Pediatrics and Neonatology

Paediatricians are doctors who specialize in caring for young people, from infants to young adults. General paediatrics encompasses the care, diagnosis, and treatment of a wide range of medical conditions and issues that are generally specific to this younger population. A general paediatrician will treat minor injuries, common illnesses, and some infectious diseases that may affect young people. A paediatrician is managed physical, mental, and emotional well-being of the children under their care at every stage of development, in both sickness and health.

30 paediatric specialties, including:

• Oncology: The treatment of childhood cancers
• Neurology: The treatment of childhood brain and system disorders
• Neonatology: The treatment of babies born premature

Allergy and immunology: the treatment of childhood food and environmental allergies and issues with the system

Rehabilitative medicine: physical and occupational therapy for children

Cardiology: the treatment of childhood heart conditions

Adolescent Medicine:

Adolescence is characterized by conflicts of values, emotional stress and readiness to extreme attitudes, which invariably leads to several psycho -social problems of adolescents.

Puberty is the stage of the life span in which a child develops secondary sex characteristics

The average age for girls: 10-12, the average age for boys: 12-14,

The heart is a pump. It’s divided into a right and left side, each with an upper and lower section. The upper section, called an atrium, receives blood from the body and pumps it through a one-way valve into the lower section, called a ventricle. These valves prevent the backward flow of blood inside the heart. The right side of the heart receives the oxygen-poor blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs where oxygen is added.

This oxygen-rich blood leaves the lungs and enters the left side of the heart. It’s then pumped into the aorta, which distributes it throughout the body to provide oxygen and nutrients for growth and normal body functions. As the body removes oxygen, the now oxygen-poor blood returns to the right side of the heart and the cycle continues.

Failures in Children Why?

For a child to grow and develop, the heart needs to maintain normal pump function, to provide optimal blood flow throughout the body. However, sometimes the heart of a child may not function normally. The term “heart failure” describes a heart that’s not functioning properly. It does not mean that the heart has stopped working, but instead that it isn’t working as well as it should.

Heart failure occurs in adults due to cause of smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary artery disease and bad heart valves. It can occur in new-borns, infants, toddlers and teenagers for other reasons.

Skin is the largest and most superficial organ of the body. Nearly one third (1/3^rd) of the paediatric outpatient visits involve a dermatology complaints.in addition to wide variety of primary skin disorder seen during childhood, skin, is a marker of underlying systematic disease and many hereditary syndromes.

Paediatric dermatologists provide medical care for a wide variety of skin conditions.

They generally provide the following services:

• Diagnosis of various skin conditions, including haemangioma and other vascular birthmarks, pigmented birthmarks, and congenital skin disorders, eczema or atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, contact dermatitis, vitiligo, hives, and warts to name a few
• Medical/prescription treatment for a wide variety of conditions affecting the skin, hair, and nails
• Minor surgical procedures, including skin biopsies, surgical removal of skin lesions (e.g., cysts, warts), and laser treatment of vascular birthmarks.

Children are not just small adults. They are not always able to say what is bothering them. They cannot always answer medical questions or be patient Paediatric dermatologists know how to examine and treat children in a way that puts them at ease, in kid-friendly offices using medical equipment designed for children.

Children have an eye problem, is having difficulty with a vision screening exam or has difficulty reading or learning, or needs surgery or medical treatment for an illness affecting the eyes, a paediatric ophthalmologist has the experience and qualifications to treat child. 

Common Problems in paediatric

• Congenital cataract 
• Congenital glaucoma
• Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)
• Squint
• Refractive error
• Allergic conjunctivitis
• Ocular infections & Ocular trauma.
• Causes of Congenital cataract 

Metabolic disorder i.e. Galactosemia, hyper/hypoglisemia, intrauterine infections i.e. Rubella, Toxo, Varicella, Chromosomal disorder i.e. Down’s.

Paediatric ophthalmologists can diagnose, treat, and manage all children’s eye problems.

Eye exams & Perform surgery, surgery, and optical device surgery (for issues like weak eye muscles, crossed eyes, wandering eyes, blocked tear ducts, retinal issues, and infections).

Diagnose problems of the eye caused by diseases of the body such as diabetes or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and other medical and neurological diseases Diagnose visual processing disorders.

Care for eye injuries & Prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses