Clear View

A special note from Dr. Martin...

Meet Jack.

I’d like to tell you about my son. Jack was born in 1998, and when he was 16 months old, I diagnosed him with Accommodative Esotropia, or focusing driven crossed eyes. Jack’s eyes were quickly straightened and began functioning as a team, by wearing his rather high far sighted prescription with a bifocal, and through Vision Therapy. But I began to wonder how many parents would have missed the same problem with their own kids, especially without the benefit of an eye doctor’s education.

Jack was lucky - - his problem was noticeable to a trained eye. Sadly, this isn’t the case with many eye and vision problems that can go undiagnosed.

Jack has a little sister now, and since these problems can run in families, you can be sure I am watching his little sister Sydney very closely! She had her first exam at 9 months old, as I recommend all parents arrange for their infants.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia is where one or both eyes have failed to develop normal quality vision (20/20 vision) where no disease is responsible. Common causes include strabismus (like Jack’s), Anisometropia, and undiagnosed high refractive errors (nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism). Amblyopia is treated without surgery, and is very successful if diagnosed and treated early.

Anisometropia

Anisometropia is defined as a marked difference in refractive error between the two eyes, which often will go completely unnoticed by both the patient and parent. As one eye is capable of providing useful vision, the brain uses the images from that eye and suppresses or ignores the blurred images from the weaker eye. This will lead to Amblyopia in all cases if not treated in a timely fashion, but can be readily treated without surgery once diagnosed.

Strabismus

Strabismus is defined as a deviation in the line of sight between the two eyes, commonly called "squint", "crossed eyes", or "wall eyed". While often cosmetically noticeable to a trained eye, small angle strabismus, cases where the deviation is large enough to cause a clinical problem but small enough to go undetected, are frequently seen in the pediatric population. While cases of strabismus sometimes require surgery to mechanically straighten the eyes, diagnosis and Vision Therapy is needed in all cases to assure clear, comfortable, functional binocular vision.

Take the steps you need to secure your child’s vision.

Modern technology makes it easier than ever to assess children for sight threatening problems. Call Clear View Vision Care today, and together, we can make sure your child gets the eye care he or she needs.