Eyes Flashcards
Developmental Aspects
- Development of vision is very age sensitive
- Like fresh plaster of Paris, you can mold it until it is set.
- Early detection is critical
- Untreated amblyopia causes more vision loss than any other disease in people under 40
- Failure of the eye to connect with the brain
NEED to assess eyes for 2 concepts
- RED LIGHT REFLEX –
- If there is no reflex = cataract
- In the first 6 weeks, light needs to reach cones and rods, otherwise = BLIND
- Exotropia - OUTWARD deviation
- Brain will turn off vision when you cannot see an object as one*
- Up to 6 years
Myopia
Occurs when the anterior-posterior diameter of the eye is too long relative to the refracting power of the cornea and lens
Eyes change at puberty
Hyperopia
- Hyperopic eye is too short relative to the refracting power of the eye
- The focal point of the image occurs posterior to the retina and the image that forms on the retina is blurred
Astigmatism
- Astigmatism is another type of refractive error that causes blurred vision
- Occurs because the optical system of the eye, partciularly the cornea, is not perfectly spherical
Strabismus
Occurs when the eyes do not move in synchronous pattern
Types of Strabismus
Esotropia
Convergent squint; inward deviation
Types of Strabismus: exotropia
Divergent squint; outward deviation
Types of Strabismus: Latent Strabismus
- Becomes apparent only on dissociation of the vision of the eyes (ex. on covering one eye) and is termed a phoria (exophoria, esophoria, hyperphoria)
- Can be more prominent with fatigue, illness, or with lack of attention
Types of Strabismus: Hypertropia
Condition of misalignment of the eyes (strabismus), whereby the visual axis of one eye is higher than the fellow fixating eye.
Types of Strabismus: Hypotropia
Similar condition, focus being on the eye with the visual axis lower than the fellow fixating eye
Tendency towards strabismus: Esophoria
Characterized by tendency toward inward deviation of the eye usually due to extraocular muscle imbalance with good fusion
Tendency towards strabismus: exophoria
Form of heterophoria in which there is a tendency of the eye to deviate outward.
Other ways to describe strabismus (2)
- Comitant strabismus
- Same deviation in all fields of gaze on EOM
- Incomitant strabismus
- Limited eye movements and size of deviation is different in different fields of gaze
- Occurs most commonly where there is paralysis of one or more extraocular muscles
- Paralysis of one or more EOM
Incomitant Strabismus (4)
**Need to find the cause**
- Neurological - due to lesions of 3rd, 4th, or 6th cranial nerves caused by:
- Trauma- Tumor – (Intracranial)
- Infection
- Raised Intra-Cranial Pressure (6th Nerve Palsy)
- Muscular – Direct involvement of the extraocular muscles by
- Trauma
- Tumor of the orbital or periorbital tissue
- Infection
- Muscular Anomaly – Dystrophy etc.
- Neuro Muscular – Myasthenia Gravis
- Congenital Conditions
Causes of Comitant Strabismus (4)
- Hereditary
- Familial predisposition
- Increased among siblings!
- Sensory Deprivation
- Accommodative
- Frequent excessive convergence (esotropia) in children who are hypermetropic i.e. because these children need to accommodate excessively to obtain clear vision they often break down and develop a convergent squint.
- Unknown
- No cause for the occurrence of strabismus will be
Testing for Strabismus (5)
- Hirschberg test or Corneal light reflex
- Some o’clock in both eyes
- Red reflex or Bruckner test
- Opthalmascope: Look at pupil
- Cover test
- Eye to eye with patient and cover and uncover eye; look for movement of eye (2x)
- Evaluate EOM
- DOUBLE H – up and down; vertical strabismus
- Binocular status
- Stereopsis Tests
Cranial nerve 6; abducens moves
Lateral rectus muscle
Trochlear CN 4 moves
Superior oblique
- Congential paresis is fairly common
- Head tilt
Oculomotor nerve CN 3
Superior rectus
Inferior oblique muscle
Medial rectus
Inferior rectus
Amblyopia
- Amblyopia is poor vision caused by abnormal visual development secondary to abnormal visual stimulation.
- Classified by the presence of associated clinical findings.
- Strabismic amblyopia
- Anisometropic or refractive amblyopia
- Deprivational amblyopia
- When pt looked at world from deviating eye – eyes presented with two images; lose vision
Anisometropic Amblyopia
- Similar to strabismic amblyopia, the fovea in anisometropic amblyopia also are presented with different images
- Caused by unequal refractive error
Refractive amblyopia
Occurs most commonly in hyperopic patients but it may occur in patients with myopia or astigmatism
Deprivation Amblyopia
- Least common and most serious type of amblyopia
- Severe visual deprivation due to occlusion of the visual axis or severe distortion of the foveal image
Test for amblyopia
- Vision screen
- Using intrumentation in younger infants
- Optotypes in children starting at age 3
Changes in the AAP Table – Vision screen (3)
- Routine screening at age 18 has been changed to a risk assessment
- A visual acuity screen is recommended at ages 4 and 5 years, as well as in cooperative 3 year olds.
