The Long-Term Vision: How Can Parents Promote Eye Health?
Healthy vision is essential to a child鈥檚 quality of life and intellectual, social, and emotional development. Visual impairment or poor eye health can disrupt everything from the development of fine motor skills to language. Left unaddressed, these issues can cause lifelong impairment or blindness.
Fortunately, early identification and treatment of eye disease can prevent loss of sight and its long-term effects.
How often should parents be scheduling eye exams for kids? What kind of eye health warning signs should parents be looking for? We asked Andrea Avila, MD, assistant professor of Ophthalmology at UR Medicine, to provide guidance on maintaining eye health.
What age do eye exams start?
Here is when to schedule eye exams for your kids:
- Newborns: Before they leave the nursery, newborns receive a comprehensive eye exam.
- First year: Eye health is monitored during well-child visits, typically every two months.
- Ages 1 and up: Annual screenings are conducted at pediatric appointments and sometimes at school.
Luckily, no separate appointments are needed unless there are concerns.
How often should older kids get their eyes checked?
Once children are older, they are screened yearly at the pediatrician鈥檚 office and occasionally through health services brought to their school or daycare.
If any abnormalities are detected during these screenings, such as a visual acuity issue, the child is referred to a pediatric ophthalmologist for further evaluation. Many of these screenings lead to diagnoses of refractive errors, amblyopia, strabismus, cataracts, and even serious conditions like retinoblastoma.
It's important to note that your child could have a false positive screening due to cooperation issues during a routine eye test. Just because a child is referred to an ophthalmologist doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean that they will have an eye issue.
Are annual check-ups enough to monitor eye or vision problems?
For the most part, annual eye exams are enough to monitor children鈥檚 eye health and detect vision problems. However, if you notice anything concerning between exams, be sure to reach out to your pediatrician.
Signs your child might need an eye exam
Although some eye conditions are only caught through screening, there are certain eye health concerns that parents might notice.
In between pediatrician checkups, parents should be on the lookout for:
- Squinting
- Abnormal head positioning like turns or head tilts
- An abnormal "fundus reflex鈥� in pictures (if flashes turn retinas white or two different colors, it can be a sign of eye disease)
- Drifting of the eyes in any direction
- Abnormal pupil size
Parents should contact a pediatric ophthalmologist for a complete evaluation if they notice any of these signs or have concerns.
Some eye conditions are difficult for a parent to catch, like amblyopia or JIA (Juvenile idiopathic arthritis), because there are no noticeable signs. Cases like this are caught when children fail the vision test at their pediatricians鈥� office or school. While parents can notice some eye conditions, it is still very important to have annual check-ups with the pediatrician to test eyesight for conditions that may not be picked up.
How can parents help kids maintain eye health?
Parents can take steps to help their kids maintain eye health, including:
- Keep hazardous items, like chemicals and sharp objects, out of reach of children.
- Be sure children wear protective glasses during certain sports to avoid injury.
- Encourage outdoor playtime to slow the progression of nearsightedness.
- Limit screen time. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no digital media use (except video chatting) for children under 18-24 months.
Pediatric Eye Care
We provide basic eye care and screenings for children of all ages. Plus, we specialize in taking care of children with complex eye problems or ocular manifestations of complex systemic disorders.
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