Patient resources
Preparing a Child for an Eye Exam
Nothing about a children's eye examination requires reading, speaking or cooperation. It is lights, targets and lenses, nothing touches the eye and nothing hurts. Book when your child is usually alert.
What to tell them
For a young child, the useful framing is that the doctor is going to look at their eyes with lights and show them some pictures. Nothing touches the eye, nothing hurts, and there is nothing to get right or wrong.
Avoid the word test. Children hear test and assume there is a way to fail, which makes them anxious and makes the results less reliable.
Timing the appointment
Book at a time of day when your child is usually alert rather than due a nap. A tired toddler produces unreliable results and a bad first impression of eye care that can last years.
Appointments here are scheduled two an hour, which matters more for a child than for anyone else. Nobody is rushed through unfamiliar equipment.
What happens at each age
- Six to twelve months: alignment, tracking, objective refraction and eye health. No responses needed at all.
- Around three: as above, plus picture based or matching acuity testing.
- Five to six: letter based acuity where the child is reading, plus focusing, coordination, depth and colour assessment.
- School years: full assessment including near vision, convergence and, where relevant, myopia progression against baseline.
About the drops
Dilating drops are sometimes used in young children to get an accurate refraction, because a child's focusing system is powerful enough to mask a prescription. You are told in advance if that is planned.
The drops sting briefly and then stop. The lasting effect is light sensitivity and blurred near vision for several hours, so bring a hat or sunglasses and do not plan reading homework for that afternoon.
What to bring
- Any previous prescriptions, even from another practice
- Their current glasses
- Any concerns raised by a teacher or a school screening
- A rough idea of daily outdoor time and screen time
Book an appointment
Call (480) 706-3937 or request a time online. Two patients an hour, so there is time to answer questions properly.