eyes.

And here it is possible to prevent the development of acquired astigmatism.

To avoid the onset of the disease and its further development, it is necessary to observe some preventive measures. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the burden on the visual organs, that is, the voltage must necessarily alternate with rest, and the time spent on the computer should be reduced. To be more precise, the child is allowed to stay at the computer for no more than an hour. As often as possible, the child should be given vitamin complexes with vitamin A.

The next very important point is that the child should do the lessons, read and write only in daylight.

The visual organs are very well influenced by water procedures, so it is very useful for a child to go swimming and visit swimming pools more often. It is not superfluous to take and contrasting souls.

Summing up, we can say that astigmatism is a fearless disease. The main thing is to start treatment on time.