India currently has 12 million blind people which means it is the home of one-third of the total population. Almost, 550 million people in India, estimated to be suffering from vision problems and correction. The most important thing is the eye disease sufferers are the kids. So it is a dire need to examine the children’s eye regularly. Examining children’s eyes is not an easy task. For doing so, parents must consult with optometrists and ophthalmologists as they have the clinical tools and advanced vision and eyes. In this blog, I will discuss the importance of Pediatric Eye Care. So read on the full blog to know more about it.
Children’s eyes are sensitive and they need extensive care. It would be very tough to get an idea when your kid needs eye checkup. But parents have to regularly do a quick examination of the eyes. Eyecare of the kids should start in the newborn nursery. Every child needs eye check at the age of 3 years. If the child’s family has a history of eye problems, then the child must need to undergo an official exam of eye.
Why Eye exams are significant?
Every child is special and therefore special care for their eyes is needed. In many states, before taking admission to the school, the kids must have to undergo an eye care exam. In case if your pediatrician is unable to identify issues, parents must identify even minor problems with eyes.
These issues include:-
- When your child’s school performance is degrading.
- If he/she may not want to go to school.
- Facing issues in reading and writing.
- Blurry vision/Double vision.
- Not paying proper attention to the studies.
- Facing difficulty in reading from the blackboard.
- Taking more time for homework completion than usual.
- Frequent headaches.
- Eye itching.
Types of Eye Care Specialists for Pediatric Eye Care
The regular family doctor doesn’t help in examining your children’s eyes. So you should seek assistance from the pediatric eye care specialist.
- Ophthalmologist
- The medical doctor who provides complete care by examining eye by diagnosing and treating the disease of the eye and performing eye surgery.
- Optometrist
- The medical doctor who doesn’t do eye surgery but treat with common eye disorders and prescribe the corrective lenses and take care of different eye diseases.
- Optician
- The person who is responsible for assembling, fitting, selling, and filling the prescription for glasses for the eyes is called an optician.
When to schedule eye care exams for the Children?
Generally, parents have to take their kids for eye examination when they are happy. There are a lot of things that are involved in eye care testing that are:-
- Vision and Health questionnaire.
- Vision Testing
- Eye Alignment Testing
- Evaluation of eye health
The Vision and Health questionnaire involves the following questions from the parent’s end
- Any issue or complication during pregnancy or birth time.
- Prematurity issues.
- If the child rubs his/her eye regularly.
- Continuous blinking of an eye.
- If the child is unable to do eye contact.
- If there is a misalignment of the eyes.
- In case if the child has undergone any surgery.
Eye testing for infants
Even the babies also face issues in vision. Doctors can examine the baby’s eyes by conducting some tests that assure them to know whether the infant’s eyes are working and developing normally or not?
Pupil Test
Doctors examine whether the pupil of the eyes opens and closes appropriately or not during light presence or absence.
Fixate and Follow
This test is conducted to know whether the baby’s eyes can fix and follow objects as light moves.
Eye Testing for young children
LEA symbols
The LEA Symbols Test is deployed in the form of the three-dimensional (3-D) LEA Puzzle. This test allows the preschool children to be tested for visual alertness long before they become familiar with the letter and numbers used in other standard vision charts.
Retinoscopy
The other name of retinoscopy is skiascopy. In this technique, the refractive error of the eye is checked. It examines astigmatism, farsightedness, and nearsightedness of the eye.
Random dot stereopsis
As is clear from the name, this testing allows the usage of 3D glasses and patterns of dots as well for determining how accurately your child’s eyes to work together as a team.
Eyes are a precious gift from God. Everyone must care for their eyes. Kids’ eyes need to be regularly examined. Parents give some protein-rich foods to their children that support their eyes and if any suspicion regarding eye issue is found, contact the doctor immediately. This blog is all about Pediatric Eye Care. I hope you’ve gained some requisite knowledge from this blog. If you like this post, share your views by commenting below.