Pediatric Eye Care
No kidding! There is a story I tell everyone, not because it's a success story, but like every good story, it has a lesson to learn. I will tell you another recent one later. When I was in the initial few years of my practice, one parent came with a teenage boy complaining of not able to see. After examining; it was diagnosed as a case of Amblyopic or lazy eye. The person who later identified himself as a doctor was shocked. He could not fathom how the child never told them about the problem. I was surprised because the doctor didn’t have any clue about his child’s problem. Any layman is expected not to know about the normal or abnormal changes in a human body but a doctor missing his children's problem was surprising.
The child was put on amblyopic therapy and regained his complete vision. The doctor learned his lesson well, and he promised that he would educate his patients about this issue so that no other child loses his sight due to ignorance.
Ignorance is the word, and it is beyond class/ creed/ wealth/ rural-urban / gender divide. We don't know about our bodies. We don't know what is normal. So it becomes difficult for parents to understand what is normal/ abnormal for their children. When they realize it, it is too late for treatment. Unfortunately, in the case of eye problems in children, people, including many medical practitioners, think that they will outgrow the problem. This is totally incorrect.
Just like you treat fever or any other disease in a child, as soon as you see similarly, eye diseases in children have to be treated at the earliest.
Pediatric (children’s) eye care as a specialty is there in India for the past two decades and nearly present all over India. Pediatric ophthalmologists examine and treat all children, including new-born. It should not be a factor for a delayed check-up that the child cannot sit or speak. We are trained to see the eyes of all children, including those physically and mentally challenged.
Various guidelines tell every child to be examined for vision problems before or around school admissions. There are annual health check-ups at school, which include vision testing also. Parents should take these examinations seriously, for if any eye issue is diagnosed, it can be tackled at the earliest.
No kidding, but if your child is the apple of your eyes, you should get his eyes checked at the earliest!
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