Children under the age of 20 are covered by OHIP for a comprehensive eye exam once a year. OHIP also covers for emergency visits anytime throughout the year.
Children are very visual learners, but do not always know when there is something wrong with their vision. A routine yearly eye exam is the best way to ensure that your child’s vision does not prevent them from flourishing as they should.
Our optometrists are experienced in conducting fun and interactive eye exams for children of all ages. Through testing that feels more like games, our optometrists can rule out issues in your child like nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, lazy eyes, crossed eyes, colour vision deficits, health problems, and much more.
Myopia Control
When children are experiencing a rapid progression of nearsightedness (myopia), our optometrist can initiate the most appropriate Myopia Control treatment for your child. This may involve medication eye drops, specialized lenses for glasses, soft contact lenses, overnight hard contact lenses (orthokeratology), etc.
Myopia Control techniques can be initiated in children as young as 3 years of age. To find out if Myopia Control can benefit your child, schedule a visit to see our optometrist.
Warning Signs
Unlike adults, children are less likely to complain or communicate about problems with their vision as they assume that everyone sees the way they do.
There are however some warning signs to watch for to detect potential problems before it’s too late and the eyes are permanently damaged. The signs that indicates your child is experiencing vision problems are:
- Eye sensitivity to lights
- Excessive and extreme tearing
- Red eyes
- Having a hard time and short attention span when reading and coloring
- Difficulty in following movements
- Sitting close to the TV or computer screen
- Constant eye rubbing
- Headaches
According to the Canadian Association of Optometrists (CAO) it is suggested that children should have their eyes checked by an Optometrist at the age of 6 months, 3 years, at the start of school, and then at least every 2 years following. As a parent, make sure to give your children the necessary eye care.
Every child deserves to have clear vision and the government of Ontario covers the cost of annual eye exams for every child until the age of 19.
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