Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level

Paediatric patients make up a significant portion of the patient load at primary care level. Children can present at the primary care physician with a wide range of eye problems, some of which are serious enough to impair the quality of the child’s life. The aim of this review article was to highlig...

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Main Authors: Mpopi Lenake, Nagib du Toit
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2014-11-01
Series:South African Family Practice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/4074
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author Mpopi Lenake
Nagib du Toit
author_facet Mpopi Lenake
Nagib du Toit
author_sort Mpopi Lenake
collection DOAJ
description Paediatric patients make up a significant portion of the patient load at primary care level. Children can present at the primary care physician with a wide range of eye problems, some of which are serious enough to impair the quality of the child’s life. The aim of this review article was to highlight serious paediatric visual disorders of which the primary care practitioner should be aware. The article includes a brief discussion of the features of amblyopia, strabismus, retinopathy of prematurity, allergic conjunctivitis, ophthalmia neonatorum and retinoblastoma. Causes of sight-threatening conditions are highlighted, and methods to detect them at primary care level described. Paediatric eye disorders are relatively common and need to be identified and managed as early as possible in order to prevent a potential lifetime of visual morbidity, blindness or worse.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2078-6190
2078-6204
language English
publishDate 2014-11-01
publisher AOSIS
record_format Article
series South African Family Practice
spelling doaj-art-e88f4828e6344bb7ba16e079894ac3532025-08-20T03:47:09ZengAOSISSouth African Family Practice2078-61902078-62042014-11-0156610.1080/20786190.2014.9770174532Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare levelMpopi Lenake0Nagib du Toit1Division of Ophthalmology, Groote Schuur Hospital University of Cape TownDivision of Ophthalmology, Groote Schuur Hospital University of Cape TownPaediatric patients make up a significant portion of the patient load at primary care level. Children can present at the primary care physician with a wide range of eye problems, some of which are serious enough to impair the quality of the child’s life. The aim of this review article was to highlight serious paediatric visual disorders of which the primary care practitioner should be aware. The article includes a brief discussion of the features of amblyopia, strabismus, retinopathy of prematurity, allergic conjunctivitis, ophthalmia neonatorum and retinoblastoma. Causes of sight-threatening conditions are highlighted, and methods to detect them at primary care level described. Paediatric eye disorders are relatively common and need to be identified and managed as early as possible in order to prevent a potential lifetime of visual morbidity, blindness or worse.https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/4074allergic conjunctivitisamblyopiaophthalmia neonatorumpaediatric ophthalmologyretinoblastomaretinopathy
spellingShingle Mpopi Lenake
Nagib du Toit
Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
South African Family Practice
allergic conjunctivitis
amblyopia
ophthalmia neonatorum
paediatric ophthalmology
retinoblastoma
retinopathy
title Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
title_full Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
title_fullStr Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
title_full_unstemmed Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
title_short Paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
title_sort paediatric ophthalmology at primary healthcare level
topic allergic conjunctivitis
amblyopia
ophthalmia neonatorum
paediatric ophthalmology
retinoblastoma
retinopathy
url https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/4074
work_keys_str_mv AT mpopilenake paediatricophthalmologyatprimaryhealthcarelevel
AT nagibdutoit paediatricophthalmologyatprimaryhealthcarelevel