I received an email today from the American Optometric Association:

President Barack Obama signed into law a measure that provides nearly $600,000 in new federal resources to help expand the scope and impact of InfantSEE® – the signature public health program of the American Optometric  Association (AOA) and administered by Optometry’s CharityTM – The AOA Foundation.

The first direct appropriation, sponsored by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) totaled $500,000 and is aimed at supporting expansion and outreach of the program.

“Many parents of newborns do not know that the most dramatic development of a child’s visual system occurs within the first year of life,” said Sen. Byrd. “And it is through early detection and treatment of potential problems that parents can help ensure poor vision and eye health does not severely affect their child’s ability to learn and place them at a disadvantage in education and in life.”

The second direct appropriation totaling $90,000 was sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and will support program expansion through outreach in Iowa.

“InfantSEE® is doing much more than identifying and treating risk factors that may cause eye and vision problems later in the life,” said Sen. Harkin. “They are taking prevention to a new level to ensure healthier, thriving children and lower health care costs down the road.”

InfantSEE® assessments are complementary to the routine well-care exams a baby receives from a pediatrician or family physician. Optometrists have the training to identify areas of risk that are critical to vision development and the skills to identify conditions that might not be detected in a routine pediatric wellness exam. In some cases, conditions may need to be monitored, immediately treated or referred to a pediatric eye specialist.

At Bright Eyes, we believe in and support the InfantSEE® program. You can see this post where I discuss Nora’s first eye exam. I will probably do the same when Javier comes in for his exam when he is six months old. If you have a newborn or are expecting, remember that the InfantSEE® exam provides a no-cost vision assessment if your baby is between 6 and 12 months old.

Be well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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Like many Optometrists, I provide visual care to infants. I support the effort in Michigan to get the word out about this important program

“(Dr. Daniel) Mosser, Dr. Robert Barnett II, Dr. Carolyn Ormes and Dr. Barry Morrisson are Martinsburg-based optometrists who will be participating in the clinic program, which was set in motion after Gov. Joe Manchin declared May 4 through May 16 InfantSEE Week.

This week, more than 50 eye doctors statewide will be providing free comprehensive eye and vision assessments for babies between 6 and 12 months of age, by appointments only.

Br. Bonilla-Warford participates in InfantSEE. If you have a little one who is 6 to 12 months of age, bring her or him to Bright Eyes for a no-cost visual assessment. Because it is easier to prevent a visual problem than treat one!

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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My Colleague Dr. Dan Fortenbacher maintains a blog called EXCELerated Vision that contains lots of great information on vision and visual development.

Recently, there have been some very useful posts on Infant Vision. The first contains an audio interview with Dr. Andrea Thau, one of the founding members of the InfantSee program. She discusses the importance of infant vision examinations.

There are also recent posts that contain detailed list of ways to encourage proper visual development for babies 0 to 3 months and 4 to 8 months of age. If you have a little one in your life, I encourage you to check this out.

Recently, Johnson & Johnson held an innovative event called Camp Baby. They invited “mommy bloggers” (women who blog about their experiences raising children) for a series of lectures and events. The bloggers were under no obligation to write about their experience, but many did.

One of the featured speakers was Optometrist Scott Jens chairman of the InfantSee program that provides eye exams to infants at no charge. The recommended time for a first comprehensive eye exam for infants with no eye problems is between 6 and 12 months. If you care interested, you can read about my daughter’s InfantSee exam, that I performed when she was 7 months old.

Dr. Jens, who practices in Madison, WI, is a great speaker and many found his talk to be informative. Here is one review of Dr. Jens from Parentopia.net:

My personal favorite was learning about InfantSee with Dr. Scott Jens. This is a program supported by J&J which provides a free eye exam for all infants. Since my brother struggled horribly in school until they realized he was near sighted in one eye and far sighted in the other and simply couldn’t see what was going on in the world, I think this opportunity is something all parents should take advantage of! As a matter of fact, I have already made arrangements with Dr. Jens to get information about InfantSee into my community

Here are some other mommy blogs on the InfantSee program:

Cool Moms Rule!

