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Can Low Dose Atropine Be Used In Children Aged Below 10 Years?
Question: Hello this is in reference to a 8 year old kid, male whos eyes are healthy but has high myopia and high eye power . His prescription reads:
EYE SPHERE CYL AXIS
OD -6.00 +2.25 090
OS -6.50 +2.50 090
in last 2 years it increased very fast. However, his opthalmologist is not worried. He said as long as his eyes are healthy its ok and the power will keep increasing as the kid grows old.
So today we went for a 6 months follow up visit. His eyes are stable and power did not increase, but since we expressed our concerns doctor suggested that he can try a very low dose of daily ATROPINE 0.0017 dosage. He said sometimes in Asian countries it works and stabilizes the increase of eye power in kids. He has rarely prescribed it for worried patient's parents.
Now, my question is should we use this for the kid? will it help? does this dosage has any side effects?
Please kindly advice
Thanks
Mr XXXX
New York, USA
.
EYE SPHERE CYL AXIS
OD -6.00 +2.25 090
OS -6.50 +2.50 090
in last 2 years it increased very fast. However, his opthalmologist is not worried. He said as long as his eyes are healthy its ok and the power will keep increasing as the kid grows old.
So today we went for a 6 months follow up visit. His eyes are stable and power did not increase, but since we expressed our concerns doctor suggested that he can try a very low dose of daily ATROPINE 0.0017 dosage. He said sometimes in Asian countries it works and stabilizes the increase of eye power in kids. He has rarely prescribed it for worried patient's parents.
Now, my question is should we use this for the kid? will it help? does this dosage has any side effects?
Please kindly advice
Thanks
Mr XXXX
New York, USA
.
Brief Answer:
Low dose atropine can be used in your son.
Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care Magic.
I am Dr. DADAPEER K, an Ophthalmologist and I will be answering your question.
I reviewed your history.
It seems from the history that your 8 year old son is having high myopia. Myopia in childhood tends to increase faster and it will usually gets stabilized by the age of 16-18 years.
The increase in the refractive power is because of growth of the eyeball and also because of the stress or fatigue caused by high refractive power.
There are no ideal methods to arrest or to prevent the increase in the refractive power.
The methods which are useful are
Preventing the eye strain by use of spectacles always and to avoid reading in poor light, avoiding watching television from near...
Maintaining proper posture and reading in good illumination
Use of foods rich in vitamin A like carrot, green leafy vegetables...
Use of low dose atropine eye drops is employed and the idea is to prevent fatigue of the eyes there by preventing the strain. The results of using the atropine have given good results in children aged below 10 years.
Since your son is 8 years this can be tried now.
Since the dose of atropine is low this will not cause any systemic side effects, hence no need to be worried.
Hope this information is helpful to you.
Do write back to me for further questions.
Thank you
With regards
Low dose atropine can be used in your son.
Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care Magic.
I am Dr. DADAPEER K, an Ophthalmologist and I will be answering your question.
I reviewed your history.
It seems from the history that your 8 year old son is having high myopia. Myopia in childhood tends to increase faster and it will usually gets stabilized by the age of 16-18 years.
The increase in the refractive power is because of growth of the eyeball and also because of the stress or fatigue caused by high refractive power.
There are no ideal methods to arrest or to prevent the increase in the refractive power.
The methods which are useful are
Preventing the eye strain by use of spectacles always and to avoid reading in poor light, avoiding watching television from near...
Maintaining proper posture and reading in good illumination
Use of foods rich in vitamin A like carrot, green leafy vegetables...
Use of low dose atropine eye drops is employed and the idea is to prevent fatigue of the eyes there by preventing the strain. The results of using the atropine have given good results in children aged below 10 years.
Since your son is 8 years this can be tried now.
Since the dose of atropine is low this will not cause any systemic side effects, hence no need to be worried.
Hope this information is helpful to you.
Do write back to me for further questions.
Thank you
With regards
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
Answered by
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