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Written By: John Fuda
2005-11-10 07:31:09
What's the difference between an 
ophthalmologist, an optometrist, and an optician?
By the BabyCenter editorial staff, from: http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babydevelopment/1437477.html
Ophthalmologists and optometrists both do eye examinations, diagnose and treat vision problems and eye diseases, and prescribe eye glasses and contact lenses. The difference is in their training and the scope of their practice:
Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who specialize in eyes. They have a minimum of eight years of medical training, including three or more years in a hospital eye-residency program. Like any M.D., they can prescribe all types of medication. Ophthalmologists also perform eye surgery of all sorts, and deal with any and all issues involving the eyes, from nearsightedness to the most serious disease.
Optometrists have a minimum of four years of education and training at a school of optometry in eye and vision care, diseases of the eye, and larger health problems that affect the eyes, such as diabetes. The specifics vary by state, but in general optometrists can prescribe some medicines (such as for infections, allergies, or glaucoma) and perform some minor surgery (such as removing a foreign object from the eye).
As a parent, which eye specialist you take your child to might depend on a number of factors, including:
? Referrals by doctors and friends
? Your specific concern about your child's eyes
? Your insurance coverage
? Convenience (office location; how quickly you can get an appointment)
Pediatricians and other M.D.'s might refer you to either an ophthalmologist or an optometrist if your child needs glasses. But if they suspect a more serious disorder or disease, they'll likely refer you to an ophthalmologist. Optometrists also refer patients to ophthalmologists if they detect a serious condition that's beyond their scope (such as a need for cataract surgery).
Opticians make and dispense glasses and other optical items. They're trained to fill the lens prescription provided by the ophthalmologist or the optometrist, in much the same way that pharmacists fill doctors' prescriptions.
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Written By: John Fuda
2007-06-03 02:22:37
Eyesight vs. Vision
Eyesight and vision are not synonymous. Eyesight is the sharpness of the image seen by the eye. Vision is the ability to focus on and comprehend that which is seen. Research has shown that while most children with special needs do not have eyesight problems, many have visual dysfunction. If a child has motor delays, vestibular difficulties, or health problems, vision is often compromised.
The American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends that children have vision examinations by six months. A good eye doctor can test many aspects of function at this young age and quickly effect changes with intervention.
Most school vision screenings check only eyesight, and only at twenty feet, not at reading distance. They rarely tell us whether a child has a clear image at nearpoint or how the eyes work together. The only information they provide is whether a child can see the blackboard. Many vision problems thus go undetected when parents have false security and brag, "My kid's eyes are
20/20!"Vision is Learned
Vision, like reading, mathematics, and language, is learned. Giving meaning to what is seen begins at birth. In the developmental hierarchy, infants move without purpose, while their eyes learn how to work as a team, to sustain focus. Toddlers use movement to drive vision, such as shaking a rattle for its sound before looking at it. Finally, children can visualize without movement. Thus, for children to be successful in school, vision must purposefully direct their actions.
Vision Lays the Foundation for Language & Relationships
Vision plays a major role in language and social-emotional development. Children with language delays, attention deficits, pervasive developmental disorders and autism all have inefficient visual systems. If a toddler is not speaking or relating to others, a vision evaluation is essential.
A developmental
optometrist can prescribe therapeutic and pleasurable activities to be done at home, during floor time, occupational and language therapy, or at day care. Combining the visual system with touch, movement, audition and social experiences benefits all areas. Begin Where They Are, a workbook designed by vision therapists and available through the DDR, has good ideas for pre-verbal children and toddlers.The Developmental Delay Registry is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to educate parents and professionals supporting children with developmental delays about healthy options for treating the whole child.
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Written By: John Fuda
2007-06-04 09:26:03
- Infections - Some newborns may catch conjunctivitis as they pass through the birth canal. Older babies can get this eye infection through exposure to persons infected with it. Infected eyes appear red and puffy and have a sticky discharge. Antibiotic eye drops may be given as treatment.
- Blocked tear ducts - Tears drain from the eye through a duct, leading from the inside corner of the eyelid, and into the nose. Some babies are born with a blocked tear duct, which causes tears to back up and overflow. As these infants are prone to eye infections, antibiotics may need to be prescribed. In most cases, the tear ducts open on their own by 1 year of age. Sometimes massage therapy of the duct may be needed. Occasionally the ophthalmologist must perform a surgical procedure to unblock the tear duct.
- Cataracts - Inside the eye is a lens that helps it focus, similar to the lens on a camera. The eye’s lens normally is crystal clear. Rarely, babies are born with a cataract- cloudiness of the lens that keeps light from passing through. Cataracts in infants usually are found by the pediatrician during newborn or well-baby exams. If the cataract is severe, the pupil appears white; surgery may be required to remove the cataract.
- strabismus - Strabismus means that the eyes are misaligned. For instance, one eye may be turned in- esotropia (crossed eye)- or turned out- exotropia (walleye). There are actually many forms of strabismus. Eye alignment is normally unsteady at birth but by 4 months of age the eyes should be straight. Any infant who continues to show an eye misalignment after 4 months of age or a child who later acquires strabismus should have a complete Eye Exam. Untreated strabismus may lead to Amblyopia. It is a myth that kids outgrow strabismus.
- Amblyopia - Amblyopia (commonly called Lazy eye) is the medical term for a loss of vision in an apparently healthy eye. This occurs in babies and young children if there is an imbalance between the eyes. In these cases, the child may subconsciously use one eye more often. The other eye will then lose vision due to disuse. An eye imbalance can occur when there is cataract, strabismus, ptosis (droopy eyelid), eye injury or a refractive error that is worse in one eye. Amblyopia usually dose not have symptoms and often is discovered at a school vision screening. It is ideally treated by an eye doctor before the child is 6 to 10 years old, or the vision loss will be permanent. Treatment encourages the child to use the lazy eye by wearing glasses, and/or wearing a patch over the “good” eye or instilling an eye drop to the good eye.
