Children's eye health

Our aim

All children to have a full sight test before they start school, between the ages of three and four.

Our call to action

We are calling on national health and care service providers to:

  • update all guidance across the UK to signpost parents/carers to their local optician’s practice as their first port of call for eye health services and advice
  • include advice in the personal child health records (the ‘red book’) about how and why parents/carers should take their child for regular sight tests (every one-two years) from the age of three to four years
  • use and promote campaign assets to their audiences, with the core message of the importance that all children have a full sight test before they start school

We are asking all optometrists, dispensing opticians, contact lens opticians and other optical professionals who work with children to: 

  • support and promote this campaign within their place of work
  • refresh their skills around working with children, if needed

One in five parents

Don't know that school vision screening are not the same as full sight tests

One in five of parents

Don’t consider children’s sight tests as very important health checks

One in 10 parents

Feel it’s only necessary to take children for sight tests if issues are flagged

Guidance for Professional Practice

Eye health report

The College of Optometrists, Association of British Dispensing Opticians and the OSA partner in new campaign to raise awareness of the importance of children’s eye tests and better signposting for parents to children’s eye care professionals on the High Street.

In the news

New research shows that only 30% of kids always wear sunglasses on sunny days and more than a third of parents believe a hat or cap offers the same protection as sunglasses.

Latest campaign

ABDO, Boots Opticians, the College and Specsavers have all come together to deliver a public awareness campaign on the importance of children receiving a full sight test before they start school, around three to four years old.

Clinical file

Clinical files: Is a 6-year-old child too young for contact lenses?

More on examining children

Amblyopia is a binocular disorder but all too often it is treated monocularly. Becky McCall asks if video game play offers a new way forward.

A glance at what’s happening in the world of technology.

A&E optometrists can see everything from DIY mishaps to domestic violence in a day's work, writes Steve Smethurst.

Here we summarise three research papers from a recent issue of Optometry in Practice.

Rima Evans speaks to the optometrists who have forged an academic career.

Papilloedema in its early stages isn’t always easy to spot – and the consequences of getting it wrong can be catastrophic. Steve Smethurst asks: how should optometrists approach diagnosis and referral?

As one of the UK’s foremost paediatric eye care researchers, Professor Kathryn Saunders FCOptom is leading practitioners in treating children.

Here we summarise three research papers from a recent issue of Optometry in Practice.

This article covers prescribing, fitting and dispensing myopia management soft contact lenses in children