Supporting Your Children’s Eyes

Eye health and eyesight is a lifelong responsibility, so it’s important to teach our children why it’s important to take care of their eyes.

With the help of our caring, comprehensive, and compassionate eye care team, your child will find the support they need to make the most of their vision in a way that’s easy to understand for both you and them.

The first step is to have your child come in for an eye exam, and we can get started setting your child’s vision up for success.

Book Your Child's Eye Exam

When Should Your Child Have an Eye Exam?

Your child deserves comprehensive care for all of their eye health needs. Because their eyes change so much when they’re young, we should see them at their visual milestones so we can catch eye problems early. The earlier we identify an issue, the easier it is to correct it before permanently affecting their vision.

These milestones occur at:

5 – 7 Years Old

5 to 7 are important years for your child. As they enter school, they may be at risk for developing certain eye conditions like amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eyes). These conditions can affect your child’s eye alignment, eventually leading to other problems like blurred vision, double vision, or vision loss.

If these conditions are caught early enough, we can prescribe treatments that can help preserve their vision as they get older.

8+ Years Old

As your child grows, they’ll become more dependent on their vision to help them perform in school, sports, or hobbies.

Because of this, we recommend annual eye exams until they turn 18. While strabismus and amblyopia may develop around this age, other issues like myopia can develop as well.

Common Children’s Eye Problems

Myopia

Myopia (nearsightedness) is a common refractive error children can develop. This vision problem affects how they see things in the distance, like the whiteboard, a movie theater screen, or the ball when playing catch.

Myopia occurs when the eye grows too long. As it elongates, light that enters through their cornea focuses in front of their retina instead of on it, leading to blurry distance vision. Myopia can progress as your child grows and can become high myopia. High myopia increases the risk of retinal detachment.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia (lazy eye) is an eye condition that causes one eye to “wander.” As it progresses, it can lead to double vision or, in advanced cases, vision loss in the affected eye. While this condition can affect their vision for the rest of their life, amblyopia usually responds well to treatment when caught early.

For the best outcome correcting your child’s amblyopia, make sure they have regular eye exams.

Strabismus

Strabismus (crossed eyes) is an eye condition that causes misalignment between your child’s eyes. Like amblyopia, the condition can progress to a point where your child’s brain may start to ignore images coming from their “weaker” eye, causing vision loss.

However, if treated early enough with corrective lenses or vision therapy, we can manage your child’s symptoms and maybe even prevent strabismus progression.

Protect & Preserve Your Child’s Vision

Protecting your child’s eyesight has just become easier. Book them for an eye exam at Griffin Optometric Group and see the difference our team can make.

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