Why Is Vision Care For My Child So Important?
Vision is one of the most important ways that children take in the world around them, whether in the classroom or at play. In fact, nearly 80% of all learning is done through the visual system. When a child has healthy vision, they can focus unfettered on their interests and hobbies, excel in school, and reach their highest ambitions. At Wilmington Eye, our experienced pediatric team offers specialized vision care for children of all ages to ensure healthy vision and success in everything your child does.
More Than Just Seeing Clearly
A comprehensive eye exam can ensure your child sees clearly. But healthy vision is so much more than just seeing clearly. Our pediatric team will evaluate how your child’s eyes work together as a team, how they focus, test coordination, and identify the presence of ocular diseases such as strabismus or amblyopia, which are common eye diseases among children. We also understand that children can be apprehensive about seeing an eye doctor. Our pediatric team of doctors and technicians work with both you and your child to ensure the process is fun, educational, and medically beneficial.
Visual Acuity
Visual acuity has to do with how well your eyes see at up close distances, intermediate distances, and far away distances. During a preventative eye care visit with our pediatric ophthalmologist or a pediatric optometrist, we can determine if your child has trouble seeing at any distance. If a refractive error is diagnosed, such as nearsightedness (also referred to as myopia) or farsightedness (also referred to as hyperopia), we will work with our licensed opticians to find the right glasses for your child.
Eye Teaming
Eye teaming is the ability to coordinate and use both eyes together as a team. It’s important for both of our eyes to be performing at the same rate, sharing the workload. When one eye is stronger than the other, children run the risk of losing function in one of their eyes as the brain slowly shuts down the weaker eye. Unfortunately, regular vision screenings by a pediatrician do not test for eye teaming. During a preventative eye care visit with our doctors, we’ll identify how well your child’s eyes perform as a team and ensure both eyes are equally strong.
Eye Tracking
Being able to follow along when reading or following an object that’s in motion, like a thrown baseball, is another important part of healthy vision. Oftentimes, children may have issues with tracking out of one eye, which may be a sign of strabismus. As the muscles that help move your child’s eye falter, it can lead to permanent damage and even vision loss.
Ocular Diseases
There are many ocular diseases that are common among children. These include strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes, or amblyopia, more commonly referred to as lazy eye. Our pediatric team will evaluate your child for any ocular diseases that might be present and develop a treatment plan suitable for the patient.
Our pediatric team understands the vital role vision plays in the development of your child. We believe that every child should start their educational journey unhindered by vision problems. If you notice an issue with your child’s vision or want to have peace of mind that your child can see the world clearly, give us a call.
Comprehensive Eye Exams for Children
How do you know that their vision is healthy and that their eyes are functioning properly? Children are unlikely to raise concerns about their vision because they simply don’t know that there is a problem. They often assume that what they are experiencing or seeing is normal. And while most children will have vision screenings performed by their pediatrician’s office, they oftentimes fail to diagnose vision problems that can lead to learning issues. In fact, roughly 2 out of every 10 children who pass a visual screener at the pediatrician have a visual problem. That is why Wilmington Eye strongly recommends comprehensive eye exams for children prior to beginning their first year of school.
- Arrive 15 minutes early for your appointment to check in and complete any necessary paperwork. Please have your current insurance cards, a list of medications your child takes and their current glasses or contact lens prescription (if applicable).
- We’ll take you and your child back to an exam room and review the medical history.
- Your pediatric ophthalmic technician will do a thorough vision check.
- Your technician may check your intraocular pressure.
- Your child will be given dilation drops (usually performed annually). Our technicians are experienced in working to make the process simple and painless for your child.
- You and your child will wait in a separate waiting room for approximately 30 minutes for dilation to take place.
- Any special testing requested by your pediatric eye doctor will be done at this time.
- Your pediatric eye doctor will perform your child’s eye exam to evaluate overall health of the eye including the retina, optic nerve, and lens, and review any findings with you.
- Questions and concerns will be addressed by the doctor, and your treatment plan will be discussed.