As your child grows, regular eye exams are required to protect their vision. While vision screenings at school test for blurred vision and poor muscle control, a comprehensive eye exam is an in-depth examination ensuring your child’s eyes are developing just as they should.
Dr. Alzein and your providers at Alzein Pediatrics are here to explain why a full, medical eye exam is the best choice as your child grows.
What tools will be used for my child’s eye screening?
At Alzein Pediatrics, we use iScreen Vision, a digital vision photoscreening technology. iScreen is non-invasive, quick and not obtrusive. Your child’s eyes will dilate naturally in a semi-dark exam room. Your provider will then “take pictures” of your child’s eye with the photoscreening camera, held about 3 feet away. We’ll get the results report within minutes.
What happens after iScreen testing?
When your child’s results report no abnormalities, we’ll check their eyes again at their next wellness visit. If there is a concern, we’ll refer you to a pediatric eye care specialist to further exam, diagnosis and treat your child’s eyes.
When should my child have eye screenings?
Your newborn’s eyes will be checked in the delivery room to check for basic displays of eye health such as a “red reflex”, like seeing red eyes in a flash photograph, and blink and pupil response. If you have a family history of eye disease, or if Baby was born prematurely, we will look for signs of childhood eye disease at their first visits here at Alzein Pediatrics.
Between 6 to 12 months of age, we’ll do additional checks. We’ll repeat the same eye health exams such as red flex and blink and pupil response, visually inspect the eyes and check for healthy eye alignment and movement.
As your child grows, between one and three years old, we’ll keep checking at wellness visits for healthy eye development. We may perform an iScreen photoscreening test where a special camera takes pictures of your child’s eyes. This test can help detect problems that can develop into amblyopia or lazy eye.
Between 3 and 5 years of age, we’ll check your child’s vision and eye alignment. We’ll also test visual acuity or sharpness of vision as soon as your child is able to read an eye chart. We’ll perform another iScreen test. We’ll look for signs of strabismus, or misaligned eyes, and indications your child may have refractive errors such as myopia or nearsightedness, hyperopia or farsightedness, astigmatism or focusing problems.
If at any time, you’re concerned about your child’s vision, please call our office. Watch for these signs of vision concerns:
- Squinting
- Tilting the head or covering one eye
- Sitting too close to big screens or bringing small screens too close to the face
- Excessive eye rubbing
- Complaints of eye pain or frequent headaches, especially at the end of the day
- Difficulty concentrating on schoolwork.
When you have questions about your child’s vision, or questions about iScreen, please call 708-424-7600. We’ll be happy to address your concerns and whenever needed, refer your child to a pediatric eye specialist.
