Headaches & Childrens’ Eye Problems

About Headaches and Childrens’ Eye Problems

It is pretty common for parents to bring their children in for an eye exam because they are complaining of headaches. Headaches are a frequent complaint of kids but fortunately they are usually not serious. Some of the more common causes of headaches in kids include migraine, the stress and tension of school, certain foods with nitrate or MSG preservatives, physical trauma, sinus infections and of course eye problems. Parents can be concerned with the serious but truly rare occurrence of brain tumors causing headaches but this is usually accompanied by other complaints of dizziness, weakness of arms and legs and a loss of coordination.

Evaluating Kids with Headaches

As part of evaluating any child with headaches I always want to be sure that there has been a complete and thorough examination by their pediatrician who may need to order additional tests or even a referral to a neurologist. Then I will need to perform a complete eye exam including evaluation of the pupils, a refraction to determine any refractive error or need for glasses, eye alignment and binocularity testing and sometimes possibly a visual field examination. Generally I will put drops in the child’s eyes to dilate the pupils, so that the optic nerves can be properly examined and the refractive error can be most accurately measured.

Eye Problems That Can Cause Headaches

If your child has uncorrected hyperopia or farsightedness, it requires extra effort to focus clearly while reading. This can sometimes lead to fatigue and headache. Glasses can reduce the effort required to see clearly at near and improve the headache, if significant hyperopia exists.  Mild hyperopia is normal in children, however, and generally does not cause headaches or other symptoms.

When we read or perform other near activities, our eyes pull in toward each other, this is called convergence. The decreased ability to pull the eyes toward each other when viewing near objects (convergence), particularly while reading, may cause headaches.  This is called convergence insufficiency, and symptoms include the doubling of images or words, blurred vision, fatigue, and headaches which worsen with prolonged reading.  At home eye exercises, sometimes with the help of computer software, can help treat convergence insufficiency. Glasses are sometimes prescribed, but costly in-office eye exercises are rarely necessary.

 Acute infections, allergic and inflammatory diseases of the eyes can also cause headaches.  These problems are often accompanied by redness of the eye and/ or the eyelid as well as light sensitivity or photophobia. Acute glaucoma can cause headaches, but rarely affects children.  Pseudotumor Cerebri (aka, Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension) is a condition caused by increased intracranial pressure or too much fluid around the brain, and this causes headache and swelling of the optic nerves, but does not typically cause redness of the eyes. During the complete eye exam we perform, we will be able to rule out these problems as a cause of headaches in your child. If we do not find any ocular causes of your child’s headache we may refer them back to his/her pediatrician and/or to a neurologist to look for other possible causes of the headaches.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about childrens’ headaches and eye problems or needs a kids eye exam, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Kids School Eye Exams in Fairfield County

It seems like the summer has really just started-but believe it or not it’s almost time to get the kids ready to go back to school! As part of your “Back to School Checklist,” it’s important to remember to schedule an eye exam for your children. Keep in mind that childrens’ eye health and vision is one of the core functions of learning. Today more than ever, kids operate in a very intense and demanding visual environment as they read, write, play sports, use computers and tablets and on and on…and being able to get clear and efficient vision plays a critical role for them.

An annual eye exam for children is a good idea as it is not uncommon for childrens’ vision to change during their school years and development. Regular eye exams can detect these changes or any eye problems that might hinder their overall well being and academic performance. The most frequent eye problems we find in school age kids are the common vision problems of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Sometimes, not having clear vision in the classroom can lead to the undeserved perception of a behavioral problem or attention problem. What we know is that kids are often unable to verbalize that they have a vision problem as they just don’t recognize it. It is important to observe children for some common behaviors that might indicate an eye or vision problem. Watch for:

·  Frequent eye rubbing or blinking

·  Short attention span

·  Avoiding reading and other close activities

·  Frequent headaches

·  Covering one eye

·  Tilting the head to one eye

·  Holding reading materials close to the face

·  An eye turning in or out

·  Seeing double

·  Losing place when reading

·  Difficulty remembering what he or she read

If your child exhibits any of these please bring it to our attention. Your child should receive an eye examination at least once every two years, preferably EACH YEAR, more frequently if specific problems or risk factors exist, or if recommended by your eye doctor. The earlier a vision problem is detected and treated, the more likely treatment will be successful.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about childrens’ vision, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Can a Mediterranean Diet help Dry Eyes?

Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer, as well as a reducing the incidence of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, but can this diet have an benefit for those with dry eyes and help dry eye symptoms?

Mediterranean Diet & Dry Eyes

Recently, researchers tried to determine whether eating a Mediterranean diet could provide help for dry eyes. Reporting in the journal Cornea, the researchers had patients fill out the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire and the Dry Eye Questionnaire and then studied their tear film and measured its quality and quantity. They then also measured the serum level of Vitamin D for each patient. The final results suggested that eating a Mediterranean diet was NOT associated with an improvement in dry eye symptoms and complaints but higher vitamin D levels had a small but favorable effect on dry eye syndrome symptoms.

So, while the Mediterranean diet itself doesn’t directly reduce dry eye symptoms, it does seem to be an eating plan that can help promote health and prevent disease for your whole family. Making sure your vitamin D intake is adequate can also be helpful if you suffer from dry eye problems.

If you or someone you know has questions about diet and dry eye or has dry eyes and needs help for their symptoms, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Avoid Airbag Eye Injury from Car Accidents

While everyone knows that airbags and seatbelts are critical to avoiding body injury in car accidents there is some important information everyone should also know about avoiding air bag related eye injury in car accidents!

Avoid Airbag Eye Injury in Car Crashes

Airbags along with seat belts are important safety features in cars today. But, a recent report in Survey of Ophthalmology suggests that the incidence of eye injury and facial trauma in car accidents from airbags is increasing! How can this be happening?

Airbags were originally designed as a supplemental safety system to seatbelts, to protect the head from hard surfaces in frontal crashes. It is critical that all passengers wear their seatbelts even if your car has airbags in the front, back and sides of the passenger cabin because the seatbelts restrict and prevent you from being quickly and forcefully thrown forward and colliding with the rearward inflating and accelerating airbags as they are deployed during a car accident. Airbag deployment and passenger collision with airbags has been reported to cause eye injuries including corneal abrasions, alkali burns and the serious effects of eye compression such as retinal tears, retinal and vitreous hemorrhages, retinal detachment and even cataracts. SO-the message is clear. For eye protection and safety in motor vehicle accidents, all occupants of cars should wear safety belts at all times even if your vehicle has airbags!

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about avoiding eye injury from airbags during car accidents, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Help for Childrens’ Tear Duct Problems

About Childrens’ Tear Duct Problems

Normally, tears drain through tiny openings in the corners of the upper and lower eyelids called “puncta,” then enter the nose through the nasolacrimal duct. Sometimes the nasolacrimal duct or tear duct is blocked or obstructed during infancy, or becomes obstructed later, making it impossible for the tears to drain normally. This can cause the eyes to run water or even produce a discharge. Often, the tears well up on the surface of the eye and overflow onto the eyelashes, eyelids, and down the cheek. This usually occurs within the first days or weeks of life.

Sometimes, the eyelids can become red and swollen, even stuck together with yellowish-green discharge since the normal eyelid bacteria are not properly "flushed" down the obstructed system. Probably the most common cause of a tear duct obstruction in kids is a failure of the membrane at the end of the tear duct opening to open fully at the time of birth. Generally we see this happening in some 5-10% of newborn infants where one or both eyes is affected with a tear duct obstruction - BUT some 90% of cases clear without any treatment with the first 12 months after birth.

Treatment of Kids’ Tear Duct Obstruction

As most of the time the obstruction will clear on its own, we don’t always have to treat it. But, if it persists and causes the welling up of tears or the sticking or redness of the eyelids, we suggest a gentle massage as a first step and prescribe antibiotic eye drops if necessary. Sometimes we will need to do a tear duct probing to clear the blockage and in a some more difficult situations we might need to perform a tear duct dilation with a tiny balloon or even insert some microscopic tubes.

As a Pediatric Ophthalmologist I do these types of treatments as a matter of routine and, as a parent, I will make sure to thoroughly explain them and answer all of your questions if they become necessary.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about childrens tear duct problems or needs a kids eye exam, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment. 

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.