Pediatric Eye Exams
Why Are Children’s Eye Exams So Important?
Eye exams for children are very important to insure your child’s eyes are healthy and have no vision problems that could interfere with school performance and potentially affect your child’s safety.
Early eye exams also are important because children need the following visual skills that are essential for optimal learning:
- Excellent visual acuity at all distances
- Accurate and comfortable eye teaming skills
- Accurate eye movement skills
- Accurate and comfortable focusing skills
A brief examination of your child’s eyes and a vision screening by a pediatrician or family practice doctor is not a substitute for an eye exam performed by an eye doctor.
Only optometrists and ophthalmologists have the advanced training and clinical tools to perform a thorough evaluation of your child’s eyes and vision.
What Does the Doctor Check for During a Pediatric Eye Exam?
In addition to eyeglass prescriptions like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, the doctor will check for:
Lazy eye (amblyopia). Our eye doctor will want to rule out amblyopia, or “lazy eye,” which is decreased vision in one or both eyes without detectable anatomic damage. Unfortunately, amblyopia is not always correctable with eyeglasses or contact lenses and may require eye patching to strengthen the weaker eye.
Misalignment of eyes (strabismus).Crossed or misaligned eyes (strabismus) can have different causes, such as problems with muscle control in the affected eye or eyes. Strabismus is a common cause of amblyopia and should be treated early in childhood so vision and eye teaming skills can develop normally.
Convergence insufficiency. This is the inability to maintain eye alignment when viewing near objects. Convergence insufficiency can cause eye discomfort and even double vision when reading.
Focusing problems, poor depth perception and color blindness. Our optometrist will test your child’s focusing ability (accommodation), depth perception, color vision and more. [Read more about color vision and how the eye refracts light.]
Eye health problems. Your eye doctor will closely examine your child’s eyelids to look for abnormal or infected eyelash follicles, bumps, eye discharge and swelling. The doctor also will examine the cornea, iris, and lens to look for cloudiness (opacities) or other irregularities.
When Do Your Children Need an Eye Exam?
The American Optometric Association recommends that infants have their first eye exam by 6 months of age and that children have an eye exam before entering kindergarten and every year thereafter. Our eye doctor makes every effort to make your childs exam comfortable, productive and fun.
In addition to the guidelines above, you should bring your child for an eye exam if they:
- Are performing below expected levels in school
- Read slowly
- Blink excessively
- Complain of headaches
- Have difficulty copying from a chalkboard or textbook
- Feel tired after reading
- Complain of itchy, burning or watery eyes
- Move their head back and forth instead of just their eyes while reading
- Have problems with coordination in sports