Vision problems and eye diseases are no longer uncommon. Also, such problems are not uncommon in the younger population. And it can happen at any moment and under any circumstances.
Your task, as a parent, is to prevent your child from such diseases. Well, in the event that such a problem nevertheless occurred, the consequences of the problem should be eliminated as soon as possible. But you should not panic, because in order to identify the source of the problem, you need a clear mind and the absence of negative emotions.
Why do children have pain in the eyes and how to get rid of it? Consider the main causes of pain and their elimination.
The causes of this problem fall into two categories: diseases of the eyes and other organs that can affect the visual organ, and simple overwork. Let's look at both problems in more detail.
When your child directly spends all the time at a computer, TV, tablet, phone and in other similar ways strains his eyes, it is no wonder that the child will complain of pain in his eyes. Overwork is the most common and most common cause of eye pain. and not only in children.
How to fix this problem? Forbid your child to spend all his time in this way and limit his access to electronic devices.
While this may be a difficult task, it must be completed. You just need to do this so that the child does not think that you are forbidding him something. Offer him some alternative in return (board games, walks in the park, going to the circus, etc.). Otherwise, you risk that your child may start walking with glasses / or even lose their sight. Therefore, be extremely careful.
In fact, most eye diseases appear due to bacteria entering the mucous membrane of the eye. There are a lot of chances to get any infection in this way in children. For example, he did not wash his hands after a walk in the park, rubbed his eyes with dirty hands and eventually got conjunctivitis.
What kind of diseases can these be? In fact, to accurately answer this question, you will need the help of a specialist. Therefore, the first thing in such a situation need to see an ophthalmologist. It is worth knowing that in no case should you self-medicate. This can backfire and, as a result, even worse affect the condition of the child's eyes.
The most common eye disease in babies is this. Usually, in addition to pain, this disease also causes redness and inflammation of the eyes and purulent discharge. Despite the fact that you probably know hundreds of folk methods for treating this disease, it is better to refrain from using them on your baby and still consult a specialist. It may happen that you misdiagnosed and the reason why your eyes hurt is completely different.
Also, another cause of pain in the eyes is the ingress of a foreign body into the eye. In this case, the child will complain only of pain in one eye. If this happens, then you should immediately try to pull the mote out of the eye. If you are not able to cope with this circumstance alone, then urgently go to the doctor.
Remember: do not let your child rub his eyes. The mote can be sharp enough to damage the baby's retina, and this in turn will lead to loss of vision.
Even pain in the eyes can signal more serious diseases of the eye, for example, trauma or retinal detachment, mucosal diseases, and stuff like that. In this case, and in other cases too, you should definitely consult a doctor. And be sure to remember - never self-medicate!
Among other things, one should not forget that sometimes it is very difficult for a child, and especially at an early age, to clearly identify the cause of his discomfort and say exactly what hurts him. Therefore, when identifying symptoms, you need to be very careful and in no case take hasty conclusions.
As a rule, it is possible to determine the focus of the disease by one or another symptom, but, given the previous fact, it is best to entrust this matter to specialists. You must understand that the eyes at this age are quite sensitive to absolutely everything, and besides, they are not yet fully formed. Therefore, if you could not get around such a problem, you must do everything in your power to ensure that this does not happen again in the future.
In addition to everything else, you should also worry about the vision of your child.
To do this, you can, or rather should, teach your child to do a daily workout for the eyes and take precautions.
How should it look like?
Based on this, it should be concluded that maintaining good vision and protecting the eyes from any kind of disease is much easier than it seems. You just need to treat your child with full responsibility and, not least, to instill such responsibility in your child, and from a very young age.
Symptoms of eye pain in young children may include eye rubbing, photophobia, frequent blinking, and irritability. Older children may complain of pain in the eye of any etiology, from a foreign body to an attempt to attract attention to themselves.
a) pain system. Pain impulses travel along two types of fibers - myelinated and unmyelinated. The first provide a feeling of acute transient pain, the second - a dull aching pain. Pain fibers innervating the eye and periorbital structures are part of the trigeminal (fifth cranial) nerve. Although pain most often occurs at the site of the lesion, stimulation of sensory pathways in other areas can cause referred pain: stimulation of the dura can cause retrobulbar pain.
