With Easter holiday’s coming up now is the perfect time to make sure your little one does not have an eye condition that may be affecting their learning, or possibly causing permanent vision loss. These conditions can be present without any symptoms or complaints from your child, so all too often will go undetected for years.

Correction of children’s focusing problems with glasses can improve concentration at school and prevent permanent vision loss caused by amblyopia.

Common eye conditions that can affect children includes hyperopia and astigmatism, which are different errors of the eye’s focus. Hyperopia, also know as long or far-sightedness, means that excessive effort is needed to focus on reading and near-work, sometimes leading to fatigue, headaches, inattention at school and behavioural problems.

If just one eye has a focusing error this can affect how well that eye develops its connections with the brain. If undetected this can lead to permanent vision loss later as an adult, even with correction with glasses or contact lenses. This is known as amblyopia. Therapy to improve amblyopia is possible if it detected early enough, generally before the age of 7-8 years.

Even if our eyes are seeing well there can also be issues with co-ordination and accuracy of eye alignment and focus. This to can lead to discomfort and fatigue when using the eyes for reading or school work, double vision, and even amblyopia in some cases.

Early detection of these hidden eye conditions gives the best chance of improving sight. If your child has not seen an optometrist before they started school arrange a thorough vision assessment with our therapeutic optometrist Mr Alex Petty at Bay Eye Care this Autumn before it’s too late!