Child Examination

The last sensory system to develop during life in the womb is vision. From the 25th week of pregnancy, it has been observed that the baby responds increasingly to visual stimuli such as light. Eyelid movements also begin in this period. The baby's eyelids are closed until the 26th week. In reality, the inside of the uterus is not absolute darkness. It transmits light just as it transmits sounds. Therefore, the baby can easily distinguish between day and night. Only one percent of the outside light reaches the unborn baby. However, this amount is sufficient for the unborn baby to perceive colors and store them in their memory. Especially red tones are perceived better. As previously thought, the baby's senses in the mother's womb are not an underdeveloped creature. On the contrary, from a very early period, his senses begin to develop and he knows his environment and stores information in his memory. For this reason, it is beneficial to apply stimuli such as sound, light and touch to the baby in moderation.
Unfortunately, we can see many eye diseases that we see in adults in our children, whom we protect from all kinds of evil and whom we can not associate with any disease. These can be very serious such as cataracts, glaucoma (eye pressure), lazy eye, droopy eyelids, Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), Eye Tumors, as well as simple diseases such as infection. In general, eye disorders such as myopia, astigmatism, and hyperopia, which are frequently seen in eye controls, are also frequently encountered in children and infants.
So, are there risk factors for these diseases? Of course, we can answer yes to your question. These are: Family history of hereditary eye disease, Drug use during pregnancy, Contagious diseases with fever during pregnancy, history of premature birth, History of incubator oxygen therapy, Mode of delivery, Postnatal trauma, accident, fall, Fever and Convulsion history.
The average length of a normal pregnancy is about 40 weeks (280 days). According to the World Health Organization, births before 36 weeks are considered premature.
Premature babies are at greater risk for eye problems than full-term babies, and the earlier this risk increases.
Eye tissues have not completed their development before 40 weeks. In a premature baby, especially in a baby receiving incubator and oxygen therapy, the peripheral retinal vascular layer stops before it can complete its development and forms undeveloped irregular vessels. These veins are prone to bleeding.
Retinopathy of prematurity is the name given to the invasion of normal tissue of the retina by abnormal blood vessels and fibrous tissue. ROP causes poor wound healing, retinal detachment, and eventually poor or no vision in the retina. In some cases, complete blindness develops.
All premature babies are at risk of ROP. Very low birth weight babies are at additional risk. The risk is much higher, especially if these babies had to be immediately placed in a high oxygen environment.
It is essential for all babies to undergo an eye examination. However, in premature babies, eye examination is a must. Retinal examination should be performed with special examination methods. And laser treatments may be required in the detection of retinopathy. These babies are eye patients throughout their lives and their controls should be done without interruption.
Drooling in babies is a very important condition. Generally, the blind eye shifts. If there is a deterioration in the vision of one eye, especially in early childhood, a shift occurs in that eye. This situation can sometimes be beneficial and stimulating for families to warn and provide early treatment.
Especially in infancy, high hyperopia is one of the reasons that may cause eye shift. And the eye that fails to focus the two eyes together develops a shift. This results in lazy eye. Sometimes the slippage happens in one eye, while in some cases it can happen in both eyes. Generally, the eye with better vision is preferred. Newborn cataracts can usually be recognized by the white reflex they give before they cause slippage, but if the diagnosis is not made, it can cause slippage in the future. Another issue is the problems behind the eyes. Among these, eye tumors occupy an important place. Eye tumors in children can have a rapid onset and cause white reflex in the eye. While the red reflex in the pupil is normal, especially in photo shoots, it is considered an abnormal situation to see a white reflex.
The first thing to be done in the treatment of slippage in babies is to determine the cause. First of all, when we eliminate the cause, the problem can be corrected, but this situation can cause a troublesome process in babies.
The investment in the child is very important in terms of eye diseases until the first 9 years of age. While many diseases that cannot be treated in this period cannot be treated in later ages, they may cause functional deficiencies.
When to see a doctor is one of the most common questions we come across. Unfortunately, children and babies cannot express what they see less because they are not aware of it. Whether there is a problem in their eyes cannot be noticed until they are examined by an eye specialist, and late diagnosis can cause delays in treatments and problems in a wide area, from lazy eye to loss of the eye.