One of the zones with the highest density of pain nerve endings is the cornea, especially their high concentration is noted in the central zone. The retina and optic nerve do not have pain nerve fibers. The sensitivity of the eyelids, lacrimal caruncle and conjunctiva is lower than that of the cornea. Other structures in the eye that can cause pain include the choroid, sclera, and optic nerve sheaths. Pain in the eye of a child can be caused by optic neuritis.
Pain is provoked by looking from side to side, which causes stretching of the sheaths of the inflamed nerve. Chronic stretching of the optic nerve sheath, such as in optic nerve glioma, is not accompanied by pain. Orbital pain can be caused by local irritation of painful nerve fibers. Such pains are usually caused by an acute process, such as a rapidly growing mass or infection.
Some patients fail to identify pathological changes that explain the pain in the eye, in such cases, asthenopia, atypical facial pain, or behavior aimed at attracting attention is made. Close interaction with parents and the child and a thorough examination are necessary to make a correct diagnosis.
b) Classification of pain in the eye:
1. Visible pathological changes in the eyes.
2. Hidden pathological changes in the eyes: refractive, accommodative.
3. The eyes are calm, but there are localizing neuro-ophthalmic symptoms.
4. Absence of eye and neuro-ophthalmic symptoms: functional.
5. Others:
a. Specific long-term or short-term headache or eye pain syndromes.
b. Reflected eye pain caused by other pathological processes (secondary eye pain).
in. Pain with damage to the orbit, superior palpebral fissure, cavernous sinus, intracranial infiltrates, neoplasms or inflammatory processes.
in) History of pain in the eye. Where does it hurt? When did the pain appear? How long do you have pain/pain? How often does pain occur? What is the nature of the pain? Are there comorbidities (eg, photophobia, visual disturbances, headache, family history of pain, general health, recent illness, infections)? Does the pain interfere with any activity? Do other family members have any medical conditions? d) Examination for pain in the eye:
1. Conduct a general examination of the child by systems and an ophthalmological examination.
2. Assess the general appearance of the child.
3. Height, weight and head circumference (if the patient is under two years of age).
4. Thermometry as needed.
5. Visual acuity, color perception and eye mobility: is there a friendly or unfriendly strabismus?
6. Face: the presence of edema and other pathological changes; pay special attention to the eyelids (there may be subtle changes) and eyelashes, conjunctiva, cornea, cartilaginous plates (turn the eyelids out if possible), pupils, iris color and comparison of the size, shape and reaction of the pupils, their symmetry, the presence of exophthalmos or displacement of the eyeball . Are there any edema?
7. Is the redness/swelling limited to where the septum attaches to the periorbital rim (orbital pathology) or does it extend beyond it (periorbital lesion)?
8. Expand the pupil and evaluate the red reflex, refraction, perform ophthalmoscopy, examine the optic nerve head.
9. Perform tonometry if possible (tonometer [sage, pneumotonometer)
10. Examine other family members (parents and siblings), especially for corneal dystrophies and systemic diseases.
e) Other studies:
1. Perimetry: confrontational (according to Donders-note, hier.) or Goldman/Humphrey.
2. An examination under anesthesia or sedation may be required if you are unable to perform a thorough examination of the child, especially if the eye is red and has acute onset of pain, if a subtarsal foreign body is likely to be present.
3. MRI, CT for the purpose of diagnosing the pathology of the orbit or a neurological disease.
4. Blood tests: complete blood count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate/C-reactive protein as a marker of inflammation, antibodies to the Epstein-Barr virus, blood serum glucose.
5. If a systemic disease is suspected, referral to a pediatrician/pediatric neurologist.
To be sure of the completeness and quality of the information collected, the collection of anamnesis and examination should be carried out systematically. It is possible that a child with a foreign body did not notice the obstruction due to high ametropia or a poor vision in the eye. Recurrent lacrimation and photophobia may be the first manifestations of corneal dystrophy, more noticeable when viewed from the parent. Stunting or low weight may be due to systemic disease or child abuse. Iritis can be a manifestation of leukemia or retinoblastoma.
