Children's Vision
- Did you know that 80% of what kids learn in school is learned visually?
- Good vision care is essential to every child's development. An eye exam can assure parents that their child has the visual "tools" necessary to succeed in the classroom.
- Periodic comprehensive eye exams, beyond basic school screenings, provide a baseline for your child's visual health and can often detect problems that may be misdiagnosed as learning or behavioral disorders.
- Undiagnosed vision problems can affect performance in school and sports, and cause your child to struggle academically and socially.
- Routine eye exams for children can also detect a number of vision problems, from vision impairment -- which can be treated with eyeglasses or contact lenses -- to more serious disorders that can have a long-term impact on health and self-esteem. Experts recommend a comprehensive eye exam by age one to rule out serious conditions such as amblyopia and strabismus (disorders where the eyes do not track properly, commonly called lazy eye or crossed eyes) and ocular cancers that become present early in life. Left untreated, these conditions can interfere with your child's vision development and overall health.
- Many eye conditions (like lazy eye, nearsightedness and color vision defects) are inherited, so it is important for the doctor to know about family members who have had eye problems. It is also important to tell the doctor if the child has brothers or sisters who have eye problems.
- Share with your eye doctor all of your child's medical history, from the time the child was born. Prenatal and childbirth complications, prematurity and low birth weight have been linked to eye disease. Explain any medical problems, including allergies, the child has had or is experiencing now, and bring a list of current medications, as they can affect the visual system.
Look for these potential signs of vision problems in your child:
- Loses place while reading
- Holds reading material closer than normal
- Avoids close work - -Tends to rub eyes - -headaches - -Turns/tilts head
- Makes frequent reversals when reading or writing - - Uses finger to maintain place while reading
- Omits or confuses small words when reading - - Consistently performs below potential
- Squints while reading or watching television
- We look forward to taking care of your child's eyes soon!
Sports Vision
- Did you know? Approximately 72 percent of sports-related eye injuries occur in people younger than 25 years and approximately 43 percent occur in children younger than 15 years. For additional information regarding sports vision, please visit The American Optometric Association's Sport & Vision Website 20/20 Vision
- 20/20 vision does not equal healthy eyes. School eye exams and eye exams provided by a pediatrician are testing a child’s distance visual acuity. This does not include near vision testing or eye health assessment.
- A person can have 20/20 eyesight, and yet have a visual problem which does not allow them to get meaning and understanding from what is seen
- Visual problems can have a major influence on conditions classified as Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Attention Deficit Disorder.
- 80% of what you learn is through your eyes.
UV Protection
- Be smart about the sun. Your eyes need UV proteciton. All day. Every season. Every environment.
- UV rays penetrate through clouds by more than 90%.
- UV rays are stronger at higher altitudes.
- UV rays reflect off all surfaces, including sand, snow and water
- When the sun is low: Your eyes are directly exposed to invisible UV rays.
- When the sun is high. Your brows help to shade your eyes.
Eye Nutrition
We all think of carrots when it comes to eye nutrition. But, don’t forget to eat your spinach! Dark green leafy vegetables, such as collards & spinach, are full of Lutein. 2 hand fulls of spinach a day or 10mg/day of Lutein is the recommended dosage.
And More
- People generally read 25% slower from a computer screen compared to paper.
- Diabetes is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States.
- Of all the muscles in our body, the eye muscles are the most active.
- Babies cry but don't produce tears until one to three months after birth.
- Each of our eyelashes has a life span of approximately five months.
- It is impossible to sneeze without closing your eyes.
- The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year. This averages to 20 blinks per minute. Computer use & reading can decrease a persons blink rate by 50%.
- The images that are sent to your brain are actually upside down and backwards