- Ptosis - In a few children, the muscle that raises the upper eyelid fails to develop properly in one or both eyes. This muscle weakness, which causes the upper eyelid to droop, is called ptosis. When an eyelid droops and covers half the eye, that eye may mistakenly appear smaller than the other. Ptosis sometimes may result in amblyopia. If the ptosis is severe, surgery is required to lift the eyelid.
- Retinopathy of Prematurity - If a baby is born prematurely, the blood vessels in the eye that supply the retina are not fully developed. Sometimes these blood vessels develop abnormally and may damage the inside of the eye. Retinopathy of prematurity can be detected only during an ophthalmic exam, which should be performed in premature babies during the first few weeks of life. If the disease is advanced, the eye can be treated to prevent blindness.
- Visual inattention - Sometimes an infant dose not begins to pay attention to visual stimuli by 6 to 8 weeks of age, as is normal. This may be due to delayed development of the visual system, common in premature infants and also occurring in some full-term babies. Often the visual system will mature normally with time. However, visual inattention can also be a sign of eye disease and may result in permanent and/or progressive vision loss. A complete eye exam is in order if a full-term, healthy baby appears visually inattentive after 3 months of age.
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Written By: John Fuda
2005-11-10 07:22:24
Who should check my baby's eyes?
By the BabyCenter editorial staff, from: http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babydevelopment/1437477.html
Your baby's doctor should examine your baby's eyes at each of his well-baby visits. She'll check his eyes for problems, just as she checks his back, ears, breathing, and heart, to make sure that all's well. If the doctor determines that your baby may have difficulties with his vision, she'll refer you to a medical eye specialist (ophthalmologist) for further evaluation. If the doctor spots a health problem with your baby's eyes, such as an infection, she'll either treat it (if it's minor) or refer you to an ophthalmologist (if it's more serious). She should also refer you to a specialist if your baby has a strong family history of eye problems in childhood.
Should I take my baby to an optometrist, too?
That's something you have to decide for yourself. Most medical doctors who deal with children's eyes say that vision screening at well-child visits, if done properly, is the best way to monitor your child's vision. (The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and strabismus say that primary care physicians should be the ones who screen for vision problems.) Taking your child to an optometrist for a separate screening, medical doctors say, would be time-consuming and expensive for parents.
But optometrists (and the American Optometric Association) say that because some doctors aren't properly trained, aren't comfortable giving eye exams, or don't have the time to provide complete eye exams, many children don't receive thorough examinations. Optometrists recommend that your child be given a comprehensive Eye Exam by an optometrist at age 6 months, at age 3, and before kindergarten (and many optometrists offer one free exam to babies age 6 months to a year).
Medical doctors and optometrists may disagree about who should check your baby's eyes, but on one point there's no argument: It's crucial to have your baby's eyes looked at for problems early on. Good eyesight will help your child do his best in everything from schoolwork to sports. And early detection of certain eye problems, such as Amblyopia, makes it much more likely that treatment will be successful.
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Written By: John Fuda
2005-11-04 13:16:50
Types of vision problems that may require corrective lenses:
1: myopia (short-sightedness): Light rays entering the eye focus in front of the receptor cells in the retina. Myopes may see clearly at near but are blurred at distance.
2: hyperopia (long-sightedness): Light rays entering the eye focus behind the retina. The eye has to exert extra focusing power to see clearly at distance and even more so at near. If the hyperopia is large then the eye may not be able to focus the image clearly at all. Most young children have mild degrees of hyperopia.
3: astigmatism: Light rays entering the eye focus at different places. It is caused by an irregular surface of the eye. Instead of being perfectly round, the surface of the eye is shaped like a rugby ball lying on its side and is more curved in one plane than the other.
4: Refractive esotropia: There is a link between the focusing muscle in the eye and the muscles which draw the eyes together as we look at a near object. Some children with hyperopia are required to exert so much focusing power in their eyes that their eyes turn in. This refractive esotropia may be fully correctable with glasses.
5. Amblyopia (Lazy eye): Amblyopia (say this: "am-blee-oh-pee-ah") is an eye problem that causes poor vision in children. The problem starts when the pathways of vision in the brain don't grow strong enough. Pathways are a little like roads--they carry vision messages from eye to brain. Amblyopia is also called "lazy eye." All babies are born with poor eyesight. As babies grow, their eyesight gets better. Good eyesight needs a clear, focused image that is the same in both eyes. If the image isn't clear in one eye, or if the image isn't the same in both eyes, the vision pathways won't develop right. In fact, the pathways may actually get worse. Anything that happens to blur the vision or cause the eyes to be crossed during childhood may cause amblyopia. For example, the image might be different in both eyes if the child has strabismus. Strabismus (also called "crossed eyes") causes the eyes to not focus the same. Children who need glasses to see better, or have cataracts, a droopy eyelid, or crossed or wandering eyes may also get amblyopia. About 5% of children have amblyopia. corrective lenses do not "correct" amblyopia, but may be used as part of a program to treat the problem.
DISCLAIMER: This information in this site is provided for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. We are not responsible or liable for any diagnosis or action made by a user based on the content of this website. We are not liable for the contents of any external websites listed, nor do we endorse any commercial product or service mentioned or advised on any of the sites. Always consult your own doctor if you are in any way concerned about your health.
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