You Should Take Your Child to an Eye Doctor: Here’s Why

As a parent, your heart swells with pride when your children are growing and developing as they should. Any parent would move mountains just to ensure that their baby is healthy. One of the things that you should tick off that list is ensuring that their eyes are healthy. The best way to do this is setting time aside to visit our eye doctor in Vaughan.

You cannot underscore the importance of eye care in your child’s overall well-being. The most common misconception that traps most parents is thinking that since there isn’t a specific problem with their child’s eyesight, there’s no need for seeing an eye doctor. That’s where you go wrong. Do you remember the old adage that says prevention is better than cure? With that in mind, let’s see why seeing an eye doctor on a regular basis is vital.

Why Should You Take Your Child to an Eye Doctor?

Like adults, children typically face the same eye issues; the only difference is that the care has to be tailored. This is because they may be too young to tell you how they feel.

Many childhood conditions can be treated with non-invasive treatments such as wearing glasses or eye drops. However, if your child has childhood cataracts or glaucoma, or any other severe eye disease, then surgery may be necessary.

Risk Factors for Eye Problems

Any child can develop eye problems, but some children have a higher chance of developing eye problems. This is something that our experienced optometrist is aware of and can easily let you know of factors including:

• Genetics (family history)
• Children with diabetes
• Your child has had an eye injury
• If your child was born prematurely

Symptoms of Possible Eye Problems

Other than looking for possible risks, be on the lookout for any symptoms that may indicate that they may have an eye problem. If you notice that your child is experiencing any of the following symptoms, take your child to see our eye doctor for an evaluation:

• Has eyes that don’t line up
• Has eyes that are watery or red
• Has eyelids that are swollen or crusted
• Rubs eye a lot
• Blinks more than usual
• Squints eyes
• Has trouble reading or writing
• Closes or covers one eye
• Has blurry vision
• Tilts head
• Has headaches or eye pain

What Happens When You Bring Your Child for an Eye Exam

During an eye exam at our eye clinic, expect the following:

• Age-appropriate visual acuity test. Our specialist will use an eye chart, and your child will be asked to read numerous lines of characters with one eye closed.
• Refraction. This is to determine if your child requires any glasses to see clearly.
• Cover testing. This is done to clarify if there is a misalignment of the eyes. Your child will focus on one target, and the other eye is covered to look for a shift in the eyes.
• Eye inspections. Our kid’s eye doctor will inspect the eyelids and eyes. Also, the eyes’ muscle movements, the pupils, and how the eye reflects light from the back of the eye will be examined.
• Ophthalmoscope. This is done to older children to examine the back of the eye.

During the exam, you can expect our eye doctor to ask you some questions to help get a clear picture of your child’s eye health.

Common Eye Problems in Children

Some of the common eye problems that affect children are:

• Refractive errors like myopia (nearsightedness) or hyperopia (farsightedness)
• Amblyopia
• Strabismus (eye misalignment or cross-eyes)

If your child is nearsighted, there are treatment options to slow down the progression. In Vaughan, we have optometrists who specialize in pediatric nearsightedness who can evaluate to see if your child is a good candidate for myopia control. If you need to see our eye specialist, contact us at Dr. Allyson Tang Optometrist, and we would love to journey with your child.