Because I Said So

Midwestern Mommy

The MotherLoad

Socal Mom

If you have a baby between the ages of 6 and 12 months, the InfantSEE program will provide one evaluation at no change. Call the office or visit InfantSEE.org for more information.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

It is well known, and intuitive, that children and adults with strabismus (crossed or wandering eyes) have greater difficulty with self image and social situations than people with straight eyes. This is partially cosmetic and partially due to self-awareness that something is “wrong” with their vision. To assist people with strabismus, there are many resources including online support groups and a blog.

A related but different condition is amblyopia (lazy eye), that occurs when the vision doesn’t develop normally in one or both eyes and vision is not clear even with the best glasses or contacts. You can’t tell a person has amblyopia by looking at them – an eye doctor has to diagnosis it. There are also online support groups for amblyopia.

Research indicates that people with amblyopia are as likely to have social issues as those with strabismus, even though there is no cosmetic concern. The study found that “a significant number of patients felt that amblyopia interfered with school (52%) and work (48%) to some degree and were generally affected in their lifestyle (50%).” Additionally, sports job choices were affected.

The study concludes with ‘Psychosocial difficulties related to amblyopia affect individuals’ self-image, work, school, and friendships. Amblyopia has a significant effect on psychosocial functioning and warrants aggressive screening, prevention and treatment during the amblyogenic years.”

As I say frequently, it is much easier to prevent amblyopia than to treat it. And fortunately, amblyopia can be prevented. Early eye exams are critical for detecting and treating amblyopia. The first exam is recommended at six months of age. If all is well, the next exams should occur at age three and before school.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

My daughter’s name is Nora. She is, of course, adorable. And since I am an eye doctor, I have been watching with interest how her eyes and vision develop since she was just minutes old. First she opened her eyes. Then she got better at moving them (but not necessarily together.) Finally, she developed a wide-eyed inquisitive way of looking at things that has not faded.

Since before she was born, my wife Cristina and I have done our very best to take care of her and made sure that she received all the care and attention that she needed. We have a wonderful pediatrician who has seen her many times. Fortunately, Nora has always been healthy (except for that first ear infection). She is a happy baby girl and she appears to be growing fast without any problems. But there still are some aspects of her eyes and vision that have not been checked fully.

Nora recently turned 7 months old. That means it is time for her first comprehensive eye and vision assessment. For the average baby, all the visual skills should be significantly developed by six months old. The American Optometric Association recommends the first eye exam at six months of age, then at three years of age and every year while in school. So with the help of my father and Cristina, Nora received her first eye exam.

Like I do with all infants, I first checked that she can see well out of each eye. I then made sure her eyes are straight and not drifting inward or outward. I checked to see if her eyes can turn inward the proper amount when she looks at an object or toy up close. I shined some bright lights in her eyes to make sure that her pupils react properly to light. They did.

By using a special flashlight called a retinoscope, I was able to determine if Nora had any refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism). It turns out that she has a small amount of farsightedness, which is perfectly normal. Most commonly, the large amounts of refractive error that a baby may have tend to diminish over time (a process called emmetropization), but it is good to have a baseline measurement to see if the error is increasing, staying the same, or decreasing.

After I was convinced that Nora was seeing well and her eyes moved well for her age, it was time to check out the health of her eyes. I looked closely at all the parts of her eyes on the outside to make sure everything was healthy and working well. Then I sprayed eyedrops onto her eyes to enlarge her pupils to allow me to see inside. This is the same type of drop that we use for adults when we dilate their pupils, but the spray makes sure we get it in their tiny eyes without too much fuss.

The drops take 15 minutes or so to take effect, so we all went out in the waiting area. We passed the time by trying on some baby sunglasses, which were very cute on her. After the spray worked its magic, I had Cristina hold Nora and I examined very carefully all around the inside of Nora’s eye to make sure all the nerves, blood vessels, and other parts were healthy.

So now that Nora’s eyes have a clean bill of health, I don’t need to examine her again until she’s three years old. And, really, she did great. She a had a good time playing with the toys, and I can sleep at night knowing that she’s been thoroughly checked out.

If you have an infant at home between the ages of 6 and 12 months, the InfantSEE program will provide one evaluation like Nora’s at no change. Call the office or visit InfantSEE.org for more information.

Merry Christmas!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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