Children and Glasses

Being able to focus (and see) well influences the development of good vision. But how does sight develop? How does vision evolve as a newborn turns into a child? We don 't know. We do know, however, that if the two eyes do not grow and develop together in childhood, any number of visual problems can arise in adulthood.

Every child must have an eye exam before the age of 5. Parents should be even more vigilant if (1) there is a family history of eye or vision problems; (2) the child has some complaint; (3) one eye appears to turn in (or out); (4) the child has headaches; (5) the child has trouble recognizing letters with either eye; or (6) the child has multiple physical or developmental problems. It is almost always the parent who recognizes a vision problem in a child of preschool age, so trust your instinct and judgment.
       The part of the eye exam in which the doctor determines how well your child sees and corrects to   œbest vision   with glasses is known as refraction. The technology used by the eye doctor to ask,   œWhich is better, number one or number two?   depends upon his or her training, and whether the doctor 's practice is dedicated to pediatric ophthalmology. The doctor will often need to hold the lenses in front of a small child.
      Some people are unable to see well at distance because of the refractive error called nearsightedness, or myopia. Other people (usually adults) don 't see well close up, which is called farsightedness, or hyperopia. Farsightedness is less likely to be detected in children because they have a lot of accommodation. But both these conditions can begin in childhood, and each can be corrected by glasses that make light focus at the proper place on the retina.
       Nearsightedness (seeing better close up than at distance) develops when the eye is longer than normal (23 mm), Only by bringing the object closer does the image come into focus on the retina.
Farsightedness (seeing better at distance than close up) is less easily detected in children who can still see well at both distance and near, because they still have accommodation reserve. A farsighted individual has a short eye or flat cornea, and doesn 't refract, or bend, light enough. This produces a blurred image that can be focused on the retina only by viewing an object far away or by using the muscles in the eye to accommodate or focus.
        Astigmatism is another type of refractive error that can develop in children and can be corrected by glasses. Remember that your child 's eyes are different from every other child 's eyes. The cornea, unlike the dome of a church, may not have the same curve in all directions, and an uneven corneal curve is usually responsible for astigmatism. While most people have a small amount of astigmatism, it has no effect on their vision because the tear film neutralizes it. If your child is astigmatic, however, it should be corrected by his or her glasses prescription.
      It 's important to realize that the eye exam performed in a pediatrician 's office often screens for visual acuity in each eye separately. The ophthalmologist, optometrist, or pediatric ophthalmologist will take the exam one step further and look for refractive error in both eyes at the same time. Are the eyes working together? Is there appropriate depth perception? There is also an important distinction between visual acuity and perception. In other words, the child may see the fine print, but may not be interpreting it meaningfully. Multiple learning disabilities also exist in which visual acuity may be normal, but reading, perception, calculations, and writing may not follow.
     Sight is a physiological trait, but vision is learned. When the eye doctor talks about sight, he or she is usually referring to visual acuity. This means that the child doesn 't have significant amounts of near- or farsightedness or astigmatism, that his or her eyes focus (accommodate) properly, and that both eyes work together.