PREVENTION OF CHILDREN'S VISION.

With the support of the administrative management of Thracian University (TRU) and in collaboration with St. Petka Eye Clinic Varna, under the supervision of Prof Daniela Mitova, the first screening test - a modern method for early diagnosis of childhood vision - was conducted in October 2023 at the Medical College of TrU, Stara Zagora. It involved about 70 children together with their parents, aged between 2 and 16 years from kindergartens and schools in the city. The screening is carriedr out using the Plus Optix - Handheld Vision Screener. During the screening, the device measures the child's diopters, if any, as well as their interpupillary distance. Any child found to have an abnormality was issued a document for the parent to present to the ophthalmologist. In addition to the screening tests, a stereo test was performed in which special glasses were fitted to the child and he or she had to look into a picture. Eye movement relative to a light source was tracked to rule out the possibility of squinting. A complete eye examination for children with pathology includes: visual acuity testing, stereo test, color vision, anterior and posterior eye segment view. A trial frame with glasses is also used for a quick assessment of the given refractive problem. The obtained results were processed by the methods of variational statistics and visualized using Microsoft Office 2013. Through the screening tests, ocular pathology was detected in 25 out of 70 children examined. The highest relative proportion of children tested positive for hypermetropia (28%), followed by those with myopia (25%). In the remaining young patients examined, high astigmatism, a few cases of amblyopia and anisometropia were found in a small number of cases. There were single cases of esotropia, a type of strabismus in which the child curves one or both eyes inward, and exophoria, in which the eyes tend to deviate outward or one eye moves away from the other. Conjunctival nevi, frequent conjunctivitis, and a difference in pupil size, also known as anisocoria, have been found in some children. The study found that most of the parents were neither well aware nor informed about the proper vision care for their children. Awareness campaign was conducted to involve parents to work with doctors for timely vision prophylaxis to reduce the risk of developing refractive errors, prevention of multiple eye diseases and contributes to children not wearing glasses in future. The application of timely screening significantly reduces the incidence of amblyopia, which becomes indelible after a certain age. The role of parents in the control and health of children's eyes is decisive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]