Your Child’s Eye Health
Your child’s eyesight and visual development goes through many changes beginning at birth. Although these developments occur at a different pace for each child, it is imperative to ensure your child’s eye health is on target.
Vision problems can begin at an early age, so having routine eye exams is important to keep your child’s eyes healthy. Uncorrected vision problems could affect your child’s ability to learn. Your child’s doctor should screen their vision during regular checkups and may recommend that your child see an eye doctor for a comprehensive eye exam. While they are both important, a vision screening and an eye exam are not the same thing.
• Vision screening – an evaluation used to identify children in need of additional eye care. It can be done by a family doctor, pediatrician, school nurse, or other health care professional.
• Comprehensive eye exam – a complete exam performed by a specialist called an ophthalmologist or optometrist. They can diagnose a child’s medical or vision problem and provide treatment.
If you are concerned about your child’s vision, ask their pediatrician to help you find an eye doctor. Early detection and treatment are vital to protecting your child’s vision.
Tips for Protecting Your Child’s Vision
A child’s vision health affects how well they can see, learn, and enjoy their surroundings. The following are tips that can help your child to protect their eyes and their developing vision:
• Eat a balanced diet: A healthy diet can protect your child against many eye health issues. Foods high in nutrients like zinc, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, and omega-3 fatty acids are especially impactful on your child’s eyes.
• Limit screen time: Limiting a child’s screen time and taking frequent breaks when using digital devices will help to protect their vision. Taking frequent breaks is also important when doing other kinds of close-up activities, such as reading, writing, or drawing.
• Get enough sleep: Adequate sleep may affect how well your child’s eyes heal from daily eye strain and irritants in the environment, such as dry air, allergens, and pollutants.
• Spend time outdoors: Playing outdoors helps kids be physically active, get essential vitamin D from the sun, allows their eyes to look at objects in the distance, and improve their social skills.
• Wear sunglasses: It is important to protect your child’s eyes from the sun. For the best protection, make sure your child wears sunglasses that have 100% UV protection. Wise Eyes Optical has a great selection of sunglasses for kids.
• Use protective eyewear: About 90% of eye injuries can be prevented with protective eyewear made with shatterproof plastic. If your child participates in sports or other activities, make sure they wear protective eyewear to avoid serious eye injuries. Wise Eyes Optical’s Polycarbonate Lenses can ensure your child’s eye safety and vision clarity.
• Get regular eye exams: With regular eye exams, your child’s eye doctor can follow their vision at every stage of development. If there are changes, the doctor will be able to treat and manage your child’s vision quickly.
Keep An Eye Out for Vision Problems
Almost 7% of children in the United States younger than 18 years old have a diagnosed eye and vision condition. If your child has trouble concentrating or complains of headaches after doing schoolwork, make an appointment with an eye doctor, who can check your child for these conditions and other vision problems and provide treatment if needed.
Signs of vision problems could include:
• Complaints of discomfort and fatigue.
• Frequent eye rubbing or blinking.
• Short attention span.
• Avoiding reading and other close activities.
• Frequent headaches.
• Covering one eye.
• Tilting the head to one side.
• Holding reading materials close to the face.
• An eye turning in or out.
• Seeing double.
• Losing place when reading.
• Difficulty remembering what he or she read.
Common Vision Problems in Children
Children with a vision problem could have trouble recognizing letters and written words, which could affect their school performance. Some studies have shown improvements in learning, testing, class participation, self-confidence, and behavior after an eye exam and treatment.
Some common vision problems include:
• Refractive errors: Refractive errors include myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), and astigmatism (when the cornea or lens has a different shape than normal). Refractive errors occur when light does not correctly focus on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, causing blurred vision.
• Amblyopia (lazy eye): This eye condition occurs when vision in one eye is reduced because of a communication error between the brain and the affected eye. The brain relies more on the stronger eye, while vision in the weaker eye gets worse.
• Strabismus (crossed eyes): This condition can affect one or both eyes. In a child with strabismus, their eyes do not focus on the same object at the same time.
• Convergence insufficiency: This condition affects how the child’s eyes work together when looking at close objects. Convergence insufficiency can cause blurry or double vision when a person looks at any object close-up.
Attend Regular Eye Exams
If you or your pediatrician suspect that your child may have a vision problem, make an appointment with Wise Eyes Optical for additional screening. Our professional eye doctors will be able to recommend the best course of action to take when dealing with potential issues with vision development. Regular eye exams are important for everyone, and the only effective way to confirm your eye health. At Wise Eyes Optical, our team of experienced eye care professionals is ready to make your eye exam hassle-free and help you in the mission to correct your vision.
Do you have more questions about your child’s eye health? Are you ready to schedule an annual eye exam? Contact the professionals at Wise Eyes Optical to address any concerns you may have.
Contact Wise Eyes Optical
Your Hometown Vision Center Serving Central Pennsylvania
Your local Wise Eyes Optical hometown vision center is here to help you achieve the best possible vision for life. We offer expert eye and vision care including eye-related medical care, custom fitting of eyeglasses and contacts, eyeglass repair, and much more. If you have questions or would like to learn more, reach out to your nearest Central Pennsylvania Wise Eyes Optical office. For assistance, call (717) 242-1915.
