Preparing children for visits

Optician: What advice should practitioners follow when seeing child patients during the pandemic?

Daniel Hardiman-McCartney: Children should be seen with the same priority as adults according to the College’s recovery phase guidance table. Where there is a concern regarding strabismus, these patients should be prioritised. It is important to remember that symptoms of strabismus or amblyopia should be regarded as an essential need and a sight test should be arranged, even during a local lockdown.

Timely correction is essential and primary care optometry is well-placed to help all symptomatic children during this pandemic. Cycloplegic refractions should take place as normal. Accommodative esotropia is a good example of a common condition that can be well-managed following a cycloplegic refraction by spectacle correction.