- Instrument based screening may be used to assess risk at ages 12 and 24 months, in addition to the well visits at 3 through 5 years of age.
History for Child Vision Screening
- Review the health records with vision screens as well as any prenatal/medical/genetic problems
- Discuss with child any visits to eye doctor
- Does child think she has a problem?
- When did the problem start?
- When does the child have more problem—look close or far away?
- Any signs of puberty?
- Eye length changes at puberty
- Any medical problems?
- Any medication?
- Any history of eye glasses or use of eye medications?
Assessment
- Watch the child reading
- Observe while child colors
- Put a small sticker on hand and watch them look at it
- External inspection of eyes and lids
- Ocular motility
- Pupil exam
- Vision
- Red Reflex
- Visual fields (after 6 years)
Vision screen from 0-6 months (6)
- Ocular history
- Vision assessment
- External inspection of the eyes and lids
- Ocular motility assessment
- Should fix and follow by 6 months
- Pupil examination
- Red reflex examination
- Refer infants with an abnormal red reflex or history of retinoblastoma in a parent or sibling.
Vision screening 6-12 months
- Ocular History
- External inspection
- Red reflex
- Testing
- Pupil Exam
- Ocular Motility
- Instrument based screen
- Visual acuity fixate & follow
- Refer infants with strabismus
- Refer infants with chronic tearing or discharge.
- Refer children who fail instrument based screen
Vision Screening
12 months to 3 years
- Ocular History
- External inspection
- Red reflex
- Testing
- Pupil Exam
- Ocular Motility
- Instrument based screen
- Visual acuity fixate & follow
- At age three, start vision screen using optotypes
- Refer children who cannot read at least 20/40 with either eye.
- Must be able to identify the majority of the optotypes on the 20/40 LINE
Vision screening 4-5 years
- Ocular history
- External inspection
- Red Reflex
- Testing
- Pupil exam
- Ocular motility
- Instrument based screen
- Vision screening using optotypes
Vision screening over 5 years old
- Ocular history
- Vision assessment
- External inspection of the eyes and lids
- Ocular motility assessment
- Pupil examination
- Red reflex examination
- Visual acuity testing
- Ophthalmoscopy
- Refer children who cannot read at least 20/32 with either eye. Must be able to identify the majority of the optotypes on the 20/32 line.
- Refer children not reading at grade level.
External Inspection (4)
- Look at orbits from above
- Lacrimal: tearing, epiphora (watery eye) and photophobia
- Lids: look at contour
- Head posturing:
- Torticollis
- Strabismus
- Refractive error
- Congenital nystagmus
- Tilting can also indicate astigmatism or hyperopia
- Posterior fossa brain tumor from tilting – we are concerned about a NEW head tilt
Anterior Part of Eye
- Look at lids and lashes
- Redness and swelling
- Discharge
- Foreign body
- Check cornea for clarity
- Large cornea can indicate glaucoma
Assess for Ocular Motility
- Stand or sit 3 to 6 feet in front of the child.
- Ask the patient to follow your finger with their eyes without moving their head.
- Check the movement of the eye in the six cardinal directions using a cross or double “H” pattern.
- Check convergence by moving your finger toward the bridge of the patient’s nose
Hirschberg Test
- If both reflexes are located 0.5 mm nasal to the center of the pupil, the Hirschberg test is negative, and no strabismus is present
- If one reflex is located in a position other than 0.5 mm nasal, the Hirschberg test is positive, and strabismus is suspected.
Cover Test pearls
- Watch for small, or “flick”, movements of the eye.
- A small angle strabismus is often not cosmetically visible and is difficult to detect with the corneal light reflex test.
- A small flick can be detected with the coveruncover test.
Red Reflex or Bruckner Test
How to assess
- Darken the room as much as possible.
- Adjust the ophthalmoscope so that the light is no brighter than necessary.
- Adjust the aperture to a plain white circle.
- Set the diopter dial to zero unless you have determined a better setting for your eyes.
- Use your left hand and left eye to examine the patient’s left eye.
- Use your right hand and right eye to examine the patient’s right eye.
- Ask the patient to stare at a point on the wall or corner of the room.
Red Reflex or Bruckner
Testing for
- Identify strabismus as well as asymmetric refractive errors
- Isometropic refractive errors=retinal reflexes are similar in appearance and brightness.
- If unequal refractive errors exist, the retinal reflexes will differ in brightness.