What could be the causes of constant blinking in a 2 year old?

Doctor's Answers 1

Hi Lydia

Frequent blinking in young children is one of the more common reasons for attending eye clinics. The symptom is rather 'non-specific', ie it's difficult to say what causes it without an examination, because there are several possibilities.

Sometimes, children may blink because they feel eye irritation. Possible causes here may include allergies causing eye itching, or sometimes the eyelashes may touch and irritate the eyes in a condition called 'epiblepharon'.

Other times, vision may be blurred and they may be trying to clear the vision by blinking. There are many causes of blurriness, but the main ones we look out for include refractive error/spectacle power, and any other eye problems.

If a full eye examination has found no obvious eye problem, it is also possible that the blinking is 'habitual', but we can only say this after doing a full eye check and making sure there is no other eye problem.

In short, yes, it is worth bringing your child to see an eye specialist, to make sure there is no treatable cause of his/her frequent blinking.

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