Eyecare For Infants

The importance of eye care for infants was brought to our communities attention in May of 2007 when 10 month old Tatum Fisher, the daughter of then Utah Jazz Guard Derek Fisher, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. Retinoblastoma is a form of cancer which most often affects children and infants. It starts in the eye and can cause death but with early diagnosis and treatment most children affected live long and happy lives. I think the whole state watched and prayed for this family as this drama played out and Tatum was one of the lucky ones.

I am grateful that in 10 years of examining peoples I have never had to tell parents that there child is facing such a situation but these conditions do happen and need to be caught early. I see individuals every week whose vision and lives would be better if the would have had eye care at an early age. Eye conditions such as hyperopia(see article in this blog), amblyopia and astigmatism while not life threatening can limit vision and learning and cause eyes to turn or become lazy. If not caught early these conditions and there visual consequences can be permanent.

To help ensure that eye care is received at an early age the American Optometric Association(AOA) has started a program to provide infants between the ages of 6-12 months with eye exams at no cost. The program is called Infantsee and there are thousands of participating optometrists across the nation. In an Infantsee exam babies are checked to make sure that their eyes are healthy and that there are no conditions which will limit there vision or learning potential. We at Advanced Family Eyecare are thrilled to be participating in this program and hope that all parents will take advantage of this opportunity to make sure their infants eyes are ready for life.