Are your kids’ eye exams on your back-to-school to-do list? Doctors say it’s a good idea.
As families prepare for the school season in August, which is also Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, pediatric ophthalmologists share the importance of children’s vision and the health of their eyesstating that regular eye exams are essential to detect and correct eye problems at an early stage.
A complete examination is also a good idea because many vision disorders can not only go unnoticed in children, but can also be misdiagnosed as ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disabilities or behavioral problems, according to the American Optometric Association.
Another reason to get your eyes checked by a professional? Certain conditions, such as amblyopia, or lazy eye, can go unnoticed and undetected during school eye exams, Dr. Daniel Cyr, a pediatric ophthalmologist at Stony Brook Medicine, told CBS News.
Cyr recommends that children have their eyes examined by a pediatric ophthalmologist at least once before starting school. Parents should also make sure they get checked during their annual well-child visit.
“It’s really important that all kids have their eyes examined before school because we’ve seen in recent well-controlled studies that kids who have a refractive error, who need glasses and who have that corrected, do better on standardized tests,” Cyr said.
As adults and children spend more time in front of devices, myopia or nearsightedness increases, which can cause eye fatigue and strain.
“I like to tell them about the 20-20-20 rule,” Cyr said. “After 20 minutes of focusing on close-up, you take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away. That allows the eyes to unfocus so you can see up close and relax, and it allows the eyes to relax. And it also gives you time to blink.”
