Do kids need regular eye exams?

• Regular eye exams are beneficial for early detection of various types of eye problems, such as blurred vision, focusing and eye muscle coordination disorders, and eye disease.
• Kids who develop complaints about their vision or eyes require prompt examination. However, kids who don’t express symptoms will also benefit from regular check-ups as they may have underlying abnormalities.
• Kids who have existing eye conditions, or who are at a higher risk of developing them should be seen more often, as recommended by the optometrist.

The first decade of childhood is a window in which the eyes undergo significant growth and are susceptible to abnormal visual experience.

Undiagnosed and untreated, these conditions can create an immediate risk to vision and impact the development of the eye into adulthood. These can include:

• Infectious, congenital (present from birth), and inherited eye diseases , such as cataract, eye-turn (strabismus), and colour vision problems. 
• Amblyopia (lazy eye) is an uncommon but visually debilitating disorder that arises from abnormal or under-developed vision during childhood. 
• An increasing epidemic among school-age children is the unrecognised development and progression of myopia (short-sightedness). The onset of myopia can be abrupt and may coincide with learning difficulties at school, as it directly affects the quality of distance vision. 
• Problems related to eye muscle function (binocular vision) can produce complaints of blurry vision at near, focusing difficulties, sore eyes, and headaches.

It is difficult for kids (and even some adults!) to identify any eye issues they may be experiencing, let alone communicate these issues to parents, caregivers, or teachers. This is especially the case for younger kids, as it’s hard for them to understand what is ‘normal’ is when there is not much to compare it to. What are you meant to watch out for?

You may start to notice subtle changes in your child’s behaviour, such as:

• Squinting
• Blurred or ‘fuzzy’ vision
• Difficulty learning to read or write
• Poor coordination
• Headaches
• Eye rubbing
• Sore eyes
• Red eyes
• Watery eyes
• White stringy mucous noticed at the inner corner of the eye(s)

Children who are at high risk of myopia (short-sightedness) or who require myopia control treatment need more frequent eye exams, due to multiple factors. Firstly, as a treatment is being established, several eye examinations can be required within the first few months. These allow the eye care professional to ensure the treatment is working well for your child, is tolerated well and being used correctly. 

The follow-up schedules will depend on how effective the treatment is, the risk of complications related to treatment, and how well the child adopts the treatment. Kids undergoing myopia control treatment are recommended to have an eye examination every six months, at least until their vision becomes stable.¹

Children with amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (turned eye) or binocular vision (eye muscle coordination) issues can also require more frequent eye examinations as the treatment plan is established, to check effectiveness of the treatment. For children with amblyopia prescribed their first or correctly powered pair of spectacles, their first follow-up examination will typically be 4-8 weeks after receiving the new glasses.² Regular eye examinations may be required every few months to ensure vision is developing and improving as expected.

There are many ways children can acquire eye health problems, from scratching their eye with a tree branch to a fingernail injury from a sibling. Less serious eye problems like these can be addressed in a small number of visits to an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

Sight- or life-threatening eye diseases are rare in children, however each of these can cause their own set of consequences that must be detected early, treated, and monitored. Most developmental and genetic eye disorders are diagnosed early in life, and some may have a progressive impact on vision and eye health, warranting more frequent eye exams.

Regular eye examinations are the best way to ensure that your child has normal vision and healthy eyes.

Infants and toddlers should have a baseline eye assessment with an ophthalmologist or paediatrician to rule out any eye abnormalities present at birth.

School age children developing normally should have an eye test every 1 to 2 years to assess their eyesight, binocular vision, and eye health. A more periodic review may be suggested by the optometrist or ophthalmologist if your child requires any treatment or close monitoring.