Disease such as retinoblastoma , or cancer of the eye , is another issue where early detection is crucial to a child ’ s future .
“ If it ’ s caught early it ’ s manageable ,” she says , of most cases . But she adds , “ These are not common things ( to worry about ), but you would not be able to know unless you brought your child in to get their eyes looked at .”
Dr . Christian says the three most common infant eye health issues are :
1 . A refractive error , which includes astigmatism , hyperopia ( farsightedness ), and myopia ( nearsightedness );
2 . Ocular disease , such as cataracts or retinoblastoma ;
3 . Eye turn , also known as strabismus , is a misalignment of the eyes , or Lazy Eye , known as amblyopia .
“ A lot of these things can be caught early on ,” she notes . “ If we see a child at six months , we can prevent that eye turn early .”
Dr . Christian explains that the ages of 12 to 18 months are a developmental milestone , in terms of the visual development of infants , where they begin to focus . This is when other eye health issues are obvious .
“ A condition we see around 18 months ( being the average age of onset ), one eye may turn in . Often it is due to a large sense of farsightedness . So if we see these infants at six months , we can help prevent this from becoming a bigger issue .”
Conditions such as Lazy Eye often result in corrective surgery if not detected sooner and remain a permanent vision challenge .
Dr . Christian recommends that parents bring infants to the optometrist for an initial appoint at six months old , then a year following and yearly after that . For those with a clean bill of health , a follow up exam at three years will suffice . But she suggests that schedule depends on the optometrist ’ s evaluation .
“ An infant and child eye exam is covered by OHIP , so why not follow up ?” Dr . Christian said .
Getting the word out there starts with education .
“ We need to get that information out there , and we , as a profession , are working on educating other health professionals as well as parents on the importance of promoting infant eye health care .”
The University of Waterloo ’ s School of Optometry and Vision Sciences has a full pediatrics clinic that welcomes new patients without referrals and is covered by OHIP . •
For more information visit https :// uwaterloo . ca / optometryclinics .
34 OPTICAL PRISM | JULY / AUGUST 2013