Pediatrics Strabismus News

When you think about dry eye, whether or not you treat dry eye, there is a certain image that jumps to mind. For some of you, it is the classic image of an older patient gently rocking in a chair on the porch with his nose buried in a Zane Grey novel. After an hour or two, he starts to squint, rub his eyes, dab his cheekbones and then eventually quit as his eyes become drier with each turn of the page. Others among you, likely those who have done some dry eye treatment in the Age of Restasis, have a picture of the classic Allergan archetype pop-up: a woman between the ages of 35 and 60 years who has dryness, scratchiness and generally miserable feeling eyes. At SkyVision, we know her as Linda Blair.

The World Society of Paediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, or WSPOS, is a registered charity that focuses on education within pediatric ophthalmology. It has held three international meetings since 2009 and is planning the fourth one in Hyderabad, India, in December 2017.

As a specialist in cornea and external disease, I will focus my comments on the topic of blepharitis in the pediatric age group. Our children in America are currently growing up in what many experts call an “obesogenic environment.” In the U.S., one in three children under the age of 11 years is overweight and one in six has a BMI high enough to be considered obese. This obesogenic environment includes a saturated fatty acid and refined sugar rich diet with too many calories per day, reduced outdoor activity and exercise, and a lifestyle that includes hours of near work, computer games and television. Besides obesity, this lifestyle change is contributing to an epidemic of myopia, diabetes, hypertension and, yes, even meibomian gland dysfunction, blepharitis, and the associated hordeoli and chalazia.

Point

In this issue of Ocular Surgery News, members of the OSN Pediatrics/Strabismus board offer their personal protocols and their anecdotes, addressing medical management, surgical management and family dynamics they see in practice every day. Convened at the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting in Vancouver and led by Section Editor Robert S. Gold, MD, the round table participants discuss how to manage blepharitis, chalazia and meibomianitis in children to prevent more sinister anterior segment disease processes, and they discuss their surgical approach to esotropia. For cases of sudden functional vision loss in children, the participants give their frank insights into how to deal with delicate family matters.

As a specialist in cornea and external disease, I will focus my comments on the topic of blepharitis in the pediatric age group. Our children in America are currently growing up in what many experts call an “obesogenic environment.” In the U.S., one in three children under the age of 11 years is overweight and one in six has a BMI high enough to be considered obese. This obesogenic environment includes a saturated fatty acid and refined sugar rich diet with too many calories per day, reduced outdoor activity and exercise, and a lifestyle that includes hours of near work, computer games and television. Besides obesity, this lifestyle change is contributing to an epidemic of myopia, diabetes, hypertension and, yes, even meibomian gland dysfunction, blepharitis, and the associated hordeoli and chalazia.

A 7-year-old boy presented to the Tufts Medical Center emergency department with a 2-week history of headache and 1-week history of binocular horizontal diplopia. He had no medical history. His ocular history was significant only for mild myopia for which he was already wearing glasses.

A 7-year-old boy presented to the Tufts Medical Center emergency department with a 2-week history of headache and 1-week history of binocular horizontal diplopia. He had no medical history. His ocular history was significant only for mild myopia for which he was already wearing glasses.

The most appropriate treatment regimen for congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction is primary probing, which has a high success rate and is not adversely affected by increasing age, according to a study.

Researchers did not find a correlation between IOP and central corneal thickness in premature low birthweight infants, but they did find both IOP and CCT measurements to be greater than those seen in adults, according to a study.