Early diagnosis and treatment is very important. The first examination should be done immediately after birth, within the first 6 months. In this period, a possible congenital cataract, glaucoma, tumors or developmental disorders, lacrimal duct obstruction, strabismus can be recognized.
Newborn babies are sometimes born before this canal is fully formed. Mostly, the blockage is at the point where the canal should be opened to the nose, and the canal is closed with a thin membrane in this region. This is common in newborn babies. In most babies, this phenomenon goes undetected at birth. Only in some newborns it can be observed as a soft swelling on the nose, between the nose and the eye. But most babies are normal at the time of birth, around 2-4 years old. It starts to show itself with continuous watering and burrs in the eye in weeks. Purulent fluid outflow can be seen by pressing the pouch area. These complaints may increase over time and are usually a condition that resolves by 1 year of age. If the canal is recanalized within the first year, which is a high rate of 90%; complaints are completely gone. However, after the age of 1, the possibility of spontaneous opening of the canal is considerably reduced and medical assistance is needed.
Mothers and fathers who have a newborn baby with duct obstruction usually come to us with the following complaints:
"There was no problem at birth, it was completely normal, or a few days after birth, there was burrs, we used drugs and it passed, there was no problem, but watering started at about 3 weeks - 1 month. Now there is constant burr formation. I constantly have to clean it. I'm on medication, it seems to go away, but then it starts again..."
When the child is 1 year old, if watering and burrs still continue, medical intervention should be considered now. Especially a simple intervention between 12-18 months will be very useful. Delaying the intervention, which is not carried out within this period, until after the age of 2 will not be beneficial. For this reason, probing should be considered in a patient whose duct obstruction has not resolved spontaneously until the age of 1 year. Pressure lavage is performed from the upper punctum by closing the lower punctum before probing. If lavage is not performed, probing process is started. After the tear ducts are checked and lavage is performed in both eyes, the procedure is terminated. It is a procedure performed under general anesthesia (mask anesthesia) and takes about 5-10 minutes. Afterwards, the patient is given antibiotic drops to be applied for the eye and a nasal spray containing sea water for the congestion area in the nose. If the first application is unsuccessful, a second probe can be applied.
Probing is a very successful process in experienced hands. However, in some cases, the channel is opened with probing, but it closes again as the channel's response to healing, and continuation cannot be achieved. In this case, silicone tube application is recommended for children over 2 years old. The tube is left in place for about 2-6 months.
Dacryocystorhinostomy, which is a more comprehensive surgical procedure, should be considered in cases where success is not achieved after all these applications and the obstruction is at the bone level. For this operation, the age at which the child's facial bone structure develops should be selected. The timing of this surgery should be decided according to the severity of the symptoms, the problems of the patient's family, and the infection status.
Thanks to the developing technology, the presence of astigmatism, hidden strabismus (microtropia), high hyperopia and many problems that can cause lazy eye can be easily recognized even in a 1-month-old baby. Thanks to advanced devices, we can make measurements from a certain distance without scaring babies and small children. Thus, we can carry out the treatment of the child without fearing the examination, without even realizing that he is being examined.
Generally, our recommendation is to undergo an annual eye control in infants and children. However, in children who have not been diagnosed with the disease and are not brought to the annual control, the appropriate age for the 2nd control is 3 years after the first control is performed until the age of 1 year. At this age, our child now begins to communicate with us, reacts to the animal pictures we show, and the percentage of vision can be determined. This is a period in which we often encounter lazy eye and can best treat it. It is a period when the phrase "the tree bends when it is wet" is very good for eye diseases. Because amblyopia, which we encounter at later ages, is more difficult to treat, and the later the treatment age, the lower the success.
The third examination time is the pre-school period. Eye disorders encountered in this period affect the vision of children quite a lot. In school-age children, low academic achievement, boredom, indifference to lessons, distraction, tic formation are often associated with eye disorders.
As a result, even if we do not think that there is a problem, we should have our children examined by an ophthalmologist once a year. The best time is the months when the school term starts. Children are not aware of what they see less and treatments that are not done at the right time can cause eye loss.
The eyes of our children are the guarantee of our future.

