October 7, 2021

Is it possible for a child to need glasses without ever having had any complaints?

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Ophthalmologist: Maria João Santos

The lack of complaints is not always a guarantee of good eye health and there are children who need to wear glasses, despite not complaining. The ophthalmologist Maria João Santos gives two examples:

One of them is the situation where one eye sees well and the other sees badly. This can go perfectly unnoticed by both the child and the parents, and the cause of this situation can be, for example, a difference in refraction, i.e. gradation between the two eyes. If this difference is significant and is not corrected as prescribed by spectacles in childhood, it can lead to so-called lazy eye or amblyopia.

The eye which has more graduation, if it is not corrected, will not receive a sharp image, while the other eye will. This imbalance will cause the brain to favour the good eye, so that the vision of the other eye, the eye with the less clear image, will not develop correctly.

Another more frequent example is hyperopia. The child may, for example, get tired of close-up tasks a little earlier, but without noticing it, and the parents may also not be aware of this, because these are situations which can actually go unnoticed. And because they are important, namely lazy eye, it is recommended that healthy children without complaints have their first eye appointment between the ages of 2 and 4. I would say that age 3 is a good time. Another important time is between the ages of 5 and 6, when the child starts the first year, because good vision, good visual acuity, will certainly contribute to the child's good performance at school.

Tomorrow we take questions about contact lenses in children and young people.

With the support of the Portuguese Society of Ophthalmology.