Blog #15, When
should my child have their first eye exam?
In the past
six months I have had the pleasure of attending continuing education in person
and on-line with the University of Waterloo
, with most of the lectures on the
topic of pediatrics, specifically amblyopia.
The word amblyopia is a comes from the greek word “ambly” which means
dull, and it is sometimes called “lazy eye”.
It occurs early on in child development, usually in the first seven
years. It can be hard to detect because
it usually does not affect the function of the less lazy eye, so the child will
appear to see perfectly fine.
Young
children are busy developing pathways from their eyes to the corresponding
parts of the brain, this does not happen with a “lazy” eye. The visual cortex
remains undeveloped for that eye. As a
parent you may notice that one eye will not line up with the other. If this is happening, get them in right away.
Caught early this deficit can be restored, the earlier the intervention, the
better the result.
The child
should be seen as soon as possible. The Canadian Association of Optometrists
recommends an eye exam at 6 months of age. If your child is past this magic age, do not
despair; get them seen as soon as possible. Fortunately, we in Ontario have
OHIP-covered eye exams for children that are 19 years of age and under. Unfortunately, amblyopia goes often undetected
and untreated which is unnecessary. Over
my years of practice I have seen far too many cases of untreated
amblyopia.
You are
probably asking yourself, how can you examine a 6 month old’s vision? There is no doubt that you cannot get as much
information at this point as you would with a 2 year old, but it is a great age
to screen for future problems. Early
treatment saves much headache. The current system of well-child visits that is
recommended by your pediatrician has a check list that is very thorough but
does not include vision testing, which it should. As a result, a child can go through all
scheduled well-child visits and never have their vision specifically
addressed. This can happen right through
all their preschool years. With amblyopia
, early detection and treatment are critical.
By seeing
your child at 6 months, we can pick up amblyopia and we can detect other eye
health conditions. Then we can follow
your child along as they develop, grow and change. It is the best way to ensure that your child
has excellent vision.
Til next
week,
The Good Doctor, Dr. Mark Germain, Burlington Optometrist