Generally, the blind eye shifts. If there is a deterioration in the vision of one eye, especially in early childhood, a shift occurs in that eye. This situation can sometimes be beneficial and stimulating for families to warn and provide early treatment.
Especially in infancy, high hyperopia is one of the reasons that may cause eye shift. And the eye that fails to focus the two eyes together develops a shift. This results in lazy eye. Sometimes the slippage happens in one eye, while in some cases it can happen in both eyes. Generally, the eye with better vision is preferred. Newborn cataracts can usually be recognized by the white reflex they give before they cause slippage, but if the diagnosis is not made, it can cause slippage in the future. Another issue is the problems behind the eyes. Among these, eye tumors occupy an important place. Eye tumors in children can have a rapid onset and cause white reflex in the eye. While the red reflex in the pupil is normal, especially in photo shoots, it is considered an abnormal situation to see a white reflex.
The first thing to be done in the treatment of slippage in babies is to determine the cause. First of all, when we eliminate the cause, the problem can be corrected, but this situation can cause a troublesome process in babies.
The investment in the child is very important in terms of eye diseases until the first 9 years of age. While many diseases that cannot be treated in this period cannot be treated in later ages, they may cause functional deficiencies.

Eye diseases and visual disorders have a special importance in childhood. Disorders in this period cause lazy eye in children, and cause it to reach incurable dimensions due to late diagnosis. Visual impairments in school-age children cause negative effects on school life.
In myopia disorder, which causes farsightedness, the child cannot see the information written on the board, making it difficult to perceive. Since he can't see the board, he tries to get information from his friend's notes and look at what he wrote. This attitude causes him to fall behind in the lessons, to be distracted, and to cause negative events with his teacher.
A school-aged child with astigmatism and hyperopia disorders cannot focus on a place for a long time and starts to get bored quickly. Less interest in lessons. He doesn't want to study. What they do is careless. When reading a book, there are line skips. They may also develop eye tics due to excessive muscle fatigue in order to see better.
Our recommendation in this regard is that even if there is no problem, children should have their eyes checked once a year. Children do not understand and cannot explain what they do not see. Eye health and healthy vision are very important conditions that are directly effective in school success.
The most common and most important eye disease in children is lazy eye, which is called amblyopia in medical terms. lazy eye; In cases where there is no problem in the eye, but the vision of the eye is blocked for any reason, the lag of the child's eye can be explained as the inability to learn to see. If this problem can be recognized in childhood, that is, before the age of 9, it is much easier to treat. However, if the family does not take their child to the doctor, the diagnosis of the disease is delayed and the treatment is delayed. The younger the child, the more successful the treatment of lazy eye.
It is difficult for children to express what they do not see. And eye treatments are incomplete and failures in lessons appear as if there is a learning disability.
Since we usually use our two eyes to see, it is difficult to detect if there is amblyopia in one eye. And this causes the progression of the disease. A child who cannot see well is open to harm from the environment. Since he cannot see well, he encounters blows and falls more often.
Sometimes, different treatments are applied to the thought that the child has attention deficit. In fact, it should come to mind that the cause may be a visual impairment. It is especially important that families and institutions dealing with children pay attention to this issue. Children who are bored easily and who are thought to have a lack of attention should definitely have their eyes checked.
We come across with children who started school late with the diagnosis of attention deficit, who were given special treatments unnecessarily, and who were recently diagnosed with visual impairment. Diagnosis and treatment of pediatric eye diseases is very important.
Of course, we will have taken a much more effective step if we can add the eye examination to the list of mandatory examinations, such as the vaccination schedule for newborns and children of certain ages.
Children cannot express what they cannot see. For this reason, every child should be checked for visual impairment, even if they have no problems.
The eyes of our children are the guarantee of our future.

When we look at a child, we can't help but think whether it resembles its mother or father. While it usually resembles a parent, we can sometimes compare it to a distant relative in the family. Diseases are like that. A disease that is in the parents can occur in the child. Sometimes, while the parents and even the grandparents are healthy, a similar disease in a cousin or a distant relative can be seen in the child.
All this is explained by genetic reasons. The features in the chromosomes, in which all our genetic information is carried, are transferred to the next generations.
The presence of high myopia in the family causes the development and progression of myopia in children at an early age. For this reason, we can make suggestions to delay the development of myopia for the children of people with myopia in the family.
If there is astigmatism in the family, the probability of having it in the child is quite high. There is nothing we can do to reduce astigmatism in this regard. It is not possible to change it like eye color if it is genetically encoded.
If there is a family history of hyperopia and lazy eye, it is one of the most important problems in childhood. The presence of relatives who received treatment for amblyopia causes us to approach the child more skeptically and to increase the frequency of follow-up. With a good family history, early diagnosis and treatment can prevent squint and lazy eye.
However, for a child to have a disease, there is no condition that someone in the family has a disease. Although there is no disease in the family and relatives, many diseases can be seen in the child. For this reason, even if there is no problem in the family, children should definitely have an eye examination.

