The College of Optometrists is urging parents to consider beginning sight tests for their children before school age. This is especially important if there is a family history of eye problems or needing glasses with a strong prescription.
A recent survey, commissioned by the College, the professional body for optometry in the UK, has revealed that, on average, children in the UK are five years old when they have their first sight test. The College is concerned that for some children, this can be too late to address certain problems that need to be corrected at a young age.
The survey also revealed:
The average age that parents themselves had their eyes checked for the first time was nearly nine years old, and more than a quarter (28%) said this didn’t happen until they were ten or older.
Luckily, most believed they should have their own children’s eyes checked at around age five and many had taken their children to see an optometrist.
When performing a sight test, an optometrist also conducts a full eye health check to detect problems.
Over a third (37%) of the children who had seen an optometrist were shortsighted. One in five (20%) though were diagnosed with a lazy eye and these children’s sight would have been permanently affected if their problem had not been picked up in their sight test.
Lazy eye, also known as amblyopia, is not as harmless as it sounds.
It develops when there is a disconnect in how the brain and the eyes work together, and the brain doesn’t recognise the sight from one eye. If left untreated, the vision in the affected eye will be permanently weakened. It needs to be detected when children are between the ages of three and seven, and the earlier the better. Otherwise, it is simply too late.
Denise Voon is a Clinical Adviser at the College, and a mum of two. She explains:
“We are urging parents of toddlers to start having their sight checked by an optometrist at around age three. This is especially important if there is a family history of needing glasses but is advisable in any case.
“Schools do provide eye checks to early-stage children, but provision is patchy. Even when it is available, the checks are very basic and don’t include a full eye health check. It’s great that some schools do provide them, but only an optometrist can carry out full eye health checks and for children under 16, NHS checks are free. Lots of parents don’t realise this.
“The College of Optometrists wants parents to begin sight tests early, in much the same way as they start taking their children to the dentist. Ideally, we would like this eye care advice included in every new parent’s advice manual – the red book – that they take home with their new baby. This would really place eye health where it needs to be for our children”
