It can be hard for parents to stay on top of everything. The list of to-dos is endless. One thing that you shouldn’t push to the side, however, is an eye exam. Your child should see an Optometrist regularly, even if you don’t suspect anything is off.
To the naked eye, pun intended, it can be difficult to fully assess your child’s eyes and what their vision may be. Children often assume the way they are seeing is how everyone else sees, and they don’t realize there is a problem. You don’t know what you don’t know! Kids merely assume that how they see is normal.
Take, for instance, a recent case by our Optometrist, Dr. Yew.
A three-year-old came in with her parents for a regular eye exam. Her mother thought her daughter's eyes were fine and expected no problems. She didn’t squint, rub her eyes, turn, or eyes, and she was meeting all developmental milestones with flying colours.
EXCEPT…the eye exam showed that her daughter had a lazy right eye and was using her right eye to see everything around her! After letting her parents know, they were shocked! They had no idea that this was happening and were so glad they booked the appointment.
After the exam, Dr. Yew prescribed glasses to be worn full-time and to come in for routine eye exams to monitor the eye.
When should your child have an eye exam?
After hearing about our recent patient, you might wonder how often your child should have an eye exam.
The College of Optometrists recommends that your child should have an eye exam at six months to rule out any gross prescription issues or eye disease. After this, your child should have another eye exam by age two and then every year after that visit.
Thankfully, OHIP covers an annual visit to the eye doctor for Children, 0-19 years of age. For more information on what OHIP covers, you can visit their site here.
If your child is in JK they may also be covered for glasses under the Eye See Eye Learn program before June 2020. More information on that program here.
Not sure if your child has a problem with their eyes?
Don’t wait, if your child needs glasses or vision therapy, the earlier you know, the better. Schedule your appointment with Dr. Yew today!