Assessments of eye health should begin in childhood, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Play

The eyes should be assessed very early in life to detect problems, since the sooner solutions are implemented the better the outcome. That’s according to Meghan Berkenstock, an ophthalmologist at Johns Hopkins. 

Berkenstock:  A lot of it starts at home. Sometimes children will sit closer to the television or the parent will say oh can you pick up your book bag and the child will look around or fumble for it or drop things because their depth perception is off and that's the first signal to come in. The pediatric ophthalmologist will assess their vision and there's really clever ways for children to be able to know what they see even for babies we can tell what their vision is they're called teller cards and children are attracted by more interesting shapes.  :29

Berkenstock notes that parents with a family history of eye problems should be especially vigilant about being aware for their potential in their children, and that infants as young as six months of age can have eye examinations. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.