7 Warning Signs Your Child Needs Glasses
- Anu
- January 18, 2022
- Health
- Signs Your Child Needs Glasses, vision problems in children
- 0 Comments
Vision problems may affect children from an early age and this can impact their performance in and outside the classroom.
It’s therefore important to understand eye health so you can recognize the signs that your child may have a vision problem and possibly need to schedule an appointment for a full eye exam. The doctor may determine whether your child is nearsighted or farsighted—vision problems that are easily corrected.
Here are seven warning signs your child may need glasses.
1. Squinting
Children often squint their eyes in an attempt to see more clearly or as a reaction to strong, bright light.
Squinting momentarily helps improve vision by slightly changing the shape of the eye. Your child may feel a need to squint to see better close-up (farsightedness) or far away (nearsightedness).
If you catch your child squinting, it could be a sign of your child compensating for poor vision and should be investigated.
2. Frequent headaches or eye pain
If your child complains about eye pain or headaches at the end of the day, he or she may be overexerting the eyes in an effort to increase the focus of blurred vision.
3. Rubbing their eyes excessively
Rubbing of the eyes can indicate that your child’s eyes are fatigued or strained. If your child has been straining all day to see, by the time bedtime comes around, their eyes will get tired. And your child may rub their eyes as a result, trying to see better.
Vision correction can reduce the strain on your child’s eyes and promote better visibility.
4. Sitting too close to the TV
If your child sits too close to the television or if they hold books or devices too close to their face, this may indicate that your child cannot see well. This can also be a sign of nearsightedness.
Nearsighted children usually see nearby objects clearer, which would indicate why your child sits so close to the television or dips their head down while reading or playing on their phone. Bringing that object closer makes it easier for them to see.
5. Having difficulty concentrating on school work
Reading is a tough objective for any child. But for a child with farsightedness or another sight problem, it can be even more difficult.
Because children need to quickly and accurately adapt their visual focus from distant to near and on a number of different objects ranging from chalkboards and computers to textbooks and tablets, vision problems may manifest as a lack of focus on schoolwork.
6. Covering one eye
If your child covers or closes an eye every time he or she needs to focus on something (like reading a book or watching a television show), astigmatism may be the cause. There’s also a chance that your child suffers from exotropia, which means that he or she is extra sensitive to bright light.
7. Clumsiness
Bumping into objects or tripping frequently is something that most children do, especially when they are first learning to walk. But what some parents write off as clumsiness might be an eyesight problem.
