Essay Example on Detecting Refractive Error in Your Child: When to Take Action

Introduction

According to Ma et al. (2016), refractive error simply means the shape of an individual's not bending in the right manner hence causing a blurred image. Refractive errors result in blurred vision; it is, therefore, critical for your child to be examined immediately after exhibiting symptoms. The refractive error happens when the light fails to focus on the retina. Differently, in normal vision, light passes via the eye lens and focuses on the retina. For one to see clearly, the object's light rays need to focus on the eye's inner layer. The eye works the same way as a camera. It has the pupil that is an opening at the front, a mechanism of focusing which constitutes the cornea and crystalline lens and also a portion of light-sensing at the back that constitute the retina. Therefore, if rays of light are not focused on the retina, there is a presence of a refractive error. The essay discusses the common types of refractive errors in children, their types and frequency, and lastly, management and implication for a patient.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Hypermetropia

It is the most common refractive type that affects a child's vision towards recognizing objects near them. In this eye condition, objects appear blurred, but the child's vision gets clearer when looking at things located far away. This condition is very risky because if it fails to receive early medical attention, it will result in Amblyopia and esotropia (Hu et al., 2019). Hypermetropia in preschool children entails both mild and severe symptoms. The mild one is when the natural lenses of a child's eye are very flexible and often changes focus to compensate, whereas severe one results in difficulty in seeing things and reading problems for children.

Hypermetropia correction depends on the available accommodation such that when the accommodation amount exceeds the hypermetropia amount comfortably, then there will be a need for correction. During the view of a near task, there is a need of the available accommodation to exceed Hypermetropia comfortably and the required accommodation for the near task. Inadequate accommodation, a low hypermetropic refractive may not require corrections. Moderate corrections may be required for near only and higher ones needed in full time. In presbyopes that have less available accommodation, there may be a need for correction of even low hypermetropia amounts (Wang et al., 2016). Hypermetropia can be managed and corrected in various ways. This includes glasses, contact lenses, and surgery.

Firstly, the safest and simplest way to correct Hypermetropia is through wearing glasses. Prescription of convex lenses bends light rays slightly inwards in order to offer the eye with additional focusing power. In this regard, the rays of light have reduced angle to bend travelling via the lens and cornea; the lens does not have a lot of work to do at this moment. Due to this, rays of light are capable of focusing on the retina. Children can be prescribed with different lenses as there exist numerous spectacle choice frames that are flexible to all budgets. Moreover, it can be corrected through the contact lenses which have a similar job to that of glasses; however, they sit on the eye's surface. There exist different contact lenses types; some may be soft while others are rigid. Their disposition can be on daily or monthly terms depending on the type of contacts purchased. However, they tend to be more costly than glasses and need a lot of care and hygiene. This type of prescription is more suitable for older teenagers rather than very young children. Lastly, surgery plays a bigger role in the correction of Hypermetropia. The most recommended form of surgery is the Laser eye surgery; however, it is very costly but has a higher probability of giving permanent restoration to normal sight.

Myopia

This is a problem associated with a child's vision of seeing objects that are far away. The condition occurs when the eyeball is slightly longer, resulting in the focus of light rays in front of the retina rather than directly on it. Since the image is directly focused in front of the retina, the nearer objects appear to be clear while the ones far away are blurry. The major cause of myopia is linked to genetics because it follows a pattern of dose-dependent. This condition begins at a very early age; however, most cases associated with it are notable in school-age children. Myopia prevalence and its progression rate vary in accordance with different factors such as age, ethnicity, education, and population. Evidence suggests that most children develop myopic because of spending much time on reading and lesser time on outdoor activities such as sports. According to the study by Tan, Christiansen & Wang (2019), children aged between 7-9 years with reading culture have a higher probability of being myopic. A follow-up study by Mayro et al. (2018) in schoolchildren aged 7-11 years showed a connection existing between the progression of slower myopic and outdoor activities, a lot of time spent on wearing glasses, and lesser time on the computer.

Correction for myopia will definitely improve a child's distance vision. The stronger the connection is, the more blurred the distance vision will be without it. There may be a need for a weaker myopic correction only for the farthest visual tasks. In myopes, it is very critical to consider the position of the true far point. In regards to this, the negative sign is an indication that the far point is in front of the eye. For instance, -0.50D myope has a clear vision at 2m and a blurred one farther than this. If a myope is 3.00, it will have a clear vision at 33 cm and blurred one farther than this. The -3.00 myope will not have to accommodate in order to view near targets at 33cm if not corrected. Such a patient will be able to view close without having to put on spectacles or needing accommodation because they will find near tasks to be more comfortable even without correction. This is because the less accommodative effort will be needed and if presbyopic will even be in a position to read without a near addition.

