Why Would A Child Have A Terrible Eye sight? Exploring The Science Behind It.

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(Edited)

In a publication I made sometime ago, I wrote about my friend's daughter with a hole in the heart that required urgent attention. Right from the moment the child has been diagnosed with this disease, my friend has been frequenting the hospital, therefore exposing her to different children with different health conditions.

On her last visit to the hospital, she told me about how moved she was to tears when she saw a baby who was diagnosed with a hole in the heart when she was seven months old, but the parents were unable to raise money for the surgery which worsened the child's condition, the baby has become has pale as a broom stick, the child was going through extreme pain and discomfort with a bad eyesight, the mother of the child had sold the little property she had in her possession and at that point, she told my friend that she was hoping the child would go to rest rather than going through such intense pain.

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When I heard this, it was a really heartbreaking news, knowing that little children have to go through this painful and terrible experience is not nice at all. However, she mentioned the case of another child, which is the reason behind the post I am writing today. She meet a child who is about 8 months old with an almost blind sight, the parents brought her to sought possible solution to the child's condition.

We however need to establish the fact that, an eyesight problem for a child does not necessarily translate into blindness, there may be lots of associated eye defects for a child which could range from vision impairment, low vision and others without it being blindness on a flat note.

A child is considered to have eye defect when it is observed that the child cannot see beyond 6 m, in actual fact a child with a normal vision can see within 60 m. A child with a normal vision can sight at 180 degrees, but when the child's vision gets limited to 20 degrees in diameter, then there is a case of suspected blindness there.

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A child could, on the other hand, be diagnosed with low vision when he finds it difficult to see things he should see based on his age, this condition is usually linked with blurred vision, side vision as well as low vision.1

According to research published by Community Eye Health Journal, the estimated number of blind children in the world is 1.4 million and there is a daily case of 500,000 coming up every year. 2

What could make this innocent looking souls have issues with their eyes when they do not even any experience with this wicked world is what kept running through my mind all through the night, well let's see what I found out, shall we?

Possible reasons why a child could experience sight issues.

The problem could be from birth, the child's eyes could appear alright but experience difficulty with having the brain pick up information.

The experience of a child's blindness could be a genetic issue.

The absence of vitamin A in a child's diet could lead to blindness for the child. Vitamin A is required to help nourish and protect the cornea, the lack of vitamin A in the body, will leave the cornea exposed to various forms of injury which could lead to blindness.

Any form of accident, either minor or major, that affects the eye could result in blindness for the child.

The absence of proper immunization for a growing child could as well have the cornea of the child's eyes exposed to infection and eventually blindness.

It is always better to identify the eye defect in a child fast in order to make necessary corrections if possible before the condition gets worse. Here are some simple signals that could help parents/guardians realize the possibility of a child that has an eye defect.

  • When a child does not make regular eye contact with family, then there is a problem.

  • The baby has eye movement, moving from side to side regularly.

  • A baby's eyes are supposed to react when light is turned on in the room, when your baby's eyes doesn't react then there is an issue.

  • A baby has difficulty seeing things clearly, even when everywhere is clear enough.

The moment you realize any of this issue, it is important to visit a paediatrician or optometrist instantly.

Just in case you are thinking twice about visiting an expert the moment you notice your child's eye defect, I think it is essential you understand that a delay could affect other areas of the child's life even more than the eye.

  • A child with a bad eyesight will have difficulty writing and reading.

  • The child may be unable to tell between day and nighttime.

  • There could also be a problem associated with movement for the child because once he cannot see, he might be scared of moving.

  • The child's playing ability might also become highly restricted.

Possible treatment for the condition.

Some eye defect conditions are untreatable and the child may either manage this condition for a lifetime or even go blind.
As expected, there will be a test to determine how deep the condition is and some possible treatments are:

Medications: Experts may in this case have to inject prescribed medications into the eye.

** Laser Surgery**: This treatment works by having a laser used to take out an area around the edge of the retina.

Cryotherapy: This treatment is used by using an instrument to freeze the section of the eye that extends beyond the retina edges.3

References.

https://raisingchildren.net.au/disability/guide-to-disabilities/assessment-diagnosis/vision-impairment

https://www.cehjournal.org/resources/prevention-of-childhood-blindness-teaching-set-full-text/

https://www.danburyeye.com/blog/detail/2018/06/22/common-causes-of-blindness-in-children.html

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Hi, I am Tobi a writer, a speaker, relationship blogger, lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. Want to hear me speak on relationships and general life issues, you can find my podcast channel Here and listen to any episode for free, do not forget to subscribe and share with friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from members of the community, do well to keep them coming.



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10 comments
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Great post Tobi.

I was a child who had an eye defect at a very young age. I thank God for making my mother so observant and so I started going to the eye clinic as early as 6months.

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I am so glad your eyes are working well now, it's not easy to go through life with a poor eye sight.

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I wonder which is worse being bling or being deaf

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May we not have any reason to experience any of the two.

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Thanks a lot for this post on eye defects. It is very important that those are detected early so that they can be treated (or eased at least, when they can be).

Cheers!

PS: Thanks for providing some news on the child of the friend you mentioned earlier, and also in this post.

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Thank you for being interested in the child's case you have a very good heart.

Nothing is really organized and working in this country, hence the delay with the processing of the documents to travel to India for the child's treatment.

You can imagine having to juggle bank work with going to the hospital and going to the Nigerian embassy to get things done, highly stressful. She is going through a lot of things right now and we are really hoping for the best out of the situation.

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I send my best thoughts (I guess this is the only thing I can do at this stage...). I hope that in the future, things will get facilitated... Who knows... we can dream...

I hope you had a nice week-end time.

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(Edited)

Sincerely praying for better days and a better economic system..... We keep dreaming.

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As long as there is hope, nothing is lost! :)

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