Childs Eye Health
Healthy eyes and vision are quite a critical part of the kids' development. Their eyes should be examined very frequently, as many vision problems and eye diseases can be detected and treated early.
Be sure to make the vision care and eye checks a part of your child's normal routine medical care. Different kinds of doctors offer eye care, and the names can be confusing such as Ophthalmologists who are those doctors who provide a comprehensive eye care with medicine and surgery.
Pediatric ophthalmologists have a special form of training in order to treat the kids' eye problems. Optometrists provide a routine primary eye care and can also prescribe some eyeglasses and examine vision. The Opticians fit and adjust the eyeglasses.
Routine medical exams for the kids' vision would include the Newborns who should be checked for general eye health by a pediatrician or the family physician in the hospital or even a nursery. High-risk newborns which include premature infants are those with a family history of eye problems, and those with obvious eye irregularities should be examined by an eye doctor even more regularly.
In the first year of their life, all the infants should be routinely screened for an eye health during checkups with their doctors. Around the age of 3½, kids should undergo an eye health screenings and visual acuity tests which are tests that measure the sharpness of their vision with their doctors. Around the age of 5, kids should have their vision and eye alignment as well evaluated by their doctors. Those who fail either of these tests should be examined by an eye doctor.
After the age of 5, a further routine screening should be done at the school or at the doctor's office, or after the appearance of certain symptoms such as squinting or frequent headaches. Kids who wear prescription glasses or even contacts should have annual checkups to screen for their vision changes.
Signs that a child may be having vision problems would include rubbing of the eye constantly and extreme sensitivity to the light. The focus would become poorer and so would the visual tracking. There would be an abnormal movement of the eyes after crossing 6 months of age and also show some chronic redness of the eye. The eyes would then chronically tear up and the pupil would turn white instead of black. During school age they will not be able to see objects that are at a distance or be able to read the black board even. Their reading capabilities will go down and they would start squinting in order to read properly. Sitting too close to the T.V will also be noticed.
Several eye conditions can affect most kids. Most are detected during a vision screening by using an acuity chart during the preschool years. Amblyopic that is lazy eye, is a poor vision in an eye that appears to be quite normal. Two common causes are the crossed eyes and a difference in the refractive error in between the two eyes. If untreated on time then the amblyopic can cause an irreversible visual loss in the affected eye. By then, the brain's programming will start ignoring the signals from that eye.