Children's Eye Health: St. John’s pediatric ophthalmologist
Scott Atkinson, M.D. answers your questions
about children’s eye health


Q. When should parents begin having their child's eyes examined?

A. The key to detecting problems is to attend well-child checkups at recommended intervals with your pediatrician or family physician. Part of these checks is the screening eye exam. Usually the alignment of the eyes and the presence of the “red reflex” is done on babies. As the child becomes verbal, visual testing is performed. At this time, the American Academy of Ophthalmology has no recommendation for routine eye exams for children.

Q. Why is early detection of vision problems in children so important?

A. Some problems have a “window of opportunity” in which we are able to treat them. Amblyopia is a condition that occurs when one or sometimes both eyes receive abnormal visual input in the vulnerable early years of life, thus leading to poor development of the connections between the eye and brain. Remedies for this condition are only effective until about age 8, although some recent evidence suggests that there may be the opportunity to treat these patients even into the teen years.

Q. Can undetected vision problems lead to learning disabilities or permanent vision problems?

A. The issue of the connection of learning disabilities to vision is not fully worked out. Permanent visual loss, however, can occur if amblyopia is undetected.

Q. What are the most common vision problems in children? Are glasses always necessary if a problem is detected?

A. Like in adults, the most common vision problems are far-sightedness, near-sightedness, and astigmatism. Children can compensate for these problems to some degree and do not always need glasses.

Q. What can parents do to prepare their child for their first eye exam?

A. Pediatric ophthalmologists almost always perform an examination with dilated pupils, so most of the time children will get eye drops halfway through the exam. Other than that, the process of the visit is usually a lot of fun for everyone.