In these months when we feel the cold of the winter months, we often encounter eye burring in children. This situation is manifested by bloody eyes in children, especially in the mornings, due to the infectious condition in the body, in these months when body resistance decreases and flu symptoms are seen intensely. Conjunctivitis, which is transmitted by droplets and contact, is generally contagious with burring in the eyes in cases where closed spaces are preferred more due to cold weather.
It is easily transmitted in school environments. In general, there is a sticking of eyelashes in the eyes with intense burrs in the morning. There are varying degrees of redness in the eye. Although there is stinging and burning, in some cases, difficulty in seeing can be seen.
Children with such ailments can usually be rested with a report for a few days with home rest in order to avoid contamination. Necessary treatments should be done as an eye doctor examination. Buying and using drugs from the pharmacy without an examination can lead to dangerous situations. In order to prevent the disease and prevent re-contamination, hands should be washed frequently and contact with eyes should be avoided. Attention should be paid to hand-eye contact, especially in closed and common areas. Attention should be paid to people who have watering and burrs in their infected eyes. People living in the same home environment should be careful to use different towels.
We should talk about the importance of hand washing quite often in order to protect our children, who are generally inadequate in protecting themselves, from conjunctivitis.

When babies are born, their vision is not at the level of an adult human. The structuring of the relationship between the eye and the brain and the formation of the visual message are completed over time. During this period, occasional fixation losses and shifts can be observed in babies. However, if the slip is continuous, this should be considered. Many diseases can be counted among the causes of eye shift in infants. Among these, common problems include eye cataract disease, visual center diseases, eye muscle diseases, myopia-hypermetropia-astigmatism disorders, eye tumors and syndromes.
Eye drift that occurs in childhood is a very special situation. The eye that doesn't see it as a general opinion glides. For this reason, a careful examination should be done first in the shifts that occur in childhood, not in infancy. Often the cause is hyperopia from eye refraction disorders. The image formed in the eye with high hyperopia is blurred. Therefore, the transmission between the brain and the eye slows down. While the brain accepts the well-sighted eye as dominant, it begins to neglect the low-vision eye. In this case, the level of vision in the eye that is disconnected from the brain decreases and amblyopia occurs. In this case, the eye starts to slide and this situation attracts the attention of the parents. However, it is necessary not to fall into the misconception that the eyes of children who do not have a gliding disorder will be healthy, since sometimes there may be laziness in the eyes, even if there is a laziness in the eye.
A detailed eye examination is the first thing to be done in infants and children with gliding in the eye. If the cause of the slippage is due to an organic structural problem, the problem should be treated with surgery. However, if the problem is due to refractive error, the treatment should not be surgery immediately. First of all, the eye should be brought to a certain level of vision with glasses treatment and closure. If the slip continues despite the glasses, then surgery should be considered.
If our children are our future, our children's eyes are the guarantee of our future. Reminding that vision completes its development at the first 9 years of age, I would like to emphasize that we should have our children examined at regular intervals, even if there is no problem in childhood.

Although we have been more conscious about eye health in recent years, we encounter people who live their lives without being aware of their vision loss until old age, although not frequently. With the development of technology, it has become easier to diagnose visual disorders because we have to use our eyes more. However, there are still great neglects in eye examinations in childhood. The general opinion; If there is no visual impairment in children and there is no obvious problem before school age, eye examinations are not necessary, and this is a huge misconception. Any eye disease that can occur in adults can occur in infants and children. These can be listed in a wide range such as cataract, eye tumor, eye pressure, hyperopia, astigmatism. In fact, if the child does not express any discomfort or there is no problem noticed by the teacher, the examination age is left to much later periods.
Family influence is very important in infant and child eye examinations. It is not possible to understand whether a baby or child sees and how healthy it is without examining them. And this examination should be done by ophthalmologists. In other words, the eye health check in the examination made by taking him to the pediatrician at regular intervals is not very accurate and sufficient. It can cause deficiencies and ultimately lead to irreversible problems. A baby should be examined by an ophthalmologist for a general eye control in the first 6 months after birth. After this period, annual controls are of great importance. The first 9 years is the golden period of a child's eye health. Eye problems noticed during this period are treated more easily and lazy eye formation can be prevented. At least 3 examination sessions must be done before school age in children who cannot be taken to annual control. These are the first 6 months, 3 years and 5.5 years.
Early diagnosis and treatment of diseases is possible with conscious parents.

