When you're arranging for all the countless things your children need, don't forget about safeguarding their eyes and vision. Refractive, health, and functional issues can prove especially damaging in younger patients who are still developing important visual skills that they'll use for life. Our optometrists here at Warm Springs Optometric Center can help to ward off those concerns through a program of pediatric eye exams. Take a look at how our eye exam services can help your kids' eyesight thrive for many years to come.
An Essential Part of Family Eye Care
Eyesight is a learned skill, not an ability that simply manifests itself from birth. Your newborn will spend months learning how to make his eyes work as a team with the vision center of his brain. This learning process can be stunted or delayed by problems such as congenital cataracts, tumors, or other eye abnormalities. The results may include functional errors such as strabismus (faulty eye alignment), amblyopia (unequal eye dominance that inhibits depth perception), and poor eye teaming or tracking. Refractive errors such as astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness are common problems that can add an unwelcome element of blurriness to a child's vision.
It's important to catch and deal with these issues as early in life as reasonably possible. Eye or vision problems that interfere with normal visual development can cause coordination problems and difficulties with reading, writing, or studying. The time to correct them is while your children are still building those crucial skills.
When is eye exam recommended?
There are three major eye exams recommended for your children early in their lives. A typical eye exam schedule includes:
- The 6-month exam: This initial eye exam with child's pediatrician will focus on detecting ocular health problems that require treatment, as well as early signs of eye function errors.
- The 3-year exam: Toddlers are capable of communicating what they're seeing, which allows us to do more visual acuity testing at this point, while still evaluating eye function and health. This is also recommended with child's pediatrician.
At Warm Springs Optometric Group - we do eye exams for children of age 5 or more.
- The "ready-for-school" exam: This exam addresses any refractive errors that may require eyeglasses before your child starts attending school.
- Annual eye exams are the healthiest strategy for school-aged kids, especially if they have a known problem that needs ongoing eye care.
Need a Family Eye Doctor for Your Kids? Call Warm Springs Optometric Group
Give your children a healthy start toward a lifetime of optimal vision. Call Warm Spring Optometric Group at (510) 490-0287 to schedule pediatric eye exams from a family eye doctor on our Fremont team!