Testing kids for glaucoma not silly
Q: I recently took my 8-year-old son to have his eyes examined, and the doctor checked him for glaucoma. Isn’t that a bit silly since glaucoma is an adult disease? A: Glaucoma knows no bounds and can strike anyone, anywhere, at any time, including children. In fact, childhood glaucoma is a serious pediatric medical problem.
An early diagnosis can be critical to reducing the progression of the disease.
Childhood glaucoma occurs in one out of 10,000 births in the United States. In most cases, childhood glaucoma is diagnosed by the age of 6 months, with 80 percent diagnosed by the first year of life. Up to 50 percent of hyphema (blunt trauma to the eyeball) patients are at risk of developing glaucoma. These traumas to the eye can include a variety of injuries, from walking into a twig to getting hit in the eye by a baseball. But there are some things that you can do to be on the lookout for glaucoma in children. Review the checklist below and if you recognize any of these signs or symptoms in your own child, check with a pediatric ophthalmologist.
What to watch for in children under the age of 2:Other signs for all children under 18:Other conditions to be monitored:It’s important to note that for children over the age of 2, there are no apparent signs or symptoms until the late stages of glaucoma. Also, parents should understand that glaucoma in young children has specific signs that do not appear in older children with the disease. As always, one of the best lines of defense against glaucoma is a regular and complete eye exam. Remember, every individual’s condition varies and doctors and parents need to work together to accommodate each child’s needs.
If you need more information on childhood glaucoma, contact the Glaucoma Research Foundation, 490 Post St., Suite 1427, San Francisco, Calif. 94102 at 800-826-6693, info@glaucoma.org or www.glaucoma.org.
Send your questions to Steve Infanti, A Fit Life columnist, at Wheeling Jesuit University, sinfanti@nttc.edu.
SHNS