The symptoms that a child displays will vary depending upon the underlying condition afflicting the eye. For example, children with distance-vision problems may squint a lot or seem inattentive when looking at far away objects, such as school blackboards. Meanwhile, children with close-vision problems may experience difficulty reading.

There are several general symptoms typically associated with eye-related disorders. They include:

• Abnormal alignment of the eyes, or unusual eye movement after 6 months of age.
  
  
• Watery eyes. Eyes can water either because tear ducts are blocked, or because something is irritating them, such as an allergen.
  
  
• Itchiness, redness and burning. Histamine and other biochemicals released during an allergic cascade produce these symptoms.
  
  
• Black circles around the eyes. Sometimes known as allergic shiners, they are the result of constant rubbing and scratching of the skin, which causes a darkening effect. This also can be seen in allergic rhinitis (hay fever).
  
  
• Cobblestone pattern of lesions on the conjunctiva under the eyelids.
  
  
• Light sensitivity (photophobia).
  
  
• Discharge. The characteristics of the discharge will vary based on the type of condition.
  
  
• Swelling, crusting or redness of the eyelid.
  
  
• Pupils that are white instead of black.

Symptoms of allergy-related eye conditions may occur alone or can appear in combination with nasal allergy symptoms (e.g., sneezing, sniffling, stuffy nose).

A child with an injury to an eye may display one or more of the following symptoms, which require immediate medical attention:

• Obvious pain or trouble seeing
• Cut or torn eyelid
• Lack of movement in one eye
• One eye that sticks out more than the other
• Unusual pupil size or shape
• Blood in the clear part of the eye
• Foreign object in the eye that cannot be removed

Children who may be developing refractory problems, such as nearsightedness, may feel dizzy or complain of a headache or nausea following work that requires close-up vision, such as reading. However, children may not always indicate that their eyes are bothering them. For this reason, parents should watch for certain physical or behavioral indicators of an underlying eye problem. Children can also reveal potential eye problems through their behavior. Parents should watch to see if their child:

• Rubs eyes often
• Closes or covers one eye
• Tilts head, or thrusts head forward
• Struggles with reading or other work that involves close-up vision
• Sits too close to the television
• Blinks more often than normal
• Mentions that things are blurry or hard to see
• Squints or frowns a lot while trying to see things
• Has difficulty following (tracking) objects visually