3D-Eye Online
CHILDREN’S EXAMS
The Canadian Association of Optometrists has recently updated the guidelines for baby exams. It is recommended that children have their first "well-baby" exam at age 6 month, the next exam at age 3 and annually thereafter. With the use of special drops your optometrist can determine how well a baby can see, if their eyes are equal in power and development and check for eye disease. Congenital cataract and cancer in the backof the eye are two examples of disease that must be examined for.
The eyes continue to develop throughout childhood and the teenage years and often changes occur so gradually they go unnoticed or the child thinks everyone sees things the way they do.
Testing does not need to be complicated or time-consuming. With younger children, after a brief initial assessment, the optometrist will quite often put eye drops in the child's eyes. This not only dilates the pupil to ensure the back of the eye, the retina, is healthy but it also relaxes the child's focusing so an evaluation of the prescription can be made without any verbal feedback.
For more on children’s vision CLICK HERE.
Studies have shown 80% of how we learn is visual. Even screenings at school will only identify 1 out of 4 children with a vision problem, while only 8% of 3 year old children in British Columbia have had their eyes checked.
