As a parent, it can be tough to stay on top of your kid's health. You have vaccine booster shots, check-ups, school physicals, and regular dental visits. Sometimes, it can be easy to overlook an important aspect of your child's health: their vision. Regular vision screening is important. Here are some of the reasons why kids should have regular eye exams, and why they should be a health priority for your family:
1. It's not just about glasses.
Parents sometimes assume that as long as a child is doing well in school and has no vision complaints that an eye exam is not really necessary. However, some eye problems are not immediately apparent, and your child may still need some correction. For example, your child could have astigmatism without having near- or short-sightedness, which can affect their ability to see peripherally. Sometimes hand-eye coordination could be off, suggesting trouble with eye muscles or nerves. Eye exams also check for health problems, including cancer. Eye cancer can occur in children, and catching it early is one of the best ways to ensure that treatments for the cancer will be effective.
2. Catching vision problems early can help.
If your child does need glasses, getting an accurate prescription and diagnosis can help, especially with your child's confidence and independence. For example, a child may show signs of excessive clumsiness because of vision trouble. These accidents would be reduced if the problem was caught and corrected early by an eye exam. You can also slow the progress of vision loss and reduce headaches and eye strain. Children with vision problems may squint or hold things very close to their eyes in order to see properly; both stress the eyes and make the vision problem worse. Even though getting glasses does not completely slow the degeneration of eyesight (people need stronger lenses as time goes by), eye strain and pain are reduced.
3. The digital world can make eye problems worse.
Children live in a different world than that of their parents. The use of electronics, including phones, tablets, computers, and TVs, taxes the eyes more than using books with small text. It's hard to tell how the increased eye stress will progress or how it will affect eye health, which is why exams are so important. The use of screens could accelerate eye problems, and many of these problems can only be caught and treated by an eye doctor.
Share5 May 2018
When my mother fell at home and broke her hip, we all thought that we were going to have no choice to put her in a nursing home when she got out of the hospital. My mother had always asked us kids to avoid putting her in any kind of home, but we didn’t know what else we could do. None of us were capable of giving her the kind of rehabilitation and care that she needed. Then her doctor suggested that we find out if her insurance covered in-home care. I didn’t even know that that was an option. I was pleased to discover that in-home care was covered by her plan. Now she gets great care from nurses and nurse assistants that come right to her in her home, where she wants to be. It’s a great option, and I’m so glad we have it.