Children do not know what they cannot see, they are not aware of whether their eyes see well or not. Here, the responsibility falls to us parents. Even if there is no problem or disease, every child should go through eye doctor checks at certain times.
In our country, where controls such as hearing test and hip dislocation are mandatory for every child, it is absolutely necessary to include eye checks in preventive health services. Because the eyes of children did not complete their development when they were first born. I liken the eyes of children at this age to a soft dough. And this process continues until the age of 9-10. If the eyes are given a healthy condition during this period, we can gain a society that sees better, sees with healthier children and learns. We have submitted projects to the health directorate in this regard.
While a child who has reached school age but cannot learn because he cannot see, is described as a hyperactivity disorder or an uninterested -lazy child, sometimes even a year may be lost in this case. Sometimes when the child reaches the middle school age, he realizes that he cannot see, but now those ages are too late.
For this reason, the first examination of the baby by an ophthalmologist should be done in the first 6 months after birth. In the following years, control examinations should be made once a year. I hope that in the coming years, compulsory eye examination will be added to the controls that should be done as a ranger doctor before it is too late. In order for this to happen, we will continue our awareness activities with love and hope.
A healthy child means a healthy future.
If our children are our future, our children's eyes are the guarantee of our future.

Children cannot express what they cannot see. For this reason, every child should be examined by an ophthalmologist, even if he or she has no problems.
The most common and most important eye disease in children is lazy eye, which is called amblyopia in medical terms. lazy eye; In cases where there is no problem in the eye, but the vision of the eye is blocked for any reason, the lag of the child's eye can be explained as the inability to learn to see. The reason that hinders vision may be droopy eyelid, eye hyperopia or astigmatism disorder or strabismus. These situations are very important. Because when we correct the main problem, we can prevent and treat amblyopia. If this problem can be recognized in childhood, that is, before the age of 9, it is much easier to treat. However, if the family does not take their child to the doctor, the diagnosis of the disease is delayed and the treatment is delayed.
The younger the child, the more successful the treatment of lazy eye.
In the treatment of a child with amblyopia, the cause of the laziness should be determined first. This is mostly seen as hyperopia. First of all, the cause of the eye disorder should be corrected with appropriate glasses. Closure treatment should then be planned. In closure treatment, the closure must be under the glasses and it must completely cover the eye. The other eye with amblyopia will be forced to work and the level of vision will increase, since the eye that is covered in such a way that it does not pass even light cannot see. However, effective closure is very important here. Because the open eye should be given enough warnings to keep it working. In effective closure, especially close work should be done by spending time with the family. Closing times vary according to the age of the child and the depth of the lazy eye. This situation should be evaluated well by the ophthalmologist and the family should be told in detail which eye should be closed for how many hours.
In cases of strabismus, first of all, lazy eye should be treated, and then strabismus surgery should be planned. Strabismus may develop again in the operations performed without treating amblyopia.
In cases where there is a droopy eyelid, the condition that causes amblyopia, the optic axis of the eye should be opened with eyelid surgery without wasting any time.

Cataract, which is mostly seen in the elderly, i.e. in the 60s, can also be seen in infancy. Cataract seen in infancy may be congenital or may occur in the first years of life.
The cataract that occurs at birth is called congenital cataract, and the mother's infection during pregnancy and the drugs used during pregnancy are the main causes. However, sometimes "congenital cataract" can still be found in some children, even though there is no reason.
When cataracts in babies and children are intense, it can be noticed by careful parents when viewed from the outside. But when it's not very intense it's hard to spot.
As the features we can count among the symptoms; One pupil being different from the other; The cataracted eye may appear to be white and dull in color. Another feature is; Eye drift (strabismus); It should not be forgotten that the main cause of eye shifts that occur in infancy may be "Congenital Cataract".
The biggest harm of the presence of cataract in infants and children is lazy eye. Therefore, lazy eye can be prevented with early diagnosis and early treatment.
The only treatment method for cataract is surgery. When the surgery should be done; The density of the cataract is decided by the eye specialist after a detailed eye examination, depending on whether it is unilateral or bilateral; Not all cataracts are the same. It is usually in the form of blurring of the entire lens. In others, it occurs in only one part and then begins to spread to other parts of the lens. Cataracts take years to develop, and in some cases, it can take several months. Cataracts can develop in both eyes at the same time, but at different rates.
It should not be forgotten that approximately 25-50% of children with congenital cataracts may have eye pressure with Cataract!

