Congenital Dacryocele
Congenital Ptosis
Paediatric Ophthalmology is a branch of Ophthalmology which deals with children's eye diseases.
Development of vision starts at birth and continues till 6 years of age. It reaches to maximum by 2 years. Any eye disease or obstacle during this period can lead to permanent vision loss.
Common childhood eye diseases are
- Squint
- Refractive error
- Allergic conjunctivitis
- Congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction
- Paediatric Cataract
- Congenital Ptosis
- Congenital Nystagmus
It is loss of parallelism between two eyes. It can occur at any age.[commonly from birth to 6 yrs].
Common causes for squint are
- familial/hereditary
- spectacles [refractive error]
- adverse event during birth
Hazards of Squint are
- loss of vision in an eye with squint[amblyopia/lazy eye]
- loss of binocular vision- loss of 3 dimension perception OR depth perception
- constriction of binocular field of vision
Types of squint are
- Commitant- convergent/divergent
- Paralytic- 3,4 or 6th cranial nerve palsy
Treatment of Squint
- Glasses [Spectacles]
- Occlusion therapy
- Surgery [Operation]- Has to be performed in childhood only
Amblyopia
In simple words, it is loss of vision in one OR two eyes due to abnormal stimulation and vision development in childhood. Eye which suffer from vision loss know as lazy eye- due to non use in childhood.Causes are
- Squint
- Refractive error
- Cataract in children
- Congenital ptosis
- Corneal opacity etc
Refractive Error [Spectacles]
Paediatric Cataract- congenital- since birth
- developmental- later at any age
Paediatric cataract surgery is different from adult cataract surgery like
- Suturing is must
- Different IOL calculations
- Surgical steps are different
- PCO rate very high
- Needs long term follow up
Needs early intervention if severe form
If mild to moderate it can be treated later on for cosmetic purpose
Commonest cause is congenital NLD obstruction. Proper massage is advised till 8 months of age. If not cured, Probing should be done instantly. 100% success rate can be achieved if probing done at 1 yr. Then success rate gradually declines once age progresses.