Ensuring Your Kids' Healthy Eyes

Good vision is as essential to learning as the ABCs. Unfortunately, many children only undergo simple vision screenings, which can detect problems related to distance eyesight, but it can miss other critical vision deficiencies that may impact a child's eye health, development, and learning.

Comprehensive eye exams, like those offered by independent, licensed optometrists, measure a number of visual skills that may be critical to a child's proper vision.

The following warning signs may indicate a child is having problems seeing:

• Holding books and objects close to the face
• One or both eyes turned in or out
• Red or tearing eyes
• Rubbing eyes repeatedly
• Squinting, closing or covering one eye
• Tilting the head to one side

Some Common Vision Problems in Children include:

• Amblyopia (lazy eye) occurs when vision in one of the eyes is reduced because the eye and the brain are not working together properly.
• Astigmatism is a very common vision problem caused by an irregularly shaped cornea. Blurred vision at all distances is the most significant indicator.
• Strabismus is when eyes are turned in, turned out or not working together as a team.
• Myopia (nearsightedness) causes children to see close objects more clearly than distant ones.
• Hyperopia (farsightedness) causes children to see distant objects more clearly than closer ones. Some children are born with hyperopia, but can outgrow it as their eyes develop.

Questions about eye conditions, vision care and eye health? Visit your local Walmart Vision Center.

Walmart thanks our partner, The Vision Council and their report, Making the Grade? for the content of this page.