Many young students who have difficulty in class, lower grades, or who simply don’t like school may actually be suffering from pediatric vision problems. They don’t even realize that they simply can’t see the board the way that their peers can, and so their experience in class is negative. Eyecare for children should begin at age 6 months by the child’s pediatrician.  As soon as the child is able to identify letters of the alphabet, they should have more thorough yearly eye evaluations by an qualified optometrist in Tampa like Dr. Jay Weil.  This can ensure proper vision for your child at each step of their growth.

Signs That Your Child Needs An Eye Exam

In addition to the routine eye exams all children should get, there are signs and symptoms of vision problems that children tend to exhibit. The child should be seen immediately if these signs occur:

  • Constant observable eye rubbing
  • Eyes that are constantly red
  • Poor performance in school, not associated with other behavioral or learning problems
  • Difficulty following something that they’re watching, like a ball during PE class
  • Sitting extremely close to the television, or holding a tablet very close to their face
  • Squinting
  • Difficulty reading not explainable by other learning problems
  • If one eye is not seeing as well as the other eye

Many children with difficulty seeing are not diagnosed until their next routine exam. Some may suffer in school and life for years if they are do not get an annual exam. Because of this, it’s important to pay attention to your child’s behavior to determine if the need to see the eye doctor before the regular annual visit or at least once a year.

Common Pediatric Eye Conditions

The good news is that pediatric vision treatment and optometry are very advanced when diagnosing and developing a treatment plan for childhood vision problems. Some of the most common problems your child might face are:

Strabismus

The technical term Strabismus is the name for when the eyes don’t both align together perfectly. Strabismus is often referred to by a number of different names such as lazy eye or cross-eyed. One eye may be ever so slightly out of alignment that is not even cosmetically noticeable. Alternatively, Strabismus may even simply manifest as the child squinting at times. Strabismus will definitely reduce your child’s ability to see, read, and learn properly. Once diagnosed, treatment is generally simple and effective. It may involve special corrections in their glasses, eye patching and/or other training devices to strengthen the eyes.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is when the cornea, intraocular lens of the eye, or both are not perfectly spherical. This results in different degrees of blur when reading fine print– near or far. People can have astigmatism in addition to being Nearsighted or Farsighted. Astigmatism is compensated for by adding optical correction for it in the prescription of the eyeglasses or contact lenses.

Call Our Tampa Optometrist Today!

Making sure your child gets their routine annual eye exams is important; but, be on the lookout for vision problems in between those exams. Skipping an exam may lead to the child not being able to see well; and, that can dramatically affect their school and overall quality of life. If you’re ready to see a professional optometrist in the Tampa area, you can conveniently set up an appointment with Dr. Weil online. The difference in confidence, attitude, and success in school when a child is treated for pediatric vision problems is like night and day.