What to Know About Your Child's Vision

Your Child's Vision

Our CustomEyes staff specializes in helping parents care for their children's visual needs. If you've ever heard the saying, "young eyes are healthy eyes," you might understand how we can take our children's vision for granted. But according to the American Optometric Association, 1 in 5 preschoolers have vision problems and 25% will need or wear corrective lenses by the time they enter school. Vision problems may also interfere with their learning and behavior.

Even though your child may be receiving regular screenings at school, these should not be the only mode of care that your child receives. Screenings are good for detecting common problems such as trouble seeing distance, but they don't detect other issues such as astigmatism or blurred vision. It is important that you take your child for regular pediatric eye exams, not just screenings, and receive the corrective eyewear that they need. Our team is happy to refer any concerned parents to one of the local eye professionals we partner with for our clients' eye exams.

Your Child's Vision and Behavior

Some behavioral problems are really misdiagnosed vision disorders. A misdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can lead to a long, difficult process for you and your child when the issue could have been avoided by regular pediatric eye exams.

When your child has difficulty seeing, that can lead to behavioral "issues" such as:

• A dislike or avoidance of reading
• Short attention span
• Decreasing performance in school
• Increased or excessive time needed to complete homework.



When to Take Your Child to the Eye Doctor:

The American Optometric Association recommends the following schedule:

Infants should receive an in-person comprehensive eye and vision assessment between 6 and 12 months of age for the prevention and/or early diagnosis and treatment of sight-threatening eye conditions and to evaluate visual development. Preschoolers should receive at least one in-person, comprehensive eye exam between the ages of 3 and 5 to prevent or diagnose any condition that may have long-term effects. School-aged children (6-18 years) should receive a comprehensive in-person exam prior to entering the first grade and annually thereafter.

American Optometric Association

Signs that your child may be experiencing vision problems:

• Poor hand-eye coordination
• Frequent squinting, eye-rubbing, or blinking
• Bothered by light
• Avoidance of close work
• Covering one eye while reading
• Frequently skips lines or loses their place while reading
• Holds their books close to their eyes (7-8 inches)
• Omitting, miscalling, or repeating words when reading aloud
• Reversals of letters or words past the second grade
• Poor spelling skills
• School subjects that require lots of reading (language arts or social studies) are more difficult than those that do not (math, art, etc.)

If your child is displaying symptoms or signs of vision problems, please do not hesitate to take them for an eye exam.

Eyewear for Children

At CustomEyes, we highly recommend iGreen eyewear for your child's needs (and for our adult clients as well). These frames are custom-designed with recycled material and made by artists in the USA. We've found that it is much easier to get your child interested and excited about wearing corrective eyewear when they learn that they can customize the design! The process is simple: a CustomEyes staff member meets with you and your child, creating a custom iGreen eyewear design together at one of our computers in-shop. We help your child pick out the exact design, colors, and shape of the glasses that they want!

iGreen eyewear is also super lightweight, comfortable, and tough enough for your wildest tyke. We often work with parents to combine these frames with our ballistic Trivex material, a UV-filtering lens that is great for clarity and safety, with good scratch coatings and warranties.



If you're interested in chatting with us about our children's eyewear, visit our shop located at 1540 S 2nd St #120 in the South Front District of Wilmington, NC. We are here to assist and help when it comes to finding durable frames and lenses that still allow your little one to customize and express themselves!

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