Introduction
Preventive paediatric ophthalmology is very important: it is essential to evaluate the child’s vision before the age of three. In babies, a simple refractive defect or a squint, can cause the so-called “lazy eye” or amblyopia.

Amblyopia
Amblyopia, the scientific word for " lazy eye", is due to the absence of sensory stimuli to the brain during the first years of life. Amblyopia is also linked to a large difference in refraction between the two eyes. For example one eye works perfectly and the other sees blurred objects. The brain ignores the eye with blurred vision and only develops the eye with normal sight. This process can be corrected with antiamblyopic therapy, if caught in time, as children from 6-7 months old to 7-8 years old have a plasticity of the sight system.

Squinting
Squinting is a deviation of the visual axes of the eye globes. Esotropia is when the eye turns inwards and Exotropia when the eye turns outwards. The angle of the squint can vary and can be present for both long and short sighted vision. Moreover it can be constant, intermittent, monolateral or alternating. Almost all squints arise at a young age and their premature recognition is fundamental for successful medical and/or surgical treatment.