It is not always possible to make a diagnosis during the first, although thorough, examination, and repeated visits to the doctor are often required to identify the cause of the disease.
e) Headache as the cause of pain in the eye. Sometimes a child may complain of pain in, when in fact he is worried about a more generalized headache. The sensation of "pain in the eye" can be an important localizing symptom in the further examination of a child with a headache. The key to making a diagnosis is the history; headache is more common than is commonly thought, with a frequency of approximately 50/1000 among school-age children. Its frequency increases with age, but it is rare in children under two years of age.
In the prepubertal period, the number of boys suffering from headaches is approximately twice that of girls. At puberty, the number of boys decreases, and as a result, among the adult population, the number of women exceeds the number of men. The new headache classification and its revision are presented in the Third International Headache Classification. Migraines are also thought to be more common among abused children.
At birth, the frontal sinuses are undeveloped, they form during the second year of life. At birth, there is only a rudimentary sphenoid sinus. The ethmoid sinuses are already developed at birth, but are very small. Sinusitis can develop as a complication of an upper respiratory tract infection and present with redness of the eyes, swelling of the conjunctiva, and limited eye movement. Pain in the paranasal sinuses is also commonly attributed to headaches in young people, although the International Headache Society (IHS) insists that chronic sinusitis does not cause headaches and facial pain until it passes into an acute phase. .
The vast majority of complaints of headaches in the temporal or parietal regions in children are caused by tension-type headache.
and) Refraction as the cause of pain in the eye. With high ametropia, the main complaint is a decrease in vision. With a lesser degree of ametropia, it can manifest itself with various symptoms arising from the effort aimed at improving the clarity of the image. With farsightedness, there is a constant tension of accommodation, and the discrepancy between accommodation and convergence may require constant effort to ensure unified binocular vision.
With myopia due to the fact that the patient constantly peers, periocular pain may develop. Although these complaints are often grouped together as "asthenopia", they can, however, be very diverse and not correspond to the cause that caused them.
h) Visual disturbances. They are characterized by periodic occurrence, complaints are most pronounced in patients with good vision during periods of high visual load. However, during these periods of particular stress, episodes of blurred vision can occur, especially during intense reading or tasks that require high detail, when blurring of the image, confusion of details and crowding of letters is suddenly felt. With progressive fatigue, there are sensations of eye fatigue and heaviness of the eyelids.
and) Eye complaints. The term asthenopia is used as a common name for these complaints. With “eye strain”, complaints arise due to increased muscle work and subsequent muscle fatigue. After a long period of work at close range, there are feelings of heat, fatigue and eye discomfort. If you continue to work in the eyes, severe pain may occur. In such cases, lacrimation and redness of the eyes may be associated with chronic blepharitis or recurrent conjunctivitis. Rubbing the eyes with dirty hands can exacerbate low-grade infections.
the child may have a fallen eyelash, mechanical damage or overexertion from a long stay at the computer.In the same time there is a risk of developing ophthalmic disease.
Children's diseases of the visual organ in 85% of cases are characterized by an inflammatory process. As a result, conjunctivitis develops, chorioretinitis, chalazion.
Myopia, astigmatism, macular degeneration are associated with impaired visual acuity.
Keep in mind! It is important to pay due attention to the words of the child in order to prevent a serious illness.
Visual function involves the eyeballs, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and the brain.
Only the coordinated interaction of the components ensures normal vision.
The final formation of the eye organ is completed by 3-4 years. Binocular vision begins to function, completing the three-dimensional vision of images.
Any change in visual acuity or manifestation of symptoms of an ophthalmic disease requires consultation with an ophthalmologist.
The child may complain of eye painfor various reasons.
The child feels discomfort behind the eyeball, accompanied by dryness and pains.
Symptoms occur in 95% of cases in children who spend a lot of time playing computer games, tablet or TV.
Gradually, there is a decrease in visual acuity as a result of fatigue of the eye muscles.
As a conservative treatment ophthalmologist prescribes conservative treatment - wearing glasses, contact lenses.
