Pediatric Eye Exams

The American Optometric Association recommends a first exam at around six months, another between ages three and five, one before first grade, and yearly after that. Earlier or more often if a parent needed glasses young, the child was born early, or anyone has noticed an eye turning or a child squinting. Tell us your child’s age when you book.

Yes. Optometrists can complete residency training in pediatric optometry after their doctorate, covering children’s vision development, binocular vision, and vision therapy. Dr. Kayla Ueda completed a residency in pediatrics, vision therapy, and neuro-optometric rehabilitation, and children’s exams here are planned around the age of the child.

For routine exams, glasses, lazy eye, eye teaming problems, and nearsightedness, an optometrist, and especially one with pediatric training. An ophthalmologist is a surgeon, and a child is referred when the problem is surgical: a turned eye that needs an operation, a blocked tear duct that does not clear, a cataract, or an injury. If that is what the exam finds, you leave with a direct referral.

Without asking them to read. The doctor watches how each eye fixes on and follows a toy, uses pictures and matching games where the child can play along, checks alignment with a light, and measures the prescription objectively by shining a light through lenses and reading the reflection. A toddler’s exam is a series of short games, and the doctor adapts to the child’s attention.

Yes, and they are worth doing, but a screening checks distance sight and sometimes alignment, usually with one chart and no lenses. It does not test focusing, eye teaming, tracking, or the health of the eye, and it misses farsightedness, which children hide by focusing harder. A pass at the pediatrician is not a reason to skip the exam.

Yes. Any optometrist examines children, and what matters is whether the exam is adapted to the child’s age and whether the doctor is comfortable with the tests that need no reading. Here that is the case; a doctor with pediatric residency training sees children, and the exam is paced to the child.

Refractive error, meaning nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, which glasses correct. After that, lazy eye, where the brain favors one eye, and a turned eye. Nearsightedness is the one rising fastest, and it tends to progress through the school years, which is why it is measured yearly.

No. Book directly online or by phone. If your pediatrician or a school screening recommended the exam, bring the note; it tells the doctor what to look at first.

Usually it means a prescription or an alignment issue was found, and at one year both are very treatable. Depending on what it is, the plan may be glasses, patching the stronger eye for part of the day, a recheck in a few months, or a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist if it is surgical. The doctor explains exactly what was found and why the plan is what it is.

Often, yes, because drops that relax the focusing muscle give a reliable prescription in a child, whose eyes can otherwise compensate and hide farsightedness. You are told before the drops go in. Near vision is blurry and light feels bright for a few hours afterward, so bring sunglasses and plan a quiet afternoon.

Tell them the doctor has some looking games and will shine a small light in their eyes, and that nothing will hurt. Book at a time of day when they are rested and fed. Bring any glasses they wear and anything a teacher has mentioned. If you want the exam without drops on the first visit, say so when you book and the doctor will explain the trade-off.

Most vision plans cover one routine exam a year for each dependent and often a frame benefit for children’s glasses. A visit for a specific problem bills to medical insurance instead. Call (310) 305-2950 with your plan name and the front desk will tell you what applies.