BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Another August health awareness campaign is Children’s eye health and safety. This effort is spent reminding doctors and parents about the importance of vision for a child’s development and success in the classroom.
“It’s really about preserving and protecting children’s eye health and their vision. So, whether it be having an impact on their academics, on their overall quality of life, or preventing eye problems that could lead to problems down the road,” explains Dr. Samuel Calvert, an optometrist at Vision Source.
Experts say regular eye exams are one of the most important ways to keep up with your child’s eye health. According to Dr. Calvert, the American Optometric Association recommends a first eye exam happen between the ages of six to 12 months old.
When asked about early eye exams, Dr. Calvert says, “It’s mostly looking for any developmental problems in the eyes or any major health problems that could affect them in the future.”
Dr. Calvert explains that while young children can’t do everything that would happen in a regular eye exam, optometrists have tools and tricks to make sure everything is working properly.
Following the initial exam, it is recommended that a second exam happen at pre-school age, with yearly routine screenings beginning at school age.
“Once a year to make sure that the eyes are staying healthy, making sure the vision is still as clear as possible, mostly because it can affect their academic success, and through school-age years is when nearsightedness or myopia typically comes up in development,” explains Dr. Calvert on the importance of yearly exams.
Last week, the office of Gov. Andy Beshear released a statement stating that only 67% of children in Kentucky receive regular eye exams. Experts say they are glad the percentage of kids receiving routine exams is that high they would like it to continue to rise.
“One thing I feel like we could do to improve that is increasing the amount of screenings that we do, either at local community events or in the school systems themselves,” Dr. Calvert said, “…there are a couple of programs like the Kentucky Vision Project, which they do free screenings and exams for Kentuckians who qualify and there’s also the Kentucky Lions Club Foundation that they do screenings at local events.”
Dr. Calvert wants to emphasize that while screenings can detect small issues, children do need a full eye exam. To schedule an eye appointment with Vision Source, head over to visionsourcebg.com.
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