West Sussex optician urges parents to check children's eyes - as 1 in 10 dodge regular vision testing
Henning Tonsgaard says avoiding the opticians can lead to long term health problems
A West Sussex optometrist's been telling us about the impact avoiding regular eye check ups can have on our children - as it's revealed many skip routine testing.
It's a new Children's Eye Health Report shows 1 in 10 parents wait until there's a problem before visiting an optician.
The data, commissioned by the College of Optometrists, the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, and the Optical Suppliers Association also noted a further 18% waiting until their child's fifth birthday before booking their first appointment.
General advice states children should be visiting their optician bi-annually from the age of three.
Henning Tonsgaard, who is an optician at Walsh and Bridles in Bognor Regis said regular appointments are crucial in protecting from longer-term damage:
"The big difference between two eyes can be masked because one eye will compensate for the other one.
"Therefore, its performance looks okay.
"The problem with that is that it can slow down the visual development of the child.
"That can lead to lazy eye later on which is effectively that one eye is underperforming.
"When you reach a certain age, usually somewhere around 11 or 12, that cannot be restored.
"So for the rest of your life, you will have an eye that is under-performing, no matter what kind of glasses you get."
He added that although rare, it's important any eye diseases are caught early on:
"When they're there they can have a huge impact again on the visual development, but also diseases that can spread to the rest of the body, like tumours, high pressures, and cataracts."