As a parent, you should watch for signs that may indicate a vision development problem, including a short attention span for the child's age, difficulty with eye-hand-body coordination in ball play, bike riding, activities require acute depth perception, avoidance of coloring and puzzles and other detailed activities.

By age 3, your child should have a thorough eye examination, which includes a dilated eye exam, to make sure your preschoolers vision is developing properly and there's no evidence of eye disease.  If needed, your doctor can prescribe treatment including glasses and or vision therapy to correct a vision development problem.

Here are several tips to make your child's comprehensive eye examination a positive experience

It is important to know that even though there may not be  a family history of eye problems including wearing glasses, this does not mean your child will not have an eye problem.  Only a thorough eye examination can determine the visual status of your child.

WHAT IF MY CHILD NEEDS EYEWEAR

A child's first pair of glasses can be made into a pleasant experience.  Here are a few tips on helping you and your child selecting glasses.

Parents should let kids have lots of input when choosing glasses.  If they don't feel like they look good in them, they won't wear them or take care of them.  

Kids in elementary school and middle school go for colorful frames.  Sometimes they will want a frame that makes them look like mom, dad, or one of their siblings.  Teens favor more edgy shapes and finishes with rectangles and octagons. Most of today's frames are in antiqued or brushed silver and gold or matte finishes.  

Here are some tips to keep in mind when buying eye wear for kids.

AT WHAT AGE CAN MY CHILD WEAR CONTACTS LENSES

First and foremost if your child is going to wear contacts they must have a pair of glasses as a backup.  The age to begin contacts is more dependent upon the child's responsibility rather than the child's age.  If your child has shown that they can take care of their glasses, wear them as prescribed, and are generally relatively responsible, contacts offer a viable option to glasses.  

The most common type of contact lens is a disposable soft lens.  This type of lens provides excellent comfort, wearability, vision, and health of the eye.  But, the child must also know the importance of wearing schedule and cleaning regimes. 

Most contact lens failure occurs because the parent and child do not have a clear understanding of the expectation of contacts and their limitations.  This should be discussed at length between you and your doctor.

Finally, your child's experience at the eye doctors office should be pleasant.  Your child's vision will have a tremendous impact on all aspects of their life.   Our office is committed to making that experience pleasant, informative, and one that promotes the highest level of care for your child.

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