Most common symptom is a white reflex in the eye. Other symptoms are failure to notice toys and faces, difficulty seeing blackboard at school, deviation of eyes or wandering eyes.

Yes, visually significant cataract needs surgical intervention. No medicine can cure cataract.

No, delaying the surgery will hamper the visual outcome. Earlier the surgery, better the visual prognosis.

Yes, IOL is safe in child’s eye; moreover same IOL will work lifelong.

Yes, the child needs to use glasses for residual refractive error. Also frequent follow up is advised for changing refraction, amblyopia management ( if present ) and development of glaucoma.

It depends on the cause of cataract if cause is genetic (8-10 %of pediatric cataract is of genetic origin) then it can affect other siblings. so screening of other siblings is important.

As early  as possible as untreated cases can lead to amblyopia( lazy eye) and loss of binocular single vision Also in some cases squint may be a presenting complaint of life threatening problems such as retinoblastoma.

Yes, definitely it can. Because the brain has a tendency to neglect the less commonly used squinting eye which can cause the eye to become lazy (amblyopia).

Not necessarily. Treatment depends on the type of squint and may include spectacles, prisms, patching, surgery or any combination of these.

Ideally squint surgery if necessary should be performed as early as possible. If left untreated it may lead to reduced vision in squinting eye and also will not have binocular single vision. Binocular single vision helps your child to see the world in three dimensions (3D).

Surgical correction for a squint is used to straighten your child's eye so that both eyes look in the same direction. If your child has developed a lazy eye as a result of his or her squint, surgery alone will not improve vision. Your child will need additional treatment in the form of patching of sound eye. The Chances of vision improvement decreases as theage increases.

Amblyopia is generally the result of poor early visual development, and as such, usually occurs before the age of eight. Presence of strabismus (crossed-eyes), unequal refractive error (farsightedness or nearsightedness), or a physical obstruction of vision (cataract, ptosis etc) can lead to amblyopia due to decrease in vision in one or both eyes.

Premature and low birth weight babies are more prone to develop amblyopia.

Yes, amblyopia is treatable. The earlier the treatment, the better the opportunity to reverse the vision loss. Treatment involves correcting the refractive error with use of glasses and/or contact lenses, correction of squint, removal of cataract.

Covering or occluding the better eye, either part-time or full-time, may be used to stimulate vision in the amblyopic eye.

If not treated early, an amblyopic eye may never regain good vision and it can limit the occupation and activities requiring good depth perception.

If your child has constant watering, intolerance to light, large size eyeball he / she may have congenital glaucoma. If family history of glaucoma is present, child should be screened earlier.

In congenital Glaucoma surgical treatment is necessary to keep the IOP under control. Medicines can only be used to buy time for surgery.

No, the surgery will only prevent further decrease in vision and field loss but no procedure or drugs can restore the already lost vision or fields. Also it will not decrease size of already enlarged eye ball.

To keep the IOP under control some patients may need drops even after surgery.

Pediatric eye trauma most often occurs during play, or at school.  Eye and face protection is essential to prevent these injuries. Children should be monitored while playing.

A child that sustains an eye injury should seek immediate medical attention from an ophthalmologist to assess the vision function.  Frequent examinations until the eye is completely healed are often necessary.