Children & Pediatric Eye Care

What to Expect During Your Child's Eye Exam:

We understand that eye exams can be a new experience for children and parents alike. Our comprehensive exams are designed to be thorough yet gentle, ensuring we get a complete picture of your child's eye health. Here's a breakdown of what we'll do:

• Understanding Your Child's Health:

  • We'll start by discussing your child's eye and general health history. This helps us identify any potential risk factors.

• Checking Eye Movement and Alignment:

  • We'll assess how your child's eyes move and work together. This is important for coordination and depth perception.

• Pupil Examination:

  • We'll check how your child's pupils respond to light, ensuring they're healthy and functioning correctly.

• Testing Vision Clarity (Visual Acuity):

  • We'll determine how well your child sees at different distances. For younger children, we use pictures or shapes, and we have various tools to accommodate different ages.

• Determining the Need for Glasses (Refraction):

  • Even infants can have their vision assessed! We use specialized tools to check for the need for glasses, and for older children, we'll ask them to compare lenses to find the best prescription.

• Evaluating Focusing Ability (Accommodation):

  • We'll check how well your child's eyes can focus at different distances, which is essential for reading and schoolwork. Difficulty focusing can lead to eye fatigue and learning challenges.

• Assessing Eye Coordination (Eye Teaming):

  • We'll evaluate how well your child's eyes work together. Good eye coordination is crucial for reading, sports, and avoiding issues like double vision or skipping words.

• Checking Visual Perception and Color Vision:

  • We'll assess how your child's brain interprets visual information and test their color vision.

• Examining Eye Health (Ocular Health Examination):

  • We'll examine the front and back of your child's eyes to ensure they're healthy. This is similar to an adult exam but adapted to your child's age.

• Using Eye Drops for a Deeper Look (Dilated and/or Cycloplegic Exam):

  • In some cases, we may use eye drops to widen the pupils. This allows us to get a better view of the retina and accurately determine if glasses are needed. A cycloplegic exam, which also uses drops, helps us relax the focusing muscles for a more precise measurement. These exams are especially important for children with potential issues like:

    • Farsightedness (latent hyperopia): Hidden farsightedness.

    • Eyestrain (asthenopia): Discomfort or fatigue in the eyes.

    • Lazy eye (amblyopia): Reduced vision in one eye.

    • Misaligned eyes (strabismus/esotropia): Crossed or turned eyes.

    • Unequal prescriptions (anisometropia): Different prescriptions in each eye.

    • Focusing difficulties (accommodative dysfunction): Problems with the eye's focusing system.