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Prevention is the cornerstone of modern medical intervention and a key component in what we call quality of life.

Prevention helps prevent or reduce the effects of diseases that afflict the human body and increase the mortality or morbidity of a population group.

Regular eye examinations in the first years of life are essential, because they can rapidly reduce the incidence and morbidity of eye diseases that are either present from birth or appear in the first years of life. The impact of these diseases on the vision of tomorrow’s adult is decisive.

And this is because “we learn to see”, just as we learn to speak.

An eye that does not learn to see in the first years of life will forever be amblyopic, that is, it will have reduced visual ability. This fact after the first years of life, is not reversed by any treatment.

Preventive ophthalmological examination according to international standards, should begin early.

All newborn children in advanced countries, but not in Greece, undergo an ophthalmological examination to rule out congenital diseases that require immediate treatment.

This category includes congenital cataract (frequency 1 in 400 births) and congenital glaucoma (frequency 1 in 10,000 births), retinopathy of prematurity (responsible for approximately 25% of blind children), as well as various other congenital eye abnormalities.

Children without any proven clinical problem but with a hereditary history or with some findings that raise the possibility of an underlying disease (e.g. congenital esotropia, congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction, etc.), are re-examined around the 3rd month of life.

The next ophthalmological examination, always in accordance with international standards, is performed around the 6th -12th month of life.

At this age, it is possible to fully assess eye mobility, the presence of strabismus (4% of the general population), the refractive state and, in general, visual ability.

Also, various hereditary diseases (e.g. retinopathy) can be detected with the help of clinical or paraclinical examination, in children of this age.

The eye examination in the 3rd year of life is particularly crucial for assessing the development and visual ability of a child. At this age, the child is verbal and it is possible to assess, in addition to all other parameters and with the help of simple drawings, the visual acuity of each eye separately.

Amblyopia, that is, the existence of a lazy eye that does not see well even with glasses, is often detected and treated at this very age.

Amblyopia is not rare, it affects 7% of people and if treated in time it can be reversed. If we do not intervene by the age of 8-9, the visual acuity of the amblyopic eye will be permanently reduced, a fact that, as mentioned, cannot be cured or reversed.

At the age of 5, in addition to the complete anatomical and oculomotor examination, an accurate refractive examination will allow the preschool child to start school without any possible refractive defect, which is not infrequently a cause of poor school performance.

In older children, the annual examination is capable of detecting problems that often arise in the first school years, such as school myopia.

The latter may experience an accelerated increase, especially during the period when the child is developing rapidly physically, such as in adolescence.

Preventive ophthalmological examination programs run in parallel with other medical preventive programs, in all developed countries.

Unfortunately, in our country, the abolition 5 years ago, due to the economic crisis, of the mandatory preventive ophthalmological examination, has left the degree of information of the parents to be judged.

The pediatric ophthalmologist is the most responsible for carrying out preventive eye examinations, especially in preschool age.

At the Pediatric Center of Athens, specialized pediatric ophthalmologists, in a completely child-friendly environment, provide basic preventive eye examination services and immediately identify children who need extensive special examination.

Thus, the best possible conditions are ensured for the optimal development of the flexible visual system of our children!