Eyes Are Important

Your eyes work from the moment you wake up to the moment you close them to go to sleep and they need to be cared for.
 

Check New Born Babies For Good Eye Health

• Newborns should be checked for general eye health by a pediatrician or family physician in the hospital nursery.

• High-risk newborns (including premature infants), those with a family history of eye problems, and those with obvious eye irregularities should be examined by an eye doctor.

• In the first year of life, all infants should be routinely screened for eye health during checkups. 

• Around age 3½, kids should undergo eye health screenings and visual acuity tests (or tests that measure sharpness of vision) with their doctors.

• Around age 5, kids should have their vision and eye alignment evaluated by their doctors. Those who fail either test should be examined by an eye doctor. 

• After age 5, further routine screenings should be done at school or the doctor's office, or  after the appearance of symptoms such as squinting or frequent headaches. 

• Kids who wear prescription glasses or contacts should have annual checkups to screen for vision changes.

• Watch your child for evidence of poor vision or crossed eyes. If you notice any eye problems, have your child examined immediately so that the problem doesn't become permanent.

• If caught early, eye conditions often can be reversed.

 

Signs of Vision Problems in Young Kids

In young children, vision problems often aren't obvious.


Everyone has a vision of what children's eye problems look like: Squinting, sitting too close to the television, rubbing their eyes.  Though those can be symptoms of vision issues, sometimes there are no signs your child isn't seeing well.

In the first few months of life, infants can only see clearly objects that are 8 to 10 inches from their face. It isn't until 12 to 16 weeks that their eyesight begins improving, and they start seeing things more clearly and further away.

Over the next year, kids then develop depth perception, eye-body coordination, eye-hand coordination, and the ability to judge distances. It's rare for children to have vision problems at this age.

Vision problems in kids tend to emerge between 18 months and 4 years old. The two most common vision issues are:



• A crossed or wandering eye, which troubles 3% to 5% of children.  Symptoms include an eye that drifts or appears crossed in respect to the other eye.

• Uneven focus, where one eye is more farsighted than the
  other, affects 2% to 3% of kids. This vision problem is the
  hardest to detect, because young children don't know their
  vision is compromised.


Uneven focus or a slightly wandering eye may not seem that alarming, but if   either condition goes untreated, a child's stronger eye -- the one that sees  further, or focuses better -- slowly becomes their dominant eye. The brain  starts ignoring the images coming from the weaker eye, and stops   developing the nerve connections leading to it. By the age of 9 or 10, the vision loss in that weaker eye is usually permanent.



The compromised vision in that weaker eye, called amblyopia or lazy eye, doesn't have to happen. It can be stopped and reversed, but it needs to be caught early.

Your child's first vision screening may be done by your family doctor, pediatrician, or an eye specialist.

Blindness
Vision problems can develop before a baby is born. Sometimes, parts of the eyes don't form the way they should.

 

A child’s eyes might look fine, but the brain has trouble processing the information they send. The optic nerve sends pictures to the brain, so if the nerve doesn't form correctly, the baby's brain won't receive the messages needed for sight.



Blindness can be genetic or it can be caused if something hurts the eye or by illness.   

 

That's why it is important to protect your eyes when you play sports and to eat healthy for healthy eyes and good vision.