So How Does A Pediatric Eye Doctor Check A Child’s Eyes & Vision?

Are you ready for your eye exam? Yes! Great, let's go. First we're going to use a special camera called an autorefractor to help me know if you need glasses. Look inside, what do you see? Cool! Look at the farm and open your eyes really big.

The first number tells me if you're nearsighted or farsighted and the second member tells me how much astigmatism you have. Yay!!! We did it! Who gets a sticker? Now let's go to the exam room.

Have a seat in the big grey chair. First, we measure your visual acuity which is the smallest line of letters you can see. The eye chart is seen through a mirror to create distance of 20 ft. For kids who haven't learned their letters yet, I designed a special eye chart that uses the shapes to check their vision.

Even one year olds can start to practice their shapes at home before their eye exam. This is a circle. Circle! Moon, star, heart, and triangle! What is that? What is that shape? Circle! What is that one? Heart! Now I'm going to check your near visual acuity and make sure your eyes are straight.

Watch the shape. Its going to jump! It's a moon! This is a phoropter. It's like a big telescope.Can you see what shape that is? Moon! What happens when I do that? Better or worse? Worse! What happens when I do that? Does that get better or worse? Worse! You're right.

What happens when I do that? Better! Can you show me where the star is? Yay! Can you see where the circle is? Where's the circle? Where's the triangle? Which one is the triangle? Yay!! You're right, that's the triangle.

Now, we're going to check for color vision. This is a circle, star, square. Can you find the star? Very good, it's this one. I'm going to check your eye pressure. I'm going to get very close and you'll hear a few beeps.

I'm going to dilate your eyes to get a better look at the inside of your eyes. It takes twenty minutes for the drops to work. So, if you need glasses you should try on frames while you wait. Your near vision will be blurry for the next 2-4 hours and you should wear sunglasses if its sunny outside.

Now it's time to finish the exam. This is a special light to look at the health of the inside of your eye. I'm going to look at your eye with this big magnifying glass. Follow the toy Look at the toy.

Good job. Thank you so much for coming in for your eye exam today. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing you for your routine eye exam next year.