Definition
Definition
In France, approximately 150 children aged 000 to 0 years are at risk one day or another of becoming visually impaired or blind. For the National Association for the Improvement of Vision (ASNAV), the development of prevention and early detection of visual impairment requires the mobilization not only of the medical profession but above all and above all that of the parents. Early detection of a visually impaired person is very important. Indeed, when the child is corrected before the age of two and a half, he can recover his normal vision. After five years, the child will have good vision only in 5% of cases.
Generalities
Ce screening concerns approximately 3 million children between 0 and 5 years old.
About one in six have vision problems that is to say approximately 620 children including:
- 150 have problems withamblyopia. This term comes from the Greek amblus meaning weakened and ôps, eye, and characterizes a weakness of visual acuity, without it having a known ocular cause. There are two varieties of amblyopia. Organic amblyopia, due to damage to the eye itself after a trauma, a infection, a intoxication or an attack on the optic nerve. Functional amblyopias are not accompanied by an organic lesion, but still cause a vision deficit.
- 70 have organic lesions, including 000 who are blind, 4000 will have organic amblyopia (see above) and 4000 have cataracts (lens opacification).
Evolution
Prevention
Screening
Contrary to popular belief, this is not theophthalmologist or another vision specialist who can screen for vision problems. Indeed, these specialists are the last link in the screening chain and it is mainly up to parents and those around them to detect these anomalies.
The following signs (non-exhaustive list) allow you to do this:
- Repetitive clumsiness.
- attention deficit.
- Difficulty learning to read.
- Child's position during reading whose head is close to his book or notebook, position of the child in front of a television screen to which he tends to get excessively close.
- Abnormal eye movements.
- Presence of a strabismus. This lack of parallelism of the eyes is accompanied by a deviation of one or both eyes towards the inside (convergent strabismus or esotropia) commonly observed in grandchildren. Strabismus towards the outside (divergent strabismus or exotropia) mainly affects older children and adults. A person with strabismus looks cross-eyed. In children, the origin of strabismus (which is normal at birth and should disappear after a few months) is generally myopia (disorder of vision of distant objects: the image of the object is formed in front of the retina) or hyperopia (poor perception of close objects). Strabismus persisting beyond six months after birth requires a consultation with an ophthalmologist.
Related Terms and Articles
Useful addresses
ASNAV 185 rue de Bercy, 75012 PARIS Cedex 12
Phone: 0143 462 765
http://www.fortunecity.fr/classification/topsites/French/fcpopup.html
See also the video on the eye.