Article 51: Back to School Eye Exam?

Welcome to another eyecare insights with Dr. Kyle Tate your eye Dr. near me.

Well ladies and gentlemen it is that time year again in the back-to-school rush is on. Every year it surprises me how schools get out and everybody rushes around on vacation in early June. In the second half of June is for financially recovering. Then we all have a good time outside of the Fourth of July and wake up the next day realizing that school starts and barely a month. In the eyecare industry this is one of the busiest times of year. So I want to take a few minutes and review certain things about kids eye exams and to give you an better understanding why eye doctors are booked up for 1 to 2 months every August. Remember at insight eyecare we have locations in both the Jenks and Glenpool to deliver state-of-the-art eyecare. If you are looking for an eye Dr. near me then we are the right place for you because we do all sorts of eye exams. Even though we are disease specialists we do many infant eye exams, baby eye exams, children’s eye exams, adolescent eye exams, teenager eye exams, in fact we do eye exams for all ages at insight eyecare.

So let me take a minute and give you a better understanding of why doctors offices are booked out for weeks and weeks at a time. In healthcare, these days insurances are paying less and less for things such as exams, tests, surgeries, eyeglasses, and contacts. This causes doctors and practice managers to have to book schedules heavier and heavier. It becomes costly having too many open appointments in a schedule book just hoping they will fill. Insurance have caused us to have many more staff available. In fact the amount of administrative time to perform an exam across the entire medical industry has tripled in the last 20 years. What is that mean? That means that for every exam there has to be three times as many non-Dr. workers to help complete that. Sounds crazy doesn’t it, however when you think about having a billing specialist in accounts receivable specialists and relying more on technicians and nurses and assistants and having to have staff to work on prior authorizations and specialized testing it gets complicated very fast. In order to pay those people’s salaries and keep them employed we have to have a reliable almost full schedule constantly so now when a new patient or someone who did not keep their pre-appointed eye exam calls and we don’t have as many spaces available to put them in. When you’re on the phone that may seem like a real turnoff however if you spend a minute thinking about it do you want to go to a doctor who’s been in practice for 30 years but does not have a full schedule? You probably would prefer to go to a doctor who everybody wants to go see in their schedule is full with a waitlist. So in fact doctors offices being booked is a sign of a healthy and better clinic. Don’t forget to look at things like Google reviews and leave positive reviews for places you like. To be honest the best time to get your kids in for back-to-school eye exam is actually before the Fourth of July or early July.

The back-to-school rush is one of the busiest times of year. People are looking for an eye Dr. near me, a dentist, shopping for close, shopping for school supplies, and trying to spend time with their kids before they’re back in school. That busyness is no different at the eye Dr. Our average age of exam usually cuts in half at that time and many of our older patients if possible we will book away from that time to allow people trying to get their kids checked before school starts. It does not help the matter that schools are so strict on number of days missed even though it is with an eye Dr. Remember kids do not notice blurry vision like an adult does. Kids rarely complain of blurry vision and when they do it’s usually to a point that they just cannot function anymore. Blurry vision such as only able to read 20/40 will not cause a child to complain but an adult will complain much before then and do something about it. Kids also don’t complain much when their eyes are itching. We see lots of allergies going into the fall and the kids never say anything to their parents. We also see lots of headaches of the kids have not discussed with her parents but then when they’re in an exam they talk about it. Believe it or not we have many parents the come in and see their kids cannot read the eye chart and they believe there kids are faking blurry vision. It’s surprising to know that the eye Dr. has tools and tricks that do not use any type of feedback, hints weekend measure a glasses prescription without the risk of someone faking it. Most the time kids are very cooperative and helpful in an eye exam. The only time it’s truly hard to get an eye exam on kids is from about 1 to 3 years old because at that age kids are scared of anything new and usually when they go to the doctor half the time they’ve been getting shot, they don’t understand and are not willing to find out how the eye doctor is different.

So was the moral of the story? Kids need their eyes checked routinely. If their parents wear glasses they probably need their eyes checked every year. There are many different methods for performing eye exams on children. The important thing is a just book the appointment. Do not wait until the last minute to book your back-to-school eye exam. Remember when you’re searching and eye Dr. near me you need to find one that not just will see kids but does it on a regular basis and enjoys them. At insight eyecare we got lots of tools to help us get good data and measurements on children. Please schedule your back-to-school eye exams at your eye Dr. near me so that your kids are given all the tools they need to succeed in school and in life. Come see us at insight eyecare come be a part of our mission improving every life in every encounter.

God bless have a great day!

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Scroll to Top