Pediatric Eye Doctor Wyomissing, PA

Eye care is not only for adults. Proper eye care is also crucial for your child’s health and academic success. The school eye exam is great, but it’s only a screening; your child needs a proper eye exam from a pediatric eye doctor. Wyomissing, PA, residents are fortunate to have experienced doctors at Eye Consultants of Pennsylvania, located right in Wyomissing, for your convenience.

Common Childhood Eye Issues

Eye exams are very important regardless of the patient’s age because early detection leads to early treatment. Pediatric patients, in particular, have common childhood eye conditions like focus issues, tracking issues or lazy eye, or crossed eyes.

Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not correctly aligned. You may have noticed that when your child looks straight ahead and focuses on an object, one eye focuses on the target while one drifts away. This is a sign of strabismus, which can signal serious underlying neurological issues.

Lazy eye is a disorder known as amblyopia, and it affects about two percent of American children. A development issue in the brain-to-eye signals causes amblyopia. The brain, as it develops, does not correctly learn how to see with both eyes. Interestingly, strabismus and amblyopia are related. It is very important to treat amblyopia early on in childhood. If the disorder is left untreated, permanent vision loss can occur later in life.

These conditions often occur in conjunction with other childhood conditions. One of these is called esotropia, in which the eye turns inward. Exotropia happens when the eye turns outward. The inward turning is more common in children two or over. When your child looks at items close up, the eye turns inward. It can be quite noticeable, particularly when your child is reading. Exotropia, the outward turning of the eye, is much less common but can occur as early as six months old. When your child is tired, this condition is also quite noticeable.

As children develop, the eyes often lack coordination and have difficulty working together when doing close-up work like writing or reading. The child must work to force their eyes to turn in. This is called convergence insufficiency (CI); children often have headaches and eye strain as a result. The child can also find it difficult to concentrate and often read very slowly or lose their place while reading.

Your Child’s Eye Health

The good news is that our excellent doctors and staff can diagnose these issues and provide early treatments and therapies. Trained therapists are part of our staff, and our whole team will work with your child right here in our Wyomissing office. We’ll also send exercises home so you can work on your child’s therapy right in your own home.

Pediatric eye care is essential. While the school screenings are very welcome and needed, they are just screenings. Your child should have a pediatric eye doctor in Wyomissing, PA. Come to Eye Consultants of Pennsylvania to obtain comprehensive eye care for your child. We will see you soon!