InfantSEE is a free service that examines the eye health of infants

December 28, 2009

Though many new parents are concerned with making sure that their infant is scheduled for regular check-ups and properly immunized, they might not know that the American Optometric Association (AOA) recommends a thorough eye exam for babies between six and 12 months of age.

However, as the unemployment rate has risen, so has the amount of uninsured families. Parents who do not have the resources to visit a traditional optometrist's office can look into services provided by the InfantSEE program.

The initiative, which is the result of a partnership between the AOA and The Vision Care Institute of Johnson & Johnson Vision, was developed to encourage parents to tend to the eye health of their children, and provides services free of charge, according to the DothanEagle.com.

Nearly 7,600 optometrists across the country participate in InfantSEE.
The volunteers use infant-specific techniques to examine each baby's vision and to check for conditions like "lazy eye" or crossed eyes.

"A lot of the problems, the parents aren't going to recognize," Dr Bryan Brown of InfantSEE told the news source. "Particularly if it's just one eye."