LOUISVILLE, Ky. – To help parents ready their children for the upcoming school year, the Pediatrics Eye Clinic at the University of Louisville will hold a back-to-school clinic for children from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Aug. 18. This special clinic will be held at the Kentucky Lions Eye Center (KLEC) location, 301 E. Muhammad Ali Blvd. at Floyd Street. Free parking is available in the KLEC parking lot next to the building.
Appointments can be made in advance by calling 502-852-7818. The Pediatric Eye Clinic at UofL sees patients from birth to age 18. Major forms of insurance are accepted.
“We know this time of year is extremely busy for parents, so we scheduled this Saturday clinic to give them more convenience in taking care of their children’s eye exam,” said Rahul Bhola, M.D., director of pediatric ophthalmology.
“All preschool children, even those without noticeable eye problems, should have at least one vision screening or comprehensive eye exam before the age of five,” Bhola said. “After age five, every child should have an annual eye exam, and conducting it prior to the start of the school year can help us discover and treat problems before they interfere with the child’s ability to learn.”
In Kentucky, 15-20 percent of children have some sort of vision problem, and most of these go undetected. Children with impaired vision often feel that this is the way they are supposed to see. It is thus important for parents and teachers to look for signs of visual impairment.
To help parents, Bhola offers eight signs that can signal a child has a vision problem: