Pediatric Eye Doctor Whiteville NC
Pediatric Vision Care in Whiteville
“The American Optometric Association guidelines recommend that all children have a complete vision and eye health examination at the age of 6 months, 3 years, upon entering kindergarten, and routine vision care (every 2 years) thereafter throughout their school years.” (Source: http://www.aoa.org)
It is especially important for young children to see their Whiteville eye doctor on a regular basis because children often don’t understand that they are experiencing problems with their vision. The only way to be sure that vision is developing normally is to provide your child with a comprehensive vision exam by an eye care professional.
Problems with near vision, eye coordination, and focusing are among the many problems not identified in a 20/20 screening or a vision screening that may be done at their school. Additionally, a comprehensive eye exam with Dr. Tiffany Jackson will allow for early detection of the many common problems that affect your children’s vision, including Astigmatism, Nearsightedness (myopia), Farsightedness (hyperopia), Lazy Eye (amblyopia), or crossed-eyes (strabismus).
At East Carolina Optometric Care, Dr. Tiffany Jackson wants you to have healthy eyes your entire life. Call 910-914-6442 today!
Our pediatric vision examinations start in early infancy and continuing throughout the school years. Although young children may not be able to read an eye chart, specialized procedures have been developed that allow us to measure the clarity of sight of children at almost any age. Many vision problems can be easier to correct with early diagnosis and treatment. Reports have estimated that up to 25% of students in grades K – 6 have vision-related problems, which may contribute to poor school performance. The visual system matures rapidly during the first few years and it is important to identify any problems that may interfere with normal vision development.
Eye Examinations for Infants, Toddlers and School-aged Children
A comprehensive eye examination will assess:
- Visual acuity measures how clearly a child sees objects.
- Refractive status measures for nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and astigmatism. The child is evaluated for any
- Eye health problems, including active pathology or congenital anomalies.
- Eye-tracking is the ability of the eyes to fixate, smoothly follow and look between objects or printed words.
- Eye focusing is the ability to efficiently change and sustain focus while reading.
- Eye teaming is the ability to coordinate both eyes accurately and without fatigue or excessive effort. Accurate eye teaming is also important for accurate two-eyed depth perception or stereopsis.
- Hand-Eye Coordination As part of the visual examination we also assess vision development. Young children use vision to explore the world by identifying and directing movement. If a problem in vision is preventing adequate development of perception and eye-hand coordination skills then early intervention is vital.
Early detection and management of eye issues are recommended to prevent vision loss or eye disease and to encourage proper vision development. To learn more about how the examination process differs for infant, preschool, and school-aged children, call 910-914-6442.