Signs may indicate a visual problem in children

12 May 2022

Humans are not born with a fully developed and mature visual system, despite having all ocular structures complete. Visual skills are acquired and perfected when the cerebral cortex receives adequate and more or less symmetrical stimulation of both eyes during the first years of life.

Vision improves from the first month of life and only improves by about 50% by the age of 3 years. After 5 years, it will be more or less 100%.

For this reason, the first years of life -up to 7 or 8 years of age- are critical to achieve a correct visual development, since achieving an adequate visual development after this stage becomes more difficult due to the reduced brain plasticity.

Early diagnosis of anomalies that may impede normal visual development is essential at this stage of life because, if undetected, they can leave irreversible sequelae for life, and lead to poor academic performance. To diagnose these eye problems in children, parents should be aware of the need to perform a series of tests with a physician specializing in pediatric ophthalmology.

There are a variety of symptoms or signs that indicate that a child is likely to have a visual problem:

• if the child blinks or rubs his or her eyes;
• if the child winks or frowns to see better;
• if he/she has poor sitting posture;
• if he/she turns one eye away constantly or when tired;
• if he/she closes or covers one eye when reading or looking at the blackboard;
• if he/she suffers from torticollis, especially when performing close or distant tasks;
• if you bump into objects;
• if you have balance problems.