CLINICAL

  PEDIATRICS

INFANTSEE UPDATE

WHAT EFFECT DOES INFANTSEE HAVE ON OPTOMETRISTS AND PATIENTS?

WHEN ANTHONY’S younger brother, Alexander, was born, his mother knew to keep a close watch on his eyes. Anthony presented to me at age four with deep anisometropic and microstrabismic amblyopia OD that took a great deal of work for him to achieve good visual results. So, when Alexander was six months old, even though his mother said she did not notice anything abnormal with his eyes or behavior, she brought him in for an InfantSEE assessment.

I diagnosed Alexander with brief, intermittent esotropia OS and mild astigmatism equal OU. I advised his mother that he would require monitoring, as I felt that prescribing anything at this point was premature. Thankfully, on subsequent visits Alexander’s alignment normalized without the need for active intervention. Now, at age three, his visual development is right on schedule. His mother is elated, as am I, with how well both boys are doing.

Here, I provide an overview of the InfantSEE program, how you can become a provider and how Anthony and Alexander are doing today.

INFANTSEE OVERVIEW

InfantSEE is a public health program overseen by Optometry Cares as part of the AOA Foundation. It was implemented 10 years ago to make eye and vision care an integral part of infant wellness. Specifically, infants between the ages of six and 12 months old are eligible for one free comprehensive eye exam by an optometrist who is an InfantSEE provider. Infantsee.org, the program’s website, provides a doctor locator to facilitate visits.

At the end of the patient encounter, the InfantSEE optometrist reports the results of