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Pediatric & Geriatric Care
The Alberta Government acknowledges the importance of yearly routine eye examinations for both senior citizens and children. Therefore, children up to and including 18 years of age and seniors including and over 65 years of age with valid Alberta Health Care, routine eye exams and other procedures are paid for.
Pediatric Eye Care 
A child's visual system develops rapidly in the early years of life. That is why it is very important to have your child's eyes examined at the first sign of any problem. An optometrist can screen your child for some visual defects as early as 6 months old. If there are signs of visual developmental delay or there is a family history of crossed or Lazy eyes (Amblyopic) the child’s vision should be checked in infancy. Early detection of these conditions greatly increases the chances that treatment will be successful and normal vision will develop. If there is no obvious abnormality or concern it is then recommended that all children have their vision checked by an Optometrist by the age of 3. Children should then be brought back yearly for routine exams.
Parents and teachers often have difficulty recognizing some visual problems because children don't necessarily know how or what they're supposed to be seeing, so it's unlikely they will clearly describe visual problems. A child who has never known normal vision or depth perception doesn't know what he or she is missing.
Geriatric Eye Care
Most people with serious eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration are seniors. The aging process can bring many changes that weaken the eyes. In many instances it is true that early detection and intervention of many common eye diseases can prevent extensive vision loss, especially for conditions without pain or other symptoms.
Often elderly people don't get their eyes checked often enough, so some conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration may go needlessly undetected. They're extremely common and don't cause pain. Seniors need to take care of vision problems before they worsen and cause serious damage and vision loss. Cataracts – a reason for foggy eyesight need to be monitored and most times eventually removed. Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration must be treated regulary and sometimes managed with prescription medications. Left untreated, these diseases often lead to blindness.
It is also very important for patients with diabetes or high blood pressure to include regular eye exams as part of their health maintenance regimen. Permanent eye damage from these diseases is progressive and painless, and can lead to blindness.
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