Children learn from an early age that visits to the doctor can sometimes be a painful and frightening experience. Preparing your child for their first eye exam is important to help allay fears and ensure the exam is a success.
To begin, take a few minutes to sit with your child and explain that the eye doctor will show them pictures, letters or shapes on the wall and ask them to identify them. Let them know that eye exams are not painful, but that the doctor may put drops into their eyes, which might sting a little bit. Being open and honest with your child about what to expect is the best way to help them feel secure.
Discovering potential eye health issues early on in a child’s life is critical to providing effective treatment. In your child’s first year of life, doctors will be looking for conditions, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, amblyopia, astigmatism, light response, eye movement and alignment and other general conditions that affect the eye.
For children aged three to five, doctors will conduct a visual exam to check for the above issues, as well as a vision screening to determine your child’s ability to see the form …