Myopia is a visual impairment disease frequently encountered in school-age children. Myopia is one of the leading vision problems. In general, while the child cannot see the writings on the board, this situation may be perceived as indifferent to the lessons and as a comprehension disorder. And the child tries to see better by squinting and straining the eye muscles to see better. This situation, which is also effective in social relations, also causes the inability to recognize a person in front of you.
The child who has difficulty in seeing the board also has difficulty in understanding the lesson. He starts watching from his friend's notebook in order to see what is written. This situation causes unhealthy learning.
Although this is less disturbing when the child is seated in the front row, treatment is still needed.
The treatment of myopia disease is the use of glasses in childhood. When the child is given glasses suitable for his eye problem, vision becomes clearer and perception increases. Some families do not want their children to use eyeglasses because they cannot accept their children's eye discomfort and the necessity of using glasses, and their eyes will become even more lazy. Or, as the most frequently asked question to us, we are faced with the question "does the eye heal when glasses are worn?" Glasses are a tool that provides good vision in the treatment of myopia. The child sees well when it is put on, but cannot see it when it is removed. As the child's age grows, the eye size usually grows. This growth is not the deterioration of the eye caused by the use of glasses. Myopia disease usually progresses in school-age children.
I would like to make an important warning about this. This warning can often be overlooked by doctors. A child with myopia cannot see far, so there is no problem in near vision and reading. If myopia is not very high and there is no additional astigmatism problem, the child should not wear glasses while studying and reading at home. In close readings; While there is no difficulty in myopia, when glasses are worn, there may be an improvement in the number of glasses as a result of excessive stimulation to the eyes. This is a situation that needs to be understood very clearly and clearly. Simple and plain A child with myopia should wear his glasses in a school environment, when watching TV, that is, in situations where distant vision is required; should take off his glasses in close reading situations.
A myopic child who wears glasses should be examined by an ophthalmologist every 6 months. New glasses should definitely be made in case of eye number changes and eyeglasses scratches.

Thanks to the cooperation of both eyes, the brain perceives the size, distance and depth of the object in three dimensions. The object is perceived as one, even when viewed with both eyes. Each eye has a visual field. Thanks to our brain, these two visual fields are combined. In cases where an eye is missing or lost for various reasons, perception is impaired. This situation is more easily tolerated in childhood. When there is eye loss from birth or in infancy and early childhood, the person's understanding of the environment is arranged accordingly and can continue his life without much difficulty. However, when there is eye loss in adulthood, the patient's adaptation is more difficult. It becomes difficult to drive. While walking, you may experience bumps and clumsiness on the side where your eyes are not.
Due to the negativities experienced in the mother's womb, another problem is encountered in babies born with no eye structure or poorly developed. The same problem occurs in patients who experience eye loss in early childhood. As the child grows, the facial bones also grow. The growth of the orbital bones in which the eye is located is directly proportional to the growth of the eye. In this period, there may be facial asymmetries in children who do not have an eyeball or are small. Various measures are needed to avoid these asymmetrical problems.
In cases where the eyeball is absent or damaged, socket implants are made and prosthetic eyes suitable for the other eye can be placed on it. With these specially designed prostheses, the appearance of our patients becomes more natural and more acceptable.
In cases where the eyeball is large enough but its shape and color are distorted due to previous diseases, the appearance can be corrected with prosthetic lenses.
While many organs can be transplanted today, total eyeball transplant is not yet possible.

The average length of a normal pregnancy is about 40 weeks (280 days). According to the World Health Organization, births before 36 weeks are considered premature.
Premature babies are at greater risk for eye problems than full-term babies, and the earlier this risk increases.
Eye tissues have not completed their development before 40 weeks. In a premature baby, especially in a baby receiving incubator and oxygen therapy, the peripheral retinal vascular layer stops before it can complete its development and forms undeveloped irregular vessels. These veins are prone to bleeding.
Retinopathy of prematurity is the name given to the invasion of normal tissue of the retina by abnormal blood vessels and fibrous tissue. ROP causes poor wound healing, retinal detachment, and eventually poor or no vision in the retina. In some cases, complete blindness develops.
All premature babies are at risk of ROP. Very low birth weight babies are at additional risk. The risk is much higher, especially if these babies had to be immediately placed in a high oxygen environment.
It is essential for all babies to undergo an eye examination. However, in premature babies, eye examination is a must. Retinal examination should be performed with special examination methods. And laser treatments may be required in the detection of retinopathy. These babies are eye patients throughout their lives and their controls should be done without interruption.