The first pediatric eye clinic is now in the mall. The Del Mundo Clinic has the country’s only UK- and Japan-trained and practicing pediatric optometrists/orthoptists — three pediatric optometry and orthoptic fellows and optometrists, one pediatric ophthalmologist, and five ophthalmologists — to serve the family’s eye care needs.
My family has benefited much from its services for years now, and it is finally more accessible to people.
Orthoptics is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of strabismus or misaligned eyes.
Aside from orthoptics, the Del Mundo clinic also specializes in treating headaches, because it has been found that people go directly to specialists when they have headaches. Dr. Cynthia del Mundo says there are many who never find a cure for their headache!
The clinic has since put in place a headache protocol, so that patients who complain of headaches first get a complete examination before they are referred to other doctors if needed. She assures that patients are headache-free when the clinic discharges them.
In 1997, the Del Mundo Clinic was the first to have a unit of Humphrey’s FDT Visual Field, an early detector of peripheral vision loss due to glaucoma and neurological causes. It is an instrument that gives important leads about the cause of a particular headache.
Three years ago, Dr. Del Mundo discovered my daughter Ella’s visual dyslexia. Visual dyslexia is a learning disability that is rooted in a visual processing disorder. Since they are the only center with the Dunlop test, a very important test in visual dyslexia, Ella’s ailment was given immediate cure, and today, her eyes are in perfect shape. She now enjoys 20/20 vision.
My daughter Hannah and I graced the clinic’s opening at the TriNoma Mall in Quezon City, and I had the chance to ask how different it is to treat children’s eyes. Here is what Dr. Del Mundo told me.
Pediatric eye care is vastly different from adult eye care in terms of:
• Size
Not only are the eyes of children smaller, the developmental characteristics result in unique sets of eye problems that have no parallel in adults.
For example, “lazy eyes” develop in early childhood and can be treated when the cause is corrected early enough. In adults, most cases of “lazy eyes” can no longer be treated.
Another example is the “overactive near-focusing mechanism,” which is known technically as accommodation. This is found only in children.
• Testing
Vision testing is also different. Even when the child is unable to respond, pediatric eye optometrists can determine a qualitative measure of the child’s visual acuity through various specialized charts and equipment.
• Refraction
Children cannot be refracted like adults because they tend to have pseudo-myopia or false nearsightedness, or pseudo-emmetropia, when in fact they really are far-sighted. So, just letting them wear prescription glasses without a complete pediatric eye examination is a dangerous thing. The eyes of children are first allowed to rest with the use of eye drops, so that the real grade of their eyes can be determined. Usually, it is less than what appears as their first eyeglass reading.
Other tests also need to be done, like the cover test, tests for accommodation, convergence and eye balance, and binocular vision. In the UK, at the age of three years, all children get a thorough eye exam from orthoptists.
Prescriptions glasses for children cannot be made by just letting the kids determine for themselves whether the lenses are clear or not. The response of most kids is unreliable, if ever they are able to volunteer a response. Thus, there is a need to examine them thoroughly before prescription glasses can be made for them.
If you are interested in having your children’s eyes tested, the Del Mundo Pediatric and Adult Eye Clinic is at the second floor of TriNoma Mall. It is also the first orthoptic center and headache referral center in the country. It specializes in pediatric eye care, orthoptics, headache, and visual dyslexia. For inquiries, call 901-5830.
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E-mail the author at mommytalk@businessworks.com.ph.