Babies with eye problems from as young as nine months would benefit from wearing glasses. Giving glasses to long-sighted babies substantially reduces common eye problems such as squinting and lazy eyes in later life, according to a UK researcher.
Using an unusual eye-screening technique, Prof Janette Atkinson, from University College London, was able to identify long and short-sightedness in small babies, allowing much earlier diagnosis and treatment. She described her work to a session at the British Association meeting in Leicester.
"People have been trying to prevent squinting for 200 years," explained Prof Atkinson, co-director of the visual development unit at UCL. Squinting was not normally a dangerous condition but surveys had shown that people with an obvious squint might have problems performing some tasks, were likely to earn less and had more social problems than their peers and siblings.
She said squinting developed more often in long-sighted children so by correcting their sight early "we can reduce the chance of a squint developing".
A survey of 6,000 babies using her "videorefractor" technique, showed that between 2 per cent and 5 per cent were long-sighted. Researchers who tracked these children over their development discovered that long-sighted children were 10 times more likely to suffer from cross-eyes and squinting.
The videorefractor, pioneered at UCL, shines a beam of light into the baby's eye and analyses the reflection, allowing scientists to find focusing problems in children that are too young to have traditional eye tests.
Prof Atkinson said further work also needed to be done to establish good techniques for prescribing glasses for babies.