Your eyes are very important. Many people don't realise just how valuable their vision is until it starts to fail. I was one of these people. I didn't give a second thought to my eyes or keeping them healthy. However, one day, I noticed that I couldn't see as clearly as I used to. I struggle to read the small print on paperwork and sometimes I would find that my vision would become unfocused. I visited the optometrist, and he assessed my eyes. I've now been prescribed contact lenses which really help me. I hope the articles I have posted here help you.
If your child isn't 8 or 9 years old, their eye vision is still developing, and close eye examination is critical to help them maintain good eye health. If you usually take your child to an eye doctor or paediatric ophthalmologist for regular eye checkups, it's possible to detect eye issues early and treat them. A paediatric ophthalmologist is an eye specialist who examines eye structures and functions, diagnoses eye diseases and creates treatment plans for children. Depending on the problems your child's eyes might have developed, a paediatric ophthalmologist could prescribe medications, recommend eye surgery or prescribe eye lenses. Here are three common questions most parents ask when taking their children for an ophthalmic examination.
What Does the Examination Involve?
Besides diagnosing the eye problems your child might have developed, an eye doctor would also want to know the eye history of the child to find out what might have caused the eye problem. Contact lenses and glasses are some of the corrective methods an ophthalmologist could use to restore the eye health of your child. During the examination, the ophthalmologist would want to know if your child is on any medications and probably the family's medical history. A refraction test could be used to identify any vision difficulties. The eye doctor may also use some eye drops to dilate the kid's pupils and make them larger for examination.
What Other Tests Are Used to Detect Eye Problems in Kids?
An eye doctor will use a light to find out how the child would respond to it and examine their pupils closely. If the eye doctor wants to assess the health of your child's eye nerves and vessels, they might use a lighted magnifying lens to examine their retina. If the eye doctor suspects the problem might have spread to other sensitive eye parts, they may use a slit lamp test to examine the iris, conjunctiva and cornea. A glaucoma test, known as tonometry, could also be used to assess the fluid pressure in your child's eyes. The eye doctor could also use multicoloured dots with different shapes, symbols or even numbers to conduct a colour-blindness test.
What Could the Results Reveal?
If the results are normal, your child might not have the suspected eye abnormalities. However, if they can't differentiate colours, the eye doctor might repeat the tests to see if they would get different results. If the results indicate your child had developed vision impairment, they might prescribe contact lenses or corrective eyeglasses to correct the problem. The results could also indicate other eye problems such as strabismus, eye infections, lazy-eyes, blocked tear ducts and astigmatism.
Share8 April 2020