With more people being diagnosed with myopia, there is much interest in finding ways of controlling myopia progression in childhood. Different techniques have been tried out; some of these entails fitting children with bifocals, progressive lenses, and contact lenses of glass permeable. However, all of the mentioned have resulted in mixed results. Recent clinical trials indicated that the progression of myopia could easily be slowed down by low dose atropine in school-age children with very few side effects in comparison with higher concentration. However, some kids do not respond appropriately to the atropine drops. A study by Ostrin (2018) shows that disposable contact lens that is dual-focused on a daily basis decreased the rate of progression of myopia in children aged 8-12 years as compared to a single vision lens. The multifocal lens was able to reduce the progression of myopia by 59% within one year, 54% at two years and three years it reduced by 52% as compared to myopia progression illustrated by children that wore conventional contact lenses (Basnet & Basnet, 2019). This condition has a very negative impact on patients because severe myopia puts an individual at an increased risk of damaging the central retina area.

Astigmatism

This is a common condition resulting in blurry vision. In normal cases, the cornea, which is the eye's outer clear layer, is dome-shaped like a basketball's top. Differently, Astigmatism has a cornea shape, which is more like a football. This alters the manner in which light enters the eye hence making nearer and far objects to appear blurry. A child can have this condition in one or both of the eyes. Astigmatism is very common in infants but usually disappears by itself when a child is one year of age. However, children with myopia or hyperopia are at higher risk of developing Astigmatism. This condition affects children from Hispanic origins at higher rates than other children. Symptoms of this condition include squinting, strain in the eye and headache. Astigmatism occurs when there is an abnormal cornea curvature, which interferes with the way light enters into the eye and travel to the retina. In normal cases, light usually reaches retina as one focal point, while in people with Astigmatism, the retina gets light from different focal points resulting in up-close of objects and, at the same time, objects appearing blurry at a distance. Astigmatism, too, can be corrected with glasses, refractive surgery and contact lenses. However, the surgery is very less common in the correction of Astigmatism condition; however, because it is a laser procedure changing an individual's eyes, it associates with risks when practiced. The condition needs to be treated as soon as possible. The corrective lenses for the condition bend the incoming rays of light to compensate error accruing due to faulty refraction hence enabling images to be projected appropriately onto the retina. This usually takes the form of glasses or contact lenses. A prescription that is normal for near objects or far objects entails the sphere power for the correction of vision. The Astigmatism lenses entail a spherical power that is used to correct near and far objects, a cylinder lens power for correcting the condition and also an axis designation describing the cylinder correction positioning. Glasses are highly recommended for children below 12 years of age because contact lenses require high hygiene. Moreover, the condition can be corrected through orthokeratology, which entails putting on a fitted, rigid contact lens, for instance, overnight so as to reshape the cornea. However, this does not improve a child's vision permanently, but they can see better all day after they have won that.

Amblyopia

This type of condition occurs in children when there is a reduced vision, most particularly in one eye and cannot be corrected with spectacles alone. In order to test for this condition, doctors use a pinhole test, which is a quicker and easier way of testing. Amblyopia arises because of some vision interruptions during critical periods and can only be reversed when treated on time (Ali, Ahmad & Ayub, 2017). There are different types of Amblyopia; however, the most common include anisometropic, strabismic and meridional. According to Murthy et al. (2002), Anisometropic and strabismic are the most common types and are usually found together. The treatment of this condition is twofold. There is a need to first correct the cause of the condition, and then Amblyopia needs to be reversed. In the first instance, refractive errors should be corrected because that alone can result in an improved vision. A patient can consider using spectacles for the first few weeks to see if there will be any improvement. If this fails to work, the condition can be reversed by occlusion therapy. This kind of therapy entails occluding the good eye for a certain period in order to force the bad one to work (Elkitkat et al., 2018). This is particularly done with an eye patch; however, sometimes, the doctors use a frosted lens. It does not require full time as even a few hours daily are effective. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure good compliance with the prescribed therapy.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the essay has been quite informative in regards to the topic of refractive errors in children. The paper has given an in-depth discussion concerning the main refractive errors in children; this includes Hypermetropia, Myopia, Astigmatism and Amblyopia. Different age groups have seen to associate with this condition with particular intensity ranging from mild to severe. The good thing is that the conditions can be managed through various medical procedures such as wearing glasses, e...