How to identify and treat hyperopia in children?

Hyperopia or, in medical terminology, hypermetropia is a kind of refraction of the eyes. With farsightedness, the focus of the optics of the human eye is beyond the retina. That is, parallel rays emanating from objects in the field of view converge behind the retina of the eye. The cause of hyperopia is the weak refractive power of the optical environment of the eye. It can also be caused by the short length of the eyeball.

Hyperopia in children at an early age is quite normal. Babies are born with hypermetropia of eyeballs. Therefore farsightedness in children up to a year in 2-4 diopters is not a violation and should not cause unnecessary anxiety.

Farsightedness in children under three years of age is identified according to medical research in more than 90% of cases. As a rule, it persists at an early age, gradually decreasing towards normal refraction of the eyes, up to 1 diopter to school age. This change occurs because the child's eyeball is growing. However, there are cases when the long-sightedness of children does manifest, the cause of this may be a delay in the growth of the eyeball. Children who have this optical defect have to strain their eyesight. Since in order to clearly see and have a clear image of objects, a constant tension of accommodation is necessary. At first, the child's eyes seem to adjust, compensating for the existing weak degree of farsightedness. But in the future it can lead to the development of various eye diseases, for example, quite often such a "compensation" turns into a spasm of accommodation (prolonged overstrain of the eye muscle). In addition, this can cause the appearance of strabismus in the child.

Based on the degree of deviation from the normal state of the optical system of the eye,

Farsightedness in children can be divided into three types:

• Weak farsightedness, up to 2 diopters
• Average - up to 5 diopters
• And high farsightedness, over 5 diopters

Identify the extent of the violation and conduct the correct diagnosis only by conducting special medical examinations. For the prevention, we advise you not to neglect the visit of an ophthalmologist at least once a year. This will help you in a timely manner to identify visual impairments and develop the correct method of treatment. Children can not themselves determine that they have a visual impairment. Therefore it is very important to have a regular examination with a specialist. As symptoms that may indicate to you that your child may develop hyperopia, you can name the following. The kid after visual work can complain of pain in the eyes, headache. When reading a child quickly tired, experiencing visual discomfort, perhaps even can become irritable, and, of course, there is a deterioration in vision.

If your child has hyperopia, correction of this disorder can have several options.

In the preschool age, the use of positive lenses is recommended to correct even a slight degree of farsightedness. Children older than 7 years old doctor appoint glasses with collecting lenses or contact lenses. If the degree of farsightedness is weak, then glasses should be worn only with prolonged visual work, for example, during reading, at school, at home assignments. In the case, in addition to the development of hyperopia, the child has strabismus, a full optical correction of the visual system is prescribed. Of course, the sooner you can identify violations of the development of the visual apparatus of your child and begin appropriate treatment, the more likely to prevent complications.