Bring Clarity & Focus to Your Child’s Life

There is so much to look forward to in your child’s life—acing the last final of the year, scoring the game-winning goal, performing in their first play. However, of all the tools your child may use throughout their life, their vision is one of the most important.

Our team can monitor their eyes and provide help if they start to struggle with their sight. Total Vision Pasadena is proud to offer a comfortable, relaxing, and comprehensive eye exam experience for children of all ages—all you have to do is book their appointment.

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Why Your Child’s Vision Matters

Your child uses their vision to navigate, interact, and learn. Even at a very young age, your child develops essential visual skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives, including depth perception, hand-eye coordination, and focusing.

It’s important to monitor and support your child’s eye development. Regular eye exams are one of the best ways to do this. Eye exams can help detect various issues your child may be developing and give us the opportunity to address them with care and compassion.

Managing these issues could help mitigate problems with your child’s behavior, school grades, or even sports performance.

When Should Your Child Have an Eye Exam?

We personalize every exam experience to meet your child’s needs. Even if your child is quite young, we’ll still ensure their exam is as comprehensive as it is comfortable.

To help us serve your child’s vision, we recommend booking their appointments during certain visual milestones. These milestones can help us get a clear view of your child’s eye development and any issues they might have.

1 to 2 Years

At Total Vision Pasadena, we recommend booking your child’s first eye exam after their first birthday.

Because your child is still growing and developing, this exam looks at their visual skills and ensures that your little one sees well.

2 to 5 Years

Now that your child’s eyes have had a few years to develop, we recommend booking their next appointment between the ages of 2 and 5. During this eye exam, we’ll look at their visual skills and examine their eyes for issues like amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eyes).

6 to 18 Years

We recommend booking your child for another eye exam before they start school and every year after that.

Your child starts to rely on their vision the most during school, but issues like myopia (nearsightedness) or hyperopia (farsightedness) are more likely to develop around this time.

What Issues Could Your Child Face?

In some cases, your child may be too young to communicate if they’re experiencing a vision problem. They may also be too young to notice they’re developing these issues, as well!

As a parent, you might be able to spot some signs that indicate your child is struggling with their vision. Some of these can include:

Sitting too close to the television
Jumping ahead while reading
Closing one eye to look at things
Experiencing eye strain or recurring headaches

Even if you don’t notice these issues, an eye exam can still help determine a vision problem before it affects their quality of life.

Myopia

Myopia, commonly known as nearsightedness, is a refractive error that affects the quality of your child’s distance vision. Generally developing during your child’s school years, myopia occurs when their eyes grow too long or if their cornea becomes too steep. About 30% of adolescents have some degree of myopia.

Learn more about how we can help manage your child’s myopia on our Myopia Control page.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia is an eye condition that is much more commonly known as lazy eye. This condition generally develops in children between the ages of 3 and 6. Common causes include genetics or an uncorrected refractive error in one eye.

Amblyopia is a permanent condition, but corrective lenses, eye prisms, eye patching, or vision therapy could help manage its symptoms.

Strabismus

Strabismus, also known as crossed eyes, is an eye condition that affects the alignment of both of your child’s eyes. Like amblyopia, strabismus can develop between the ages of 3 and 6, affecting the quality and comfort of your child’s vision.

High refractive errors, medical conditions, and genetics may cause strabismus, but corrective lenses, patching, and vision therapy could help manage your child’s symptoms.

Conjunctivitis

Conjunctivitis, or pink eye, is a common eye condition known for spreading between children on playgrounds and in classrooms. However, even though some types of conjunctivitis are contagious, it can also be caused by allergies or chemical exposure.

In many cases, conjunctivitis may cause:

Redness
Irritation
Wateriness
Crust discharge
Grittiness
Itchiness

If your child’s symptoms occur because of chemical exposure, please flush their eyes with cool, clean water for 20 minutes and call our team immediately for an emergency eye exam.