How often do you take DC for eye test?

[WaterBottle123]

Took DD1 today, she's 10 and we hadn't been since 2018, got slightly told off by optician, even though DD1 has perfect sight.

Bumped into friend afterwards who said none of her DC had ever been.

Curious what's normal? And if you don't visit the optician do you also not visit dentist?

I think it is because it doesn't occur to adults who don't need to wear glasses or contact lenses that their children need eye tests

But loads of people on here have said they've never had an eye test either so they don't know if they need glasses or not 🤷🏻‍♀️

Specsavers say first appointment should be from 3 years 6 months, unless you’ve identified a possible problem in smaller baby / toddler.

Of course opticians tell you to go more often. It's like the dental hygienist who told me off the other day and said I should go every 4 months. I was like "eh? I came didn't I?" They are focussed on their speciality and they think it's the most important thing. And they tell off the people who actually turn up because they don't have access to all the people that don't ever go.

Yay Tigerbread!

DD is ten and first time was when she was nine. She complained of eye discomfort. She got some glasses for switching between close and distance reading and has been fine. We weren't told off either!

Spoke about this thread with DH. He genuinely would never have visited an optician to get his eyes checked until he met me. I have been wearing glasses for years (long before meeting him!). He said it just wouldn't occur to him to visit for an eye test as his eyesight is fine. At aged 48 he has only just been prescribed glasses for reading. He didn't think of eye health in general, only the glasses aspect just like many others on this thread.

Yes opticians can pick up eye defects that need referral but these must be vanishingly rare. Far more likely they will prescribe glasses etc which if there is an issue sure my kids would tell me about.

It really isn't vanishingly rare! And children don't always know if their sight isn't what it should be because they have nothing to compare it with,they don't know how far they should be able to see,that things should be single not double etc etc.And if it's only one eye affected...
You could rule a lot of problems out by asking the right questions,but if you are going to try to do an improvised sight test at home why not let a fully trained person who knows which questions to ask do it,and for free?!

@NoGoodPunsLeft

I think it is because it doesn't occur to adults who don't need to wear glasses or contact lenses that their children need eye tests

But loads of people on here have said they've never had an eye test either so they don't know if they need glasses or not 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yes, you are right @NoGoodPunsLeft. I think I wrote that in an earlier post.

Some conditions skip a generation.

@BluebellsGreenbells

I think this thread is testament to poor health promotion in the uk around sight

Why not take responsibility for yourself and your children?

My children have had yearly eye tests since they started school.

But I thought rather than being really judgemental I would comment on societal awareness. Which based on this thread is poor.

Given some of the responses on this thread, I really feel that there needs to be an educational campaign to all parents about the importance of eye tests.

Exactly

Agree wrt the campaign. I'd never have guessed it would be necesary without this thread. We all have blindspots and I guess withoit collated data "they" maynotnbe aware how many children are slipping through the net.

Just thought I’d bump this to say I took DC for an eye test today and his eyesight was perfect! Glad we went though and I’ll take him again in a couple of years as he really enjoyed it! 🤣

Fsmtastic :)

DC go annually since age 3. It’s free and part of the routine. DS14 started with glasses at 10, now wears contact lenses. DS12 still perfect vision. Really important for school, and brilliant choice of frames nowadays .

Back in the 80s I lied about my sight at school (memorised the eye chart, sat right next to the blackboard in class) and did not get glasses until I was 11 when I really needed them a few years earlier. It was amazing to see the stars in the sky, not just fuzzy boobs

Boobs Blobs

Been thinking about this thread....
Can I ask has anyone received any eye health promotion for themselves or their dc.....ever?
My dds are 8 and 11. I knew about the yearly tests because I work with fostered children and it's a statutory expectation for them to be taken and I did the job before I was a parent so....

Otherwise I've had nothing - not a leaflet in the school bag or a poster....nothing.

I'm pretty sure that when mine had their eye tests by the school nurse when they started school the result slip suggested it. I go regularly myself but I might not have know what age to start taking them otherwise.

School asked before they started if they’d ever had their eyes tested, in our case the answer was yes but they said it’s recommended before they start

Agree that it's so important to get children checked around the age of 4/5.

DD ia short-sighted and has worn glasses since she was two (got a referral to hospital as she was falling over a lot and I have terrible eyesight). She's now nearly five and still has check-ups at the hospital every few months, will likely get discharged to optician soon.

Part of the reason I was so on the ball (falling over was her only 'symptom' and could have easily been explained by toddler clumsiness) is because young children really cannot tell you if their eyesight is bad, they just don't know any different.

I was deemed as 'fine' by the school nurse when I had the eyesight check at school. My parents eventually took me to the optician at six and my eyesight was already - 6!!!

I have absolutely no idea how I managed to function! But I did and I don't remember ever complaining about not being able to see.

Otherwise I've had nothing - not a leaflet in the school bag or a poster....nothing

Why is it the schools responsibility? Why not the doctor/health visitor/ hospital or other medical professional?

Children need eye tests, mine were 2/3 sort of age when the first went, I didn’t need school to tell me to take them.

School have enough to do.

Our story was at 7 my famiky was having a competition st the beach to read numbers on the boats.

My comment was "what boats?"

I read ever so well (we would say hyperlexic now. Lord or the Rings in infants) But what they'd missed was that I was reading in bed riģht next to my face...
Mum had even had some disagreements with school as they hadn't thought I could read as well as I could and didn't believe what I was reading at home. Turns out I couldn't always see it at school...

I vaguely remember a dental assistamt coming to preschool and talking about brushing teeth and giving them a tooth brush chart - a similar visit from opticians would be great but who would fund it?

@BluebellsGreenbells

Otherwise I've had nothing - not a leaflet in the school bag or a poster....nothing

Why is it the schools responsibility? Why not the doctor/health visitor/ hospital or other medical professional?

Children need eye tests, mine were 2/3 sort of age when the first went, I didn’t need school to tell me to take them.

School have enough to do.

Jesus.

Health promotion in the uk is a funded government thing.

I personally don't need school to remind me about eye health. However based on this thread the general awareness about when one should take children and adults to eye tests is patchy.
Preventative health care is a cost effective approach.