Children’s eye tests in Forest Lake
Eye tests are bulk billed to Medicare for anyone under 25. That includes the retinal imaging — the OCT scan and the widefield scan — which we do not charge for at any age under 25.
With a Medicare card, a full eye examination for your child costs you nothing at all.
Why children rarely tell you
A child who has never seen clearly has no idea anything is wrong. There is nothing to compare against. They assume the board is blurry for everyone, that everyone’s eyes ache after reading, that everyone loses their place on the page.
So they do not complain. They avoid.
What you may notice instead:
- Sitting very close to the television, or holding a screen close to the face
- Squinting, or tilting the head to one side to look at something
- Rubbing the eyes often, particularly after reading or homework
- Losing their place when reading, or using a finger to track
- Headaches, especially late in the school day
- Avoiding reading or close work, or tiring quickly at it
- One eye turning in or out, even occasionally
Any one of these is worth an appointment. So is none of them — a lot of what we find turns up in children whose parents had no particular concern.
A school screening is not an eye test
Vision screenings at school check a limited set of things, usually distance vision on a chart. They are useful and they catch some problems.
They do not measure how the eyes work together at reading distance, they do not assess focusing, and they do not examine the health of the eye. A child can pass a school screening comfortably and still have a problem that makes reading hard work.
What happens at the appointment
About 30 minutes, and no part of it requires your child to read if they cannot yet.
We check how clearly each eye sees, how the two work together, how well they focus and change focus, and the health of the eye itself — including the OCT and widefield scans.
Younger children are tested with picture charts, matching games and lights rather than letters. Nobody needs to know the alphabet to have their eyes examined properly.
Why we scan children’s eyes for free
A retinal scan taken at eight is worth a great deal at forty. It is the baseline every future scan is compared against, and it cannot be created retrospectively.
Charging for it would mean fewer children have one, which defeats the point. So we do not.
Glasses for children
If your child needs glasses, we stock Nifties — frames designed for how children actually treat glasses rather than how adults wish they would.
Frames start at $90 and we have HICAPS on site for health fund claims.
If your child is short-sighted
Short-sightedness in children is increasing, and a stronger prescription every year is not inevitable.
We offer myopia management — specialised spectacle lenses from Essilor, Zeiss and Hoya, and MiSight daily contact lenses from CooperVision — which aim to slow how quickly a child’s myopia progresses. That matters beyond lens thickness: higher myopia carries a higher lifetime risk of several serious eye conditions.
It works best started early, so if your child has recently been prescribed distance glasses, or their prescription has increased at consecutive visits, it is worth asking about.
Full detail on our myopia management page.
Booking
Book online at any time, or call (07) 3278 8300.
We are at Shop 15, 235 Forest Lake Boulevard, inside Forest Lake Shopping Centre. Thursday evenings until 7pm and Saturdays until 4:30pm suit school hours.