Importance of Routine Pediatric Eye Exams

Your child(ren) should have his or her first eye exam at 6-12 months of age, if possible. If no problems are present, your child’s next exam will be between the age of three and five and then before starting school. Once your child starts kindergarten, annual eye exams are recommended.  
 

While this might seem like a lot of eye exams, this is critical for many reasons. Let’s go over some of the main reasons why pediatric eye exams are important.

Remove Roadblocks to Learning

When you think about pediatric eye exams, you probably think about visual acuity tests. These tests are important to ensure that your child does not have a refractive error. If your child does have vision problems, your optometrist can prescribe corrective lenses so your son or daughter will be ready to see the board or books when school starts.
 

As important as visual acuity is, that’s just one thing the eye doctor checks during routine pediatric eye exams. Optometrists also check the child’s eye movement skills, focusing abilities, eye teaming skills, visual perception, and more. If your child has vision problems, he or she might have trouble learning, so it’s important to catch this early.
 

For example, if the eyes don’t work together, your child will have trouble reading and performing other motor skills. Without an eye exam, you won’t realize that the learning problems are because of eye issues. You don’t want your child to be behind in school, so routine pediatric eye exams are critical. Then, your child will be ready to embrace learning once school begins.

Avoid Permanent Visual Disability

When eye problems are detected early, they can often be corrected as the child ages. For example, amblyopia, or lazy eye, can be treated before it causes permanent visual disability. If you fail to take your child to the eye doctor early, he or she could end up with permanent vision problems that make it difficult to learn and interact with others.

 

Build Healthy Habits

When you take your child to the eye doctor regularly, he or she will get comfortable with this process. As your child ages, he or she will need to continue going to the eye doctor to check for vision and eye problems. By developing this habit early, your child is more likely to continue into adulthood. That will take some stress off your shoulders, knowing that your son or daughter will continue to maintain good eye health.
 

As you can see, routine pediatric eye exams are critical for your child’s development and health. Contact Limestone Eye Care in Lawrence, Kansas, to schedule a pediatric eye exam today. This will be the first in a series of appointments necessary to ensure your child is healthy, happy, and ready to learn.