Correspondence (letter to the editor): Children With Problems at School

The Professional Association of German Ophthalmologists (Berufsverband der Augenärzte Deutschlands, BVA) and the Ophthalmologische Gesellschaft (DOG, the medical scientific association of ophthalmology in Germany) protested against IQWiG’s rejection of vision screening in preschool children, in some cases insulting and blaming the institute’s staff. As Professor Lagrèze showed in his article, this was unjustified. Vision screening was intended to identify in particular amblyopia with strabismus, in order to prevent bilateral sight impairment in case additional eye disorders were to develop in old age.

However, this should be completed if possible by the 3rd year of life because the chance of a cure notably decreases after that age. Transferring preventive eye investigations in early childhood from pediatricians to ophthalmologists would make sense. Screening measures at any later stage therefore hardly make any sense.

In my long years’ experience with many thousands of affected children, something that really puts a burden on children after the 6th year of life, when they have entered school, are latent binocular vision impairments, which affect children’s ability to perform and thus endanger their academic and later professional careers.

Severe asthenopic symptoms with headache/migraine, impaired gross and fine motor skills, difficulties in reading/spelling, and AD(H)D will then lead to severe performance impairments.

Children with problems at school should therefore be investigated for associated heterophorias (latent strabismus in which one eye tends to deviate either medially or laterally) with the Pola-test according to Haase’s particularly effective measurement and correction method, in order to prevent maldevelopments.

Ophthalmologists, pediatricians, psychologists, and optometrists, as well as educators have joined forces to be contacted under the umbrella of the International Association for Binocular Fullcorrection (IVBV).