It’s that time of year again! Children up to young adults all over the United States are about to head back to school or have just had their first few days of the new academic year. Now is the perfect time to have their eyes checked with a comprehensive eye exam.

Vision Changes

Children have a habit of growing, leading to new clothing and shoes, bigger bicycles and other sports equipment, and as their eyes grow, so too, will their vision needs. Some will outgrow needing glasses altogether; others will need them for the first time. But making sure they can accurately read and see the board and their environment is critical to their learning in the year ahead. As a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) study has shown, 80% of learning is visual, so it’s important to have a check-up to see if there’s been any change from previous years.

But growth isn’t the only thing that’s been happening that can change vision needs. Spending too much time on screens, whether phones, tablets, or computers, has been shown to affect vision. Myopia has been on the rise in children since the COVID pandemic hit in 2020 as kids ended up spending long hours with online learning.

Protection

Along with the new year comes the possibility of new sports! Making sure that children have proper eyewear protection is important to their overall chances of success at playing. The Boston Children’s Hospital says that over 40,000 sports-related eye injuries are reported each year to the eyeball and socket. Of those, 90% were preventable, had the injured child been wearing proper protection. The sports with the most eye-related injuries? Basketball and baseball. Whether your child needs corrective lenses, they need eye protection! All About Eyes has a selection of frames to choose from, so come see us for comprehensive eye exams and our selection of protective sports glasses.