What does your child say?

Why does my child have a headache?

Dessin illustrant un enfant qui a mal à la tête à cause d'un trouble visuel

Your child has a headache, with a feeling of dizziness or nausea and vomiting: these symptoms can be caused by visual problems. This is usually a refractive disorder, an eye disease that requires the wearing of glasses, or an abnormality of eye movements.

Mention these disorders to the paediatrician, who can refer you to an ophthalmological check-up for additional examinations.

The triggers of eye disorders

There are three types of common visual disorders that can be the cause of these symptoms in children: myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism.

Myopia can cause headaches

Myopia is an ophthalmic condition that causes blurred far vision. Because of this diminished vision at a distance, the child tends to squint to improve his vision. He may also hold the books closer to his eyes and move closer to screens. All these habits tire the eye and can cause headaches.

On the contrary, excessively corrected myopia can also cause pain in the skull. A thorough eye examination is therefore essential.

Hyperopia and ophthalmic migraines

When a person has hyperopic, his brain tends to compensate a lot for the vision defect. This is a visual disorder that can go unnoticed for a long time. Generally, a long period of reading or computer use can trigger the first symptoms.

Astigmatism: migraines, dizziness and vomiting

Astigmatism blurs both near and far vision. It is linked to a deformity of the cornea. Migraine symptoms are common, with the brain constantly having to compensate for vision. 

Treat symptoms with appropriate treatment

When you see your child suffer from headaches, you only have one desire: to relieve them! We all know this painful sensation of beating in the temples, a bar in the back of the skull, discomfort in the cervical muscles or pulsations on the side of the head. Suffice it to say that it’s unpleasant.

The first step is to assess the frequency of attacks. If the pain is not accompanied by nasal congestion (sinusitis), dehydration or lack of sleep, and comes back regularly, then it may be an eye disorder. 

An appointment with the child’s paediatrician or ophthalmologist so that they can accurately diagnose the pathology will make it possible to choose the right optical correction. These painful crises will then be nothing more than a bad memory.