We are a family oriented eye care practice. We examine infants and children of all ages. We believe it is imperative that a child have their first eye examination by age four unless a problem is recognized earlier. Many children are evaluated as early as six months to determine normal development. Most vision problems and eye diseases do not present symptoms, and 80% of learning occurs through your child's eyes. Do yourself and your child a favor. Find out before the problem becomes permanent.
Children with uncorrected vision conditions or eye health problems face many barriers in life, academically, socially, and athletically. High-quality eye care can break down these barriers and help enable your children to reach their highest potential! As a parent, make sure you are giving your children the eye care they need.
Dr. Gesford answers questions regarding eye exams for children:
Q: Should my child receive an eye exam before starting school, even if her vision seems fine?
A: Children can have a variety of vision problems which do not always cause obvious symptoms. For example, a child who is farsighted sees great far away and may function well in everyday life; however, they will often experience blurred vision, eye strain, and/or headaches when they begin reading and doing homework up close.
Other children may have difficulty using both eyes together and struggle with double vision. Many children do not complain about these symptoms because they don’t realize the way they are seeing is NOT normal, so parents often have no idea their child has a problem.
Early detection of these problems will prevent unnecessary struggling in school and risk of getting poor grades simply because their eyes are not working properly.
Q: What does a typical children’s eye exam consist of?
A: During every eye exam I test the child’s visual acuity, depth perception, eye focusing and eye teaming ability, need for glasses to correct nearsightedness/farsightedness, and check eye health.
Q: My child doesn’t know letters yet. How can you check his vision?
A: We have several different charts to check vision consisting of numbers and pictures. We also have a variety of instruments which can be used to detect nearsightedness/farsightedness without needing any verbal input from your child.
Q: How can a vision problem affect my child’s school performance?
A: When a child does not see properly, they may have difficulty in consistently identifying letters or words, loss of place when doing homework or reading, poor handwriting, poor spelling, letter or number reversals, and lack of attention to or complete avoidance of near work. This could significantly affect their ability to learn to read and write and interfere with comprehension, leading to poor academic performance.
* Saturdays - we are open, by appointment only.