For many insurance companies, this is the time of year that open enrollment has begun, so if you have not done so already, you should sign up for vision insurance coverage. Regular vision screenings are very important for anyone, but especially in children. Did you know that ision screenings in school are simply not enough to ensure proper eye health? And in reality, children should begin to have their eye exams as early as age three!
For more information
about children’s eye health, visit www.SeeMuchMore.com
We had the opportunity to interview a VSP Vision Care optometrist regarding pediatric visual screenings, vision therapy, glasses and contact wear. We're excited to share those answers with you all, as we even learned some interesting things, as well!
Are vision screenings in school enough?
No, vision screenings in school are not enough. Comprehensive eye
exams detect what school vision screenings cannot. While in-school
screenings do help identify some vision problems, such as nearsightedness and
farsightedness, they do not test for all of the problems that a comprehensive
eye exam can detect like diabetes and hypertension – both growing health
concerns for children. Two of the most common vision problems a screening can
miss are eye coordination and lazy eye.
Standard School
Screening
|
Comprehensive Eye
Exam
|
ü
Visual acuity
|
ü
Visual acuity
ü
Refractive status
ü
Color vision
ü
Eye alignment
ü
Eye health
ü
Chronic diseases
|
What are some signs that your child might
have poor vision?
At what age should a child get their first comprehensive
eye exam?
There are several common signs that may indicate
that a child is having trouble with his or her vision. Parents should discuss
these signs with their child’s optometrist to ensure their children do not have
underlying vision issues:
·
Squinting
eyes or closing one eye
·
Tilting
or turning his or her head to see more clearly
·
Holding
things very close to read
·
Any
eye turn or “lazy” eye
·
Not
being able to see the depth of a 3D movie
·
Difficulty
completing assignments
·
Headaches
after or during reading
·
Skipping/rereading
lines of print
·
Double
vision, words overlapping
·
Falling
asleep while reading/avoidance of near work
After the first infant eye exam, children should
receive a comprehensive eye exam when they’re 3 years old, or before entering preschool;
at 5 years old, or before entering kindergarten; and then every year after
that. A child’s eyes will continue to develop until he or she reaches about 7
years of age. At this point, the eyes have reached full maturity, and it is
much more difficult to correct permanent vision problems that could have been
avoided.
Why are annual vision exams important –
especially for kids who may have had no issues previously?
Two reasons: 1) children’s vision and visual
needs change so quickly, so as a result, we recommend annual exams because you
don’t want to let things go if there’s a problem; 2) children are unlikely to
tell you if there is a problem because they don’t have a standard of
comparison. When you do a comprehensive eye exam, you can see things changing
earlier and take a proactive approach.
Can the use of electronic devices such as
televisions, computers, tablets and phones cause damage to vision?
Many effects of digital use on vision are
short term. In general, the eyes function best when looking at something in the
distance, like a house or a tree on the horizon. When the eyes look at
something close up, they have to change focus and position, and this takes a
small amount of effort. Over time, this effort adds up, leading to blurry
vision, eye strain or headaches. Also, the eyes blink less when looking at
screens and tend to dry out, which can result in blurriness, burning and
discomfort.
In addition, digital devices radiate blue
light, which is the most harmful light that penetrates all the way to the back of
the eye. It causes increasing damage over time and can lead to macular
degeneration. Thankfully, there are special lenses for your glasses that block harmful
blue light and UV radiation. Talk to your eye doctor, and take precaution to
minimize your kids’ exposure to blue light.
How would you recommend getting small children
adjusted to glasses?
One thing that may help when trying to get a child to
wear his or her glasses: demonstrate the difference in how they see objects – such
as an airplane or leaves on a tree – when they wear their glasses versus when
they don’t. Give them that “things are so much clearer!” moment. Planting the
seed that these glasses make a huge difference actually helps them to believe
that this is important and helpful, not just some random rule they have to
listen to.
What are your thoughts on vision therapy? Is it beneficial?
I’m a huge advocate for vision therapy and think
it is absolutely beneficial. There are many types of visual problems where
there are no other options; glasses, contacts, medicine and surgery aren’t
solving a problem and vision therapy can. Many times, those are conditions that
create problems that interfere with really fundamental things such as reading,
writing and other activities. For the right patient it is not only beneficial,
but essential.
What is the purpose of an eye patch when children receive vision therapy?
The eye patch is one way to help children who
favor one eye to develop the use of the other eye so that each eye can see
equally well. It doesn’t inherently teach the eyes to work together well, so
oftentimes vision therapy is recommended to improve binocular vision (the eyes
working together).
What types of exercises can parents do for their
children to help strengthen their ocular muscles?
For almost all children, it’s not an issue that
the muscles aren’t strong enough – it’s more that they’re not coordinated
enough. Activities that help general coordination also help eye coordination,
such as: ball sports, playing outside, any games that involve movement and
hand-eye coordination, balance, etc. There can be much more sophisticated ways
to handle those situations, which is why an evaluation with an optometrist
familiar with children’s vision is essential.
What is the youngest age that contacts are recommended?
For certain patients, such as ones who were born with cataracts, they can be fit in infancy. The youngest patient I have ever fit was 13 months old, but those are special circumstances.Most commonly, and it depends on the maturity of the child, 8 or 9 years old is a typical age to start wearing contacts.
What are the pros and cons of wearing contacts?
The big pro is that you don’t have to deal with
something specifically on your face, just on your eyes, and in some cases
vision can be superior in contacts rather than glasses. For example, if you
have a very high prescription, contacts may be the right fit for you.
The biggest cons are that they require more
attention, consistency and maintenance. Additionally, there are more medical
risks than wearing glasses because they are physically on your eyes, and they may
be less comfortable depending on the situation.
Are there any conditions that would not allow for the wearing of contacts?
You should reconsider wearing contacts if you
have any condition where the eyes’ health is compromised. This could mean infections,
injuries, extreme allergies or conditions where the eyes are dry and don’t
allow for contacts. Furthermore, there are certain prescriptions where contacts
might not work or they might need to be specialized, like rigid contacts,
because there wouldn’t be sufficiently corrected vision in soft contacts.
Other times where contacts may not be the best
idea include situations where a person can’t take care of the contacts from a
hygiene, daily routine perspective, or even cognitive deficits.
Thank you again for your time doctor, we appreciate you sharing your knowledge with our readers!!!
Make sure you check out VSP's website, they have many great resources for parents of children who wear glasses, Computer Vision Syndrome, and even a Parent's guide for children in athletics!
So mamas, does this change your plans for back to school checkups? Are you adding a vision examination into the mix this year?

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, questions were written by The Nurse Mommy team, but answered by VSP Vision Care optometrist. We were compensated to share the information above. However, The Nurse Mommy blog will always provide honest opinions, beliefs
or experiences on products reviewed. We will only recommend products or
services that we feel are of benefit to our readers. This post is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace medical advice. Please check with your physician, ophthalmologist or optometrist if you have any questions pertaining to your health or vision. If you have any questions or would like your product or company featured on
The Nurse Mommy, please contact Paige from The Nurse Mommy at
nursemommypaige at yahoo dot com
Thanks for sharing vision information. I found it very helpful.
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