Tag Archive for: eye health

The Importance of Pediatric Vision Screenings

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Growth and development are tracked in many ways throughout every stage of life. Just like weight, height, brain function, and dental health are regularly measured, it’s important to monitor eye health as well. Children don’t have a reference point for “good” or “bad” vision like adults do and rarely feel pain or discomfort from conditions affecting eyesight. That’s why regular vision screenings are so important for young children.

Vision screenings are simple tests performed by a pediatrician or other primary care provider during your child’s routine well-child exams. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, eye health should be checked on the following schedule:

Newborn

Your NOAH provider will examine baby’s eyes to check for basic indicators of eye health including:

  • red reflex (like seeing red eyes in a flash photograph). If shining a bright light into the eye fails to produce a red reflex, further testing may be needed
  • blink and pupil response

An ophthalmologist (a doctor who specializes in eye health) should do a comprehensive exam if the baby is:

  • born prematurely
  • has signs of eye disease
  • or has a family history of childhood eye disease

6 to 36 months

A second check is usually part of a well-child exam between 6 and 12 months and a third screening by 36 months. During these exams your child’s pediatrician or primary care provider will:

  • reevaluate red reflex, blink, and pupil response
  • visually inspect the eyes
  • check for healthy eye alignment and movement

3 to 5 years

Between the ages of 3 and 5, or as soon as they can read an eye chart, children should begin having routine visual acuity testing. This testing determines the sharpness or clarity of eyesight (ie. 20/20). This is also a good time to look for issues like misaligned eyes, lazy eye, refractive errors, or other focusing problems.

5 years and older

By age 5, children should be getting regular vision screenings during their yearly well-child exams. Your provider will conduct a visual acuity test and reevaluate for vision problems or symptoms of eye disease.

If anything from your child’s vision screening is considered abnormal, your provider may recommend further testing (a comprehensive eye exam) with an ophthalmologist. It’s important to diagnose issues as early as possible and begin treatment. Untreated vision problems can worsen over time and affect a child’s development and ability to learn to read and write.

To schedule a well-child exam along with recommended vision screenings, request an appointment online or call 480-882-4545.

The Importance of Children’s Eye Health

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By Mitchell Ducett, DO | Family Medicine PGY-1

August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month and the perfect time to share one of the most common conditions of pediatric eye health, strabismus. Strabismus is the fancy medical term for when eyes don’t naturally look at the same place. This is also known as lazy eye and can cause issues like double vision that can negatively affect your child.

Tips to help children with eye health

  • Make sure you attend all your child’s well-child appointments, and all follow-up appointments with your family doctor or pediatrician to catch this issue early on.
  • Always feel comfortable asking your child’s doctor questions and telling them concerns like if you see something “funny” with the movement of your child’s eye. You know your child best!
  • If either parent had a lazy eye or was crossed eye, your child has a higher risk. Tell your child’s doctor of a family history of eye or vision issues.
  • Does your child bump into things when they are walking or crawling? That could be a sign that they have vision issues that you should talk to their doctor about.
  • The sooner you have it diagnosed, the better! Knowing if there is a problem and addressing it will help your child’s vision and development.
  • Treating a child can prevent amblyopia – where the brain favors the “good eye” making the lazy eye even worse.  Half of children with a lazy eye will develop amblyopia, which is still treatable. But the sooner, the better!
  • Treatments usually include eyeglasses, visual exercises, and/or an eye patch over the “good eye” to increase the use of the other eye. Occasionally, surgery is needed on the muscles in the lazy eye that help it move.

The best way to help your child with their eye and vision health is to catch it early. Knowing these signs and learning a few more here, will help parents, family, and any babysitters or caregivers. Vision and eye health is so important to their overall development, so keep an eye on your child’s eyes!