Exist situations in which limiting computer time has no effect. The child continues to feel pain and cry.
The onset of symptoms is in the development of the infectious process.
The risk of infection with pathogenic bacteria in children is higher than in adults. It is enough to rub your eyes with dirty hands to introduce microorganisms.
Only a specialist can make an accurate diagnosis and determine further treatment. so you can't self-medicate.
Itchy sensation (itchy eyes) in the inner corner of the eye is a harbinger of conjunctivitis. The mucous membrane of the eyes becomes inflamed, causing symptoms:
In the morning, the child wakes up with glued eyelids. To remove dried secretions, you have to rub your eyelids with your hands.
If timely treatment is not provided, conjunctivitis be complicated by inflammation of the lacrimal sac(dacryocystitis).
It is worth noting! Contact with the mucous membrane of the eyeball of a foreign body provokes pain and discomfort. In this case, the child begins to hurt only one eye.
Prolonged stay of a solid body in the eye contributes to damage to the cornea, which is accompanied by an inflammatory process.
What to do to extract?
It is necessary to try to pull out a foreign object on your own- by rinsing with plenty of warm water.
It is also effective to remove the object with a sterile cotton swab.
Cotton wool can be moistened with a herbal solution (oak bark, chamomile, green or black tea) and wiped from the outer edge to the inner.
If a mote gets into a child's eye, then it is necessary to limit the movement of the child. Especially with the continuation of pain after the extraction of a foreign body.
Do not rub or touch your injured eye with your hands, as there is a possibility of damaging the retina or reducing visual acuity.
High fever is a sign of a viral disease.
Note! With a cold in a child, in frequent cases, the development of discomfort and pain in the eye sockets is observed.
If the temperature persists for a long time, then this is a sign of a bacterial infection in the body.
Virus attack reduces immunity, as a result what eye diseases appear.
When complications occur, the temperature rises higher.
Raise t after 38 degrees indicates an increase eye pressure.
The latter can increase due to stress, emotional stress, as well as against the background of diseases of the urinary, cardiovascular, endocrine systems.
Hypersensitivity to a particular substance causes pain in the eye area. The child begins to scratch the eyelids under the eyeball.
Note! It is possible to determine the presence of an allergic reaction with symptoms:
Know! It is necessary to explain to the children that in this case it is impossible to pull out a solid object on their own. It's best to ask your parents for help.
It is possible to get a foreign object with the help of a handkerchief. It is required to move the object to the inner corner of the eye so that it is easier to pull it out.
After successful extraction, the eyes must be treated to prevent an infectious or inflammatory process.
If you have problems with your eyesight, you should immediately contact with a consultation to an ophthalmologist.
Feeling discomfort in the eyes against the background of a headache indicates a spasm of blood vessels.
Should know! In such a situation, there is a feeling of squeezing in the eye sockets, and vision is also impaired.
Before my eyes begin float "flies" or sparks. To get rid of the unpleasant consequences of the narrowing of the vascular lumen, the child begins to hold on to his temples and close his eyes.
The causes of spasm are climate changes, changes in blood pressure, overwork.
Pain in only one eye in special cases is a symptom of migraine. Wherein children feel nauseous, afraid of lights and sounds.
If the child feels a bursting dull pain or heaviness in the orbits, these are signs of increased intracranial pressure. It is caused by an excess of accumulated fluid in the ventricles of the brain.
From this video you will learn what to do if something gets into the child's eye:
Causes of pain in the eye area may differ.
With an increase in temperature, the appearance of irritability, as well as with a decrease in visual acuity self-medication is dangerous.
Need to contact for help to an ophthalmologist.
The visual organ stops recovering by the age of 18, so mechanical damage and infectious diseases provoke a final violation of visual function.
It is necessary to start treatment immediately so as not to resort to surgical intervention..
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Often the eyes of a young child or a teenager hurt because of a long time watching TV or sitting at a computer. Also, sharp eye pain can appear from light that is too bright. Such a symptom, as a rule, is a signal that indicates overwork of the eyeball. Often the cause of soreness in the eye is associated with the penetration of a foreign object into the mucous membrane, which causes its irritation. In this case, you should examine the damaged area as soon as possible and eliminate the source of pain.
