Do you ever wonder about your child’s eye safety? Did you know that there is a Children’s Eye Safety Month?

The beginning of the school year is coming up and it’s a good time to think about your child’s eye safety. While you’re preparing with back to school shopping, don’t forget about eye exams!

Keep reading to learn more about why August is children’s eye safety month!

When should children get eye exams?

At age three, it is recommended that children get comprehensive eye exams. The doctor can help detect vision or refractive problems.

Some of these issues are farsightedness, astigmatism, and nearsightedness. Other issues they diagnose are color blindness, crossed eyes, lazy eye, and drooping of the eye.

These eye problems are manageable with eye drops, patches, glasses, contacts, or surgery.

If your doctor thinks it might be a bigger problem, they may recommend an ophthalmologist. You should be aware of different signs to watch out for if your child has vision problems.

Signs can include:

  • wandering or crossed eyes
  • not wanting to read or look at objects that are far away
  • a family medical history of vision issues as a child
  • squinting or looking at objects from odd positions like when watching movies

Follow these eye safety tips

Making sure that your child’s eyes are safe is another part of ensuring your child has good vision. For children, the main cause of vision loss is eye injuries.

In the United States, about 42,000 sports-related eye injuries occur annually. Most of these injuries happen to children. There are about 12 million children with vision problems.

Work on keeping your children’s eyes safe by following these tips. When they take part in sports or contact activities, kids need to wear protective eyewear.

Some examples of protective eyewear are goggles or protective glasses. Even if the sport or activity doesn’t need protective eyewear, your child should wear it.

Another way to make sure that kid’s eyes are safe is by making sure that they play with age-acceptable toys. You should not allow your children to play with toys that have sharp or pointy parts.

Take them for comprehensive eye exams

Everyone wants their children to be healthy and safe. Allow them to be successful in school this year by taking them for a comprehensive eye exam.

Also, make sure to continue to protect their eyes to prevent any injuries. It is important for your child’s physical development and well-being to have good vision.

Kids need all the tools possible to be successful. Giving them the right eyewear is only one example of a way you can support them! This is especially important at the beginning of a new school year.

Do you think it’s time to bring your child in for an eye exam? We are here to inform and teach you about how to keep your children’s eyes safe.

Depending on your needs, we can talk to you about glasses or other methods of eye protection for your child. Schedule an appointment with one of Riverside Eye Center’s great doctors in Auburn, ME.