Children’s Eyes

Most parents are used to taking their children for regular dental check ups though do not necessarily think of taking their children for regular eye check ups. Often parents will only take their children for an eye examination when the child complains of a problem.

We believe that a better approach is for all children to be checked on an annual basis. This ensures that children have good eyesight and good visual skills in terms of focussing (accommodation), eye coordination (convergence) and 3D perception (stereopsis) before they go to school and for every year that they are at school.

Every child deserves the opportunity to have 20/20 vision. They also deserve the right to ensure that they have appropriate visual skills in terms of focussing and eye coordination. This will help ensure that they perform to the best of their ability in the classroom.

Visual development starts from the moment the child first opens their eyes and we believe that children should have their first eye test at eighteen months. At this age we can already spot lazy eyes and squints. We can also identify any problems children may have been born with. The sooner these problems are identified the better and with lazy eyes in particular, the earlier they are spotted and treated the better.

After this initial eye test, ideally the child has another eye examination at the age of four and a half, just before they start school. This ensures that their eyesight and visual skills are adequate before they start school.

Children are then ideally seen for eye examinations every one to two years depending on the child up until the age of sixteen in order to ensure that their eyesight and visual skills remain up to the normal standard.

Ideally these eye examinations continues beyond the age of sixteen so that the child as a teenager and young adult is educated into using good visual habits for life.