When should children have their first complete eye exam?
Children should have their first complete eye exam during the first year of their life. According to the American Optometric Association, infants should have their first eye exam at six months.
A complete eye exam can be performed by your family doctor, or the child's pediatrician. If problems are detected, you should have an optometrist or pediatric opthalmologist give your child an eye exam.
Your child should have a complete eye exam at three years of age, and at five years of age. Subsequently, they should have an eye exam every two years if they have no problems, and every year if they wear glasses.
Even if vision screenings are done at your child's school, a regular, complete eye exam is recommended.
To better allow your child's eye doctor to perform the complete eye exam, the child's cooperation will be needed.
You can help your child have a better complete eye exam if you prepare him/her for what is going to happen ahead of time. Tell your child that they will be asked to look at letters and pictures, and that it is important to give the doctor their best answers during the complete eye exam, to help him keep their eyes healthy.
Try to schedule your child's complete eye exam for a time of day when your child is calm and alert.
The complete eye exam will include parent education, a case history, vision, eye health and eye alignment testing.
The history you give at your child's complete eye exam should include such items as whether your child engages in eye rubbing, or excessive blinking, was premature, has poor eye hand motor coordination, has trouble maintaining eye contact, or has a family history of nearsightedness, farsightedness, or other eye diseases.
Some children suffer from amblyopia, commonly called "lazy eye." This is a condition that can be detected by an eye exam, where there is unequal vision between the two eyes. Even glasses may not correct it. It is caused by errors in refraction, ocular misalignment, or cloudiness in the eye. Amblyopia is reversible if it is detected early enough. Since amblyopia can cause unilateral vision loss, it is very important that your child have a complete eye exam so that it be detected early, and corrected early.
For effective learning, children need good near vision, distance vision, binocular or two eye coordination, eye movement skills, focusing skills, peripheral awareness and eye-hand coordination. All of these will be tested during a complete eye exam.
Children don't have to know their letters to have the complete eye exam. The eye doctor will use eye charts that employ picture symbols rather than letters.
An eye exam is vital to your child's successful performance in school. Children who cannot see the board or see to print can become frustrated and give up on school early.
Protect your child's eye health with a complete eye exam.