Excessive blinking in children

Does your child blink frequently, and you're wondering if you should be worried? While this symptom is usually harmless, it's important to consult your ophthalmologist if your child blinks a lot. Excessive blinking can indicate a vision problem, such as farsightedness (hyperopia ), or a condition affecting the surface of the eye: allergies , rosacea, or dryness.

What are the causes of excessive blinking in children?

The four most common causes of excessive blinking in children are:

• Corneal problems – These can include dry eye, a trichiasis (ingrown) eyelash, a foreign body in the eye or under the eyelid, corneal abrasion (scratch or scratch at the front of the eye), eye allergies, or conjunctivitis (pink eye).

• Uncorrected refractive errors – Refractive errors cause eye and eyelid spasms in some children. In this case, correcting myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism can relieve blinking. An examination under cycloplegia (eye drops that relax accommodation) allows for a proper assessment of the necessary corrective lenses.

• Intermittent strabismus – In cases of intermittent strabismus, the child may blink strongly to relieve their double vision and realign their two eyes.

• Tics (involuntary repetitive body movements) – Blinking is a common tic. Tics are usually caused by stress/anxiety, fatigue, or boredom. In most cases, tics are harmless and children outgrow them. However, it is a diagnosis of exclusion.

How to diagnose excessive blinking?

Determining the cause of excessive blinking requires a complete ophthalmological examination performed in one or two consultations. The examination includes:

• Risk factor assessment – Interview to look for allergies, use of certain medications or environmental risk factors.

• A vision and refraction test – This is to detect any refractive errors that may require correction with glasses. If necessary, if the child is straining their eyes, the ophthalmologist will ask you to come in for follow-up measurements using Skiacol or Atropine eye drops to relieve the strain.

• A search for intermittent strabismus – The orthoptist performs alternating occlusion movements to check that your child's eyes do not move to the side once covered.

• An eye examination – Including corneal analysis and testing for dry eye after instillation of orange dye drops (Fluorescein).

How is excessive blinking treated?

The treatment for excessive blinking is to treat its cause:

• Wearing a suitable pair of glasses and in cases of ametropia or strabismus.

• Eye hydration and anti-allergy treatment in drops.

• Removal of a foreign body and instillation of healing agents.

Treatment of visual tics such as blinking

• If no cause is found, it is probably a tic. Tics can take months to disappear and are most often completely benign.

• If your child is experiencing visual tics, consult your pediatrician with the ophthalmologist's report to try to determine what triggers them. Tics are often aggravated by stress, fatigue, or anxiety.

• If your child has other symptoms of tics (vocal: coughing, rumination, throat clearing / gestural: rubbing, repetitive gestures, etc.), your pediatrician may seek the opinion of a neuropsychiatrist.

Conclusion