Eye Care for Children and Teens
While serious diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration are not as common in the young as they are in adults, vision problems necessitating eye care can still affect children. Even a simple refractive error can make it difficult for a child to read, resulting in poor grades at school. In the rare cases that more serious conditions do arise, regular checkups can catch them before they cause irreversible damage. Please take a moment to learn about when and for what reasons you should have your child or teenager's eyes examined.
When should children undergo their first eye exam?
Shortly after birth, the doctor gives an infant its very first eye exam, but this precaution screens only for serious, congenital conditions, not quality of eyesight. Over the next couple of years, the health of your child’s eyes will be monitored along with everything else. Generally, your primary care physician should begin giving the child vision screenings around age three. Children who exhibit problems during these screenings will then be referred to an eye specialist for more accurate testing and treatment.
How often should children and teens undergo eye exams?
Whether or not vision problems are detected in the initial screening, children should continue to undergo annual exams through the age of 10 or so. Regular eye exams should be performed throughout the teen years if problems do begin to manifest themselves. Eyesight quality often fails to stabilize until adulthood; thus, prescriptions and treatment plans may need to be updated regularly before the age of 18. If no problems appear, your primary care physician will administer routine eye exams as necessary during your child's normal checkups.
What types of vision problems typically affect children and teens?
Eyes come in many different shapes and sizes; unfortunately, some of these varieties can cause poor eyesight in the form of refractive errors. Myopia (shortsightedness) and hyperopia (farsightedness) are common errors in eyeball shape that result in blurry vision and difficulty reading. Astigmatism, caused by irregularly shaped corneas, often causes similar problems; all three are frequently treated with eyeglasses or contact lenses. Regular checkups are crucial in detecting these vision problems, as children are often unable to describe the impairments or even recognize that they suffer from them.
The presence of other conditions can sometimes be more apparent to the lay person. Lazy eye (amblyopia) and crossed eyes (strabismus) can both reduce vision quality and detract from a child’s physical appearance. A trained eye care specialist can treat children afflicted with these problems and restore all or part of normal vision quality. The earlier the conditions are addressed, the better the results, so please ensure that your children undergo regular eye exams.
What are the common symptoms of vision problems in children and teens?
Very often, children do not exhibit behavior that clearly indicates that they suffer from vision problems. Vision screenings are thus a very important part of regular eye care, even for children who seem fine. Still, there are some signs that parents can look out for to ensure that their children receive appropriate treatment as soon as possible. Obviously, eyes that do not line up (crossed eyes or lazy eye) are a problem; this condition can impair depth perception and, over time, even cause the brain to completely ignore the image from one eye. Children who have noticeably red or irritated eyes or who complain about scratchiness and discomfort should see an eye care specialist as soon as possible. Lastly, children suffering from poor eyesight may hold reading material and other items requiring close visual scrutiny either closer or farther away than is normal. Catching these vision problems early means better lifelong visual health for your children, so it is important to be attentive.
Can children and teens undergo refractive surgery?
While LASIK is an increasingly safe, popular, and effective treatment for poor eyesight caused by refractive errors, it is not usually a good option for children or teenagers. The vision defects of most people do not stabilize until they are at least 18 years of age; to perform permanent corrective surgery before this time presents the risk of having the problem worsen and entail more surgery. As a result, most ophthalmologists require that LASIK patients demonstrate a stable vision prescription for at least a year before undergoing the procedure. While many young people consider glasses uncomfortable or unattractive, those may be their only options until their bodies reach maturity.
Find an Ophthalmologist in Your Area to Schedule an Eye Exam
Don’t leave your child’s short-and long-term visual health to chance. Vision problems can appear at any time, so give the gift of quality eye care to your children by contacting an ophthalmologist in your area today.
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