Understanding the Types of Diabetes
Diabetes isn’t a single condition; it’s an umbrella term that includes four distinct types of the disease, and each is treated differently. Here’s what you need to know about your type of diabetes.
There’s so much to keep track of with your child’s health, and it’s hard to remember the schedules for each type of check-up. From developmental checks, well-child visits, and immunizations to sports physicals and sick visits, it’s tricky to keep up with all the requirements.
At Redwood Family Health Center, now part of the Metroplex Medical Centres in McKinney and Farmers Ranch, Texas, we do our best to simplify the process for you and take the stress out of scheduling your child’s appointments.
Dr. Venkata Vallury and Dr. Visalakshi Vallury offer comprehensive pediatric services and love caring for your precious little one. Whether they’re sick or injured, or you have concerns about their physical or mental health, we’re here for you.
We also provide routine vision screenings to monitor your child’s eye health as they grow. Parents often ask us how often their child needs an eye exam, so we’ve put together this brief guide to help you plan your visits.
Drs. Vallury and Vallury provide overall care for our youngest patients and ensure they’re healthy from head to toe, which includes their eyes. To that end, we offer regular vision screenings, which aren’t the same as eye exams. Here’s the difference.
A vision screening is a basic check of your child’s eye health that we perform at each well-child visit. (See our recommended schedule here.) During this check-up, we test your child’s visual acuity, how well they identify shapes and letters, and how they see at a distance and up close.
We also look into their eyes with a small light to check their pupil reaction and to identify any anomalies. If we find something concerning about your child’s eyes or visual acuity, we refer you to a trusted optometrist.
Optometrists perform eye exams, which are more detailed than vision screenings, and they use sophisticated equipment to detect existing and future eye diseases. An eye exam tests for eye strength/weakness, convergence insufficiency (when eyes don’t work together), crossed eyes, eye pressure, color vision, and ocular alignment, among other factors.
Some eye problems are temporary and will correct themselves as your child grows. Some are related to fatigue or too much screen time, and others indicate more serious conditions. Here are some signs that you should bring your child in so we can examine their eyes. They might:
After a thorough exam, we can let you know whether the issue stems from something physical or developmental, or we refer you to an optometrist for further testing.
The most common eye conditions in children are:
Most of these issues are easily treated with corrective lenses, medication, or therapy. To learn more about pediatric vision screenings and our full lineup of pediatric services, contact us online or by phone and schedule a consultation with one of our child health care experts at Redwood Family Health Center.
