Time to check your eyes: how to prepare your child for an ophthalmologist's examination

Does a child or teenager hate going to the doctor? Preliminary preparation will help with this: a conversation, an explanation of the goal, and sometimes a game. How to effectively and without nerves undergo an examination by an ophthalmologist, says the leading specialist of the children's department "Excimer", an ophthalmologist of the highest category, a specialist in orthokeratological treatment Olena Varga.

Olena Varga

Leading specialist of the children's department of the Excimer center, doctor of the highest category, member of the Association of Pediatric Ophthalmologists of Ukraine, specialist in orthokeratological treatment.

Our expert has 24 years of experience communicating with young patients. She explains that the specifics of her work involve being not only a highly qualified specialist, but also a psychologist – understanding the fears, anxieties and behavior of a child in order to set up a confused toddler or a capricious teenager for productive cooperation. Every good specialist has his or her own methods, toys, legends and developed style of conducting the reception. 

Of course, it is better if parents prepare their child in advance for a visit to the ophthalmologist, because when you know what to expect, the excitement and anxiety factor is reduced. In addition, the child will not be confused and will follow the doctor's requests without fear and will react calmly to medical manipulations. This will shorten the visit time and make the specialist's work easier.

Depending on age, the approach will be different, so first let's remember when you should visit a specialist for preventive purposes.

Important periods for ophthalmological examination

Everyone knows (and those who don't know will find out) that before reaching adulthood, you should see an ophthalmologist at least 15 times:

• in the first year of life. Usually, a newborn is examined by a neonatologist in the maternity hospital, and then from 6 to 12 months by a specialized specialist to check the reaction to light, eye movement, the presence of squint, and examine the anterior and posterior segments of the eye;
• at three years old, because at this age the baby can already answer the doctor's questions and check his vision using a special table with figures. Apart from that, the examination algorithm will be the same as before;
• at six – to determine the child's readiness for school and the possibilities of visual load;
• every year until the age of 18, because studying puts a lot of strain on the eyes, and during the period of active growth, visual acuity may decrease.

If the child has problems or pathologies from birth, or if relatives have a history of ophthalmological diseases, visits to a specialist will be more frequent.

Source: Freepik

Prepare your child in advance

Every age has its own fears and reactions to the doctor – from “what kind of strange aunt/uncle is that” to “no, I won’t go, they’ll say I have bad eyesight and take away my smartphone”. So you need to explain in simple words why it’s so important to check your eyesight. Tell them in detail about all the procedures that will be done: they will shine a lamp into your eyes, put drops in them – it won’t hurt! – they will examine them with a special device, show you various pictures and figures. You can download images of visual acuity test tables to your phone so that your child understands what they will be asked in the ophthalmologist’s office.

Encourage your child with a game: imagine that he is a pirate and his eye needs to be examined, or a robot-transformer who will be fitted with miracle lenses, a traveler traveling through virtual worlds, or a sun that catches its children, sun bunnies, with its eyes.

And be sure to tell them that you will always be there and tell them what to do and how to do it.

It makes sense to explain to a teenager that vision deteriorates not only in the case of nearsightedness or farsightedness. There are spasms of accommodation, dry eyes, which are treated with drops and hardware methods. The main thing is to identify the problem in time and start therapy. If vision has really deteriorated, he will not necessarily be prescribed glasses, there is an alternative of soft day and night hard lenses. In addition, now there is such a wide selection of glasses that you can choose a beautiful shape and make it a part of your image.

Source: Freepik

Expert advice

An important condition for a productive examination is a good mood for the child and calm and confident behavior of the parents, so do not scold, irritate, or rush your child before a visit to the doctor.

And also follow these rules:

• Do not take your child to an ophthalmologist if he is sick. Even a simple cold can significantly spoil the mood of a small patient.
• Let the three-year-old get some sleep and eat to be in a good mood. Set up a schedule for the doctor's appointment to last half an hour, and if he makes it, he'll get a gift (take care of this in advance);
• It is better to bring the baby to the clinic when it is sleeping - it will be easier for both the parents and the doctor;
• After examining the dilated pupil, do not give the child visual stress for an hour: let studying, computer games, social networks wait. At this time, it is better to chat, play "rock, paper, scissors", turn on music, an audio fairy tale, walk down the street. By the way, a schoolchild will be happy to walk to school;
• be sure to bring previous ophthalmologist prescriptions with you, especially when visiting another clinic or doctor;
• if the child wears glasses or lenses, show them to the ophthalmologist;
• inform the specialist about the presence of allergies, neurological diseases, pathological births and hereditary eye diseases in relatives;
• Tell us about your child's visual load, habits, and sleep – this is also important information for the doctor.

Check your eyesight in a timely manner, carefully observe your baby, because young children usually do not complain that they have poor vision, if necessary, use corrective lenses (glasses, lenses) and be healthy!