NEWS FOR REFRACTIVE SURGERY IN CHILDREN

To date, the treatment of high myopia (higher than 7 degrees) in children was strenuous, with the application of contact lenses or special glasses with rather thick lenses and the coverage of the healthy eye.

The treatment of high myopia (more than 7 points) in childhood was until now the painful treatment of the application of contact lenses or glasses with special lenses and thick enough to cover the healthy eye.

Even after the application of this therapy, the painful outcome of vision usually remains poor.

Today, the perfection of surgery to correct myopia in adults gives the opportunity to these children to correct myopia and the final outcome for their vision to be much better, using methods such as PRK or LASIK.

The same applies for children with high hyperopia or significant difference of hyperopia between the two eyes, a situation that often leads to amblyopia (lazy eye). These individuals who have difficulty in applying conservative treatment (glasses and winking) can use laser treatment (PRK or LASIK) producing better results for their vision. This operation is carried out in Athens Eye Hospital after being tested at centers abroad with 15 years follow-up and excellent results. Athens Eye Hospital has a unique infrastructure that enables the execution of refractive surgery in children. The surgery depending on the level of cooperation of the child is performed under local or general anesthesia in one place, without having to transfer the patient.

The advantage of Athens Eye Hospital in this area is that it has high-art technology in the field of refractive surgery as well as highly specialized people in the field of pediatric ophthalmology.

The procedure takes a few minutes and small patients return home on the same day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Refractive Surgery in Children
Curr. Opin. Opthalmol. 20110

2. Refractive Surgery: the future of perfect vision?
(Singapore Med. 2007)

3. Pediatric Refractive Surgery
(Curr. Opin. Opthalmol. 2003)

4. Long term outcomes of PRK
(J Cataract Refractive Surg. 2008)

5. Pediatric Refractive Surgery
O’ Keefe M., J Pediatric Opthalm. Stras. 2006