A clear-sighted start to the school year at Cromwell’s Family Eyecare

August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month and that’s not the only reason that, along with new clothes and school supplies, getting an eye exam should be part of your child’s backto-school routine.

Dr. Todd Greene of Family Eyecare & Contact Lens Center in Cromwell would know. He’s been in the eye care business for upwards of 2 decades.

“There are things that could be going on with the eyes that parents aren’t aware of, the child isn’t aware of, even the pediatrician would have no idea about,” he said.

Greene recommends a comprehensive vision examination at age 2 or even younger.

“This is just to make sure they’re hitting the benchmarks, then you can figure unless something happens to the child, they can be fine until at least 5 or 6 and then start doing regular checkups.”

Another benefit to an early exam: “The sooner we find something, treat it, and manage it, the better off the child is in the long run,” Greene said.

That includes conditions like nearsightedness, farsightedness, nearsightedness, and color blindness.

“When these issues are diagnosed at an early age, treatment is more effective and long-term problems are less likely to be severe,” he said.

That’s particularly true of lazy eye, a condition that occurs when the vision of the child’s eye doesn’t develop as it should, and the leading cause of vision problems among children.

“If lazy eye is detected early in life and promptly treated, reduced vision can be avoided and we can give the child the best possible chance for healthy sight,” Greene said.

“Untreated, lazy eye can cause permanent loss of vision in the affected eye.” It’s also a condition that’s notoriously hard to detect until it becomes severe.

“When you go to the pediatrician, they’re going to look at the eyes to make sure they appear healthy, but it’s certainly not their specialty,” Greene said. “Those charts on the wall don’t tell them much about the function health of the eye.”

There’s another reason for an initial early eye exam that Greene himself discovered while watching a Red Sox game with his young nephew. He kept squinting to see the score on the screen.

“Kids don’t often complain about their vision,” said Greene. “They’ll complain their head hurts, their stomach hurts, but they have no idea about the way they’re supposed to see, all they know is the way they see.”

Recently, another issue, the effects of prolonged blue light exposure from computer screens and digital devices on children’s vision, has come to the fore. “During their youngest years, blue light can travel right past the cornea and directly hit the retina much more easily than when kids’ eyes have fully developed,” he said. “It can cause digital eyestrain and headaches, and affect sleep patterns, and if anyone needs sleep, it’s a student.”

For Greene, it’s quite simple. “We want to make sure someone is watching out for these issues,” he said. “Most kids may be fine but you want to be able to catch these things as soon as you can.”

The best news is the hip factor in childrens’ eyewear. “Glasses are no longer these thick, clunky, purely functional things,” he said. “They’re geared to be more trendy and fun and cool with lighter weight materials that make them more comfortable to wear.”

In the end, there’s nothing blurry about it. Good eyesight is an important key to learning, to performing well in school and, ultimately, to future success.

And, as Dr. Greene put it, “that’s good for the whole family.”

For more information on Family Eyecare & Contact Lens Center, 160 West St., Suite J, Cromwell, call (860) 635-6149 or go online to www.2020familyeyecare.com.

Don’t miss their Back to School Sale! 25% off all prescription glasses. Sale ends 9/30/19.

An optometrist for almost two decades, Dr. Todd Greene considers patient care to be the most important aspect of his practice at Family Eyecare in Cromwell.