Visual function (children 9 months to 3 years)

Fifteen percent of children have ophthalmic problems and the most frequent causes are strabismus (4%), amblyopia (2%) and refractory problems. Amblyopia is the leading cause of presentable loss of vision in developed countries. Amblyopia is a paediatric entity and most vision loss from amblyopia is preventable or reversible with the right kind of intervention. Early interventions are important to get good outcomes and late interventions cause very poor recovery. Interventions beyond the critical periods of visual development cause long-term irreversible vision loss. The most important problems in the paediatric practice are insufficient time, insufficient tools and lack of specific knowledge. Anyway, paediatric office is a very appropriate place for visual testing in infants and children because paediatric skills and patience provide a confortable atmosphere for these examinations. Furthermore, specific tests for infants and children are basics for good collaboration. We present our experience with two age-dependent tests for visual acuity. Lang test is suitable for infants of nine months of age and older and Cambridge tests for children three years of age and older.