Pediatric Eye Care at Medical Vision Group

Children should have their eyes examined as soon as possible if an abnormality is suspected by the parents or pediatrician. Ideally, the first exam for a child should take place between 6 to 12 months of age, unless problems are suspected sooner. Children are especially prone to weak eye muscles (strabismus), drooping eyelids (ptosis) and lazy eye (amblyopia). Each of these conditions can be treated if detected early.  Medical Vision Group performs eye examinations specially tailored to the needs of children, making the experience pleasant for both children and their parents. We can examine children using a special child photoscreener which can detect latent eye conditions in a fraction of a second using a unique photographic technique.

Even if a child passes the school vision screening, important conditions such as extreme farsightedness, and imbalance between the eyes can be missed.

Warning signs to watch out for in children include:

anything to suggest poor vision such as roving eye movements, misalignment of the eyes, squinting and head turning or tilting, inability to grasp objects, bumping into objects

• frequent eye rubbing
• drooping of one or both eyelids
• difference in pupil size
• difference in color of pupils or iris
• cloudy appearance of eyes
• eyes that seem unusually large or blue
• inability to look in a particular direction
• jerky movements of the eyes
• excessive tearing
• redness of eyes
• inability to recognize colors
• headaches
• poor performance at school

It is important that child's visual disorder is treated as soon as possible in order to prevent permanent failure of normal visual development. Even a child who seems to have good vision may have amblyopia in one eye which if untreated could limit career options in adulthood. You should never wait for a child to "grow out of" an eye problem.