Aspirus Health Promotes Screenings During National Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month
8/7/2025
Dr. Charlie Ahrens, Aspirus Ophthalmologist
August is National
Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, and Aspirus Health is encouraging
families to prioritize their children’s vision as part of their overall health.
According to the CDC,
nearly 6.8 percent of children under 18 in the United States have a vision
condition, and about 3 percent have blindness or vision impairment.
Regular eye exams
can detect vision problems early, before children realize they have them. This
ensures that kids are set up for success in school, sports and daily life.
Aspirus Health providers recommend having a first eye exam between the ages of
four to five years old.
“If there haven’t
been any problems prior to that, the reason why we do that is a child’s
neurologic development is still progressing,” said Aspirus
Ophthalmologist Dr. Charlie Ahrens. “Especially within the visual system,
it gets locked in kind of at six, seven, eight years old, and so if we can
identify problems before then, we can have a chance to try to prevent some of
these problems. Ideally, I recommend seeing kids at about four or five years
old.”
Common vision
problems among children include nearsightedness, farsightedness and lazy eye.
Eye issues can also lead to difficulties at school, but parents and teachers
can help with recognizing symptoms.
“It is sometimes
challenging, but sometimes just seeing if the kid is not wanting to perform
certain visual tasks that other kids might be doing if they might be struggling
in class,” said Dr. Ahrens. “Sometimes that’s a good indicator that there might
be something wrong, and a lot of times we’re used as a tool to identify some of
those issues.”
Things to watch for
include children struggling to read, having problems at school, standing too
close to the TV, standing too far away, and turning their head or their eyes a
certain way when they are trying to do visual tasks.
To learn more about
the eye care options for kids and adults at Aspirus Health, visit slhduluth.com/services/eye-care/
or aspirus.org/eye-care-surgery.
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