title: Visual function deficits in children.
abstract: In the past year, new work on sensory testing in preverbal infants has expanded our knowledge in three areas: 1) visual acuity testing in infants in varying levels of illumination; 2) visual evoked cortical potential-evidence for binocular function in infantile esotropia; and 3) a new time-efficient method to evaluate color vision in newborns and infants. A newly reported sequel to loss of binocularity is the development of A and V pattern strabismus. In another study, loss of fusion, as with acute concomitant esotropia, was shown to be a sign of serious intracranial disease. Regarding motor visual function deficits, new treatments of infantile esotropia syndrome and nystagmus with botulinum toxin type A are presented. Regarding social issues, visual function deficit of abused children and infants born to drug-abusing mothers are presented as a timely reminder that child abuse is still an enormous social problem, and that the visual system is far from exempt from damage.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Carruthers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015835:Ocular Motility Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015348:Vision, Binocular / Q000502:physiology; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*