If obvious causes are not identified, and the child continues to complain of pain in the eyes, it is recommended to consult an ophthalmologist, since many eye diseases can be accompanied by such a symptom.
Severe pain in the eye area can occur in a child at the age of 15 or earlier. If the baby's eyes are sharply ill, then perhaps the source of the problem lies in the frequent use of computer equipment and TV. In this case, changing the type of entertainment will help to cope with discomfort. When it hurts a child to blink or pain attacks are felt inside the eyeball, then this condition can signal the progression of diseases of the visual system. Often the pain is caused by such pathological conditions:
Often, eye pathologies are accompanied by headaches.
Sore eyes associated with overwork are not accompanied by any other symptoms. When the pain is caused by pathological disorders, the baby may be disturbed by other unpleasant manifestations, namely:
If the pain in the eyes of the child is not eliminated in time, then dangerous complications are likely. Often, the pathological condition negatively affects visual function, which makes it problematic for the baby to consider objects in the distance. It happens that one eye is damaged or both at once, due to trauma in children there may be a partial or complete loss of vision. If nothing is done with the pain associated with conjunctivitis and other inflammatory processes, then purulent fluid accumulates. A complication of such a pathological phenomenon is retinal detachment. Painful sensations in the eyes have a bad effect on the general condition of the child. He becomes irritable, nervous, depressive states are often observed.
If you self-medicate, complications may arise. When a child is worried about pain in the eye, then you need to contact a pediatric ophthalmologist. The specialist will determine the source of pain and tell you how to properly treat the disease. First, the organs of vision are examined for the presence of external defects. When diagnosing pain, a refractometer is used to help measure refractions. It is important to analyze the corneal reflex and evaluate the coordinates of the gaze. The specialist performs the measurement of interpupillary distance. If such methods failed to determine the cause of pain in the eyes of a child, then the doctor may prescribe additional diagnostic manipulations. The sooner the diagnosis is made, the greater the chance of a favorable outcome.
When the pain that occurs in a child in the eye does not give rest, it is possible to use medications. It is strictly forbidden to use any medicine without the appointment of an ophthalmologist, since it is possible to aggravate the course of the underlying ailment and significantly impair visual function. For pain, washing and healing compresses are recommended. To prepare them, you need a bandage or a cotton pad. The eye, which hurts and turns red, is treated every 2-3 hours on the first day. In the future, the time interval can be increased up to 8 hours.
It is forbidden to rub the sore eye strongly, all movements are performed easily, while washing is done from the outer corner to the inner.
Even if the eye hurts on one side, the manipulation is performed on both sides for preventive purposes. It is required for each organ of vision to use a new cotton pad so that the infection does not spread. Processing can be carried out with the help of "Furacilin" and special ophthalmic drops. You can prepare decoctions on a natural basis using the following ingredients:
If your eyes hurt, do not try to endure the pain - consult a doctor. Serious diseases can be hidden behind the constantly arising pain in the eyes. Timely medical care will help to avoid deterioration or loss of vision. Do not consider it an empty whim if a child complains that his eyes hurt. This is quite a wake-up call. It is necessary to show the child to an ophthalmologist.
Pain in the eyes can be caused by various reasons and manifest itself in different ways. The most common causes of eye pain are:
In addition, other inflammatory diseases of the eyes, inflammatory diseases of the tissues surrounding the eyes, (inflammation of the nerves), tumor processes, some general diseases (for example, autoimmune diseases), etc. can be the reason that the eyes hurt.
If your eyes hurt, you can not do without a medical consultation. This is necessary to make a diagnosis and start the right treatment.
Sometimes the cause of the pain in the eye is immediately clear (for example, when pain occurs as a result of a foreign body getting into the eye), but in most cases it is necessary that the diagnosis be made by a specialist - an ophthalmologist.
It should be remembered that pain in the eye can mean a sharp threat.
Definitely need to see a doctor when:
If the eyes of a child hurt, it must be shown
