Early Vision Care
Protect your children’s eyes
Early Visual Development
The first few years of life are very important in developing the proper neural connections which form the basis of our vision. If one of the eyes does not receive a clear image, the wiring that processes this does not develop. This condition is termed amblyopia or “lazy eye”. There are ways to intervene during the early stages to try and develop proper vision in the weaker eye. However, if this condition is detected later on in life it is almost impossible to correct. This is why it is important to have your children examined on a routine basis, with the first exam at about 2-3 years of age. Even though children this age are unable to read letters we can perform other tests that indicate whether the eyes are working together, and if there is a large refractive error that should be corrected.
My child says he/she sees perfectly and does not need glasses so is there any need to get his/her eyes examined?
Yes, perfect vision is not the only thing involved in eyesight. I see patients everyday that come in saying that their vision is great but, when one of their eyes are covered the patient notices a drastic difference. This is due to the fact that if one of our eyes can see better at certain distances then it becomes the dominant one at that distance. Therefore, you are seeing “great” with just that one eye. Also, there are many diseases that can be detected during a routine exam that are not detected by simple visual acuity, such as glaucoma.
In addition, the biggest problem in school age children is hyperopia. This means that they are farsighted but, can focus at near by exerting extra strain on their focusing mechanism. The most common symptom from this continual focusing is headaches and pain around the eyes. Therefore, the child does not like, or want, to read which leads to learning problems at school. This is one of the conditions that is not easily detected during a routine school screening because the child can see perfectly at distance (they are farsighted) and therefore pass the test.
