Thinking About Your Eyes

During the summer months, I try to schedule all of our different doctors’ appointments for the kiddies, so they are out of the way come fall. Most offices have good availability, since people tend to travel when their kids are out of school, and getting in during morning hours never seems to be a problem. Our most recent appointment was the eye doctor for Siella.

Trips to the eye doctor are nothing new in our home. Ryder wore glasses for two years, while receiving eye therapy for convergence insufficiency, and about a year ago we discovered Siella needed eye glasses for reading. The Vision Council, in line with the American Optometric Association, recommends children have their first eye exam with an eyecare provider when they’re between 6 months to a year old, at least once between ages 3 and 5 or as recommended, and annually starting at age 6 or before entering first grade. 

Last week, we hopped the train to Park Slope Eye, and met with Dr. Justin Bazan. Siella received a full eye exam, and afterwards the doctor explained why we need to pay close attention to our children’s vision. According to Think About Your Eyes, 80 percent of learning happens through the eyes, and with this, it’s imperative to make my little ones’ vision health a top priority.

Many vision problems and eye diseases can be detected and prevented early. For example, the most common vision problem in children is nearsightedness, or myopia, which is growing at an alarming rate and puts the eyes at risk for more serious vision-threatening conditions. Myopia affects 1.7 billion people worldwide, with more than half the world expected to be myopic by 2050, so early detection in children is key. When parents know what to look for, it can be relatively easy to spot problems with a child’s vision. Keep an eye out for these symptoms or behaviors: short attention span, avoiding or not liking reading, pulling a book in close to their face, sitting too close to a TV, and/or lots of blinking or eye rubbing.

One thing Dr. Bazan recommended for all three of my children was to spend more time outdoors and less time using digital devices, since screen time may influence the development of nearsightedness. This is something I encourage and enforce as a rule in our house already, but it was nice to know that my mania to get them outside every day is also doing good for their eyes. Siella mentioned concern about staying outside during a snowstorm, but Dr. Bazan told her it was ok to skip those days! 

Oh, speaking of outdoors, he also reminded me to have the children wear UV protective sunglasses! The sun’s harmful rays can damage young healthy eyes too.