Your child’s eyes

Q: I have a newborn baby. How often should I get my child’s eyes examined?

A: Your newborn baby’s eyes will be screened by your pediatrician or family doctor in the nursery before you take your baby home from the hospital. By six months of age, your baby’s eyes should be screened again by a health care professional. You may bring your baby to an eye specialist for this screening exam. Your pediatrician or family doctor can also perform this check. This six month screening exam checks your baby’s ability to see, the alignment of the eyes to make sure they are straight, and the clarity of the structures of the eye. No drops are typically needed for this exam, and it can be done quite quickly. Because a child’s eyes are not fully developed, it is important to find any problems early and to take care of them quickly so that the visual system can continue to develop normally.

Your baby should receive a comprehensive eye examination by an eye specialist whenever there are questions about baby’s eye health on a screening exam, or any time you have concerns about your baby’s eyes or vision. No baby is too young for an eye examination and we specialists often perform complete eye exams on even newborn babies.

If all is normal at this age, and no problems develop, you will want to have your child’s vision checked before your child starts school, because undetected vision problem can lead to difficulties learning.

Since it is possible for your child to have a serious vision problem without being aware of it, your child should have his or her eyes screened again at 3 and 5 years old. Any eye specialist will welcome your preschooler for these screening exams. The screening exams may also be performed by your pediatrician or family doctor, who will look for things like crossed eyes, lazy eye, poor vision from nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, and lid abnormalities.

Undetected problems at this age can lead to lifelong problems if not treated early. Make sure your child’s eyes get screened at age 3 and age 5 years.

As your child enters grows older, the need for screening exams remains important. Your school-age child or teenager will often not notice that they are developing poor vision, and so a vision screening by your eye specialist, pediatrician or family doctor is necessary every two years. If your child does have vision problems or you have vision problems in the family, have your child’s vision re-checked every year.

In summary, because children do not notice their own vision problems, and because their visual systems are delicate and still developing, it is vital that they receive vision care to avoid lifelong vision problems and learning problems. A newborn is screened in the nursery, and should be screened again at six months of age. Preschoolers should be checked at ages 3 years and 5 years. And school aged children and teenagers will need to be checked every two years. If there are any vision or eye problems, the need for screening and examinations will be more frequent.

(David Khorram, MD is a board certified ophthalmologist, and director of Marianas Eye Institute. Questions and comments are welcome. Call 235-9090 or email eye@vzpacifica.net. Copyright © 2006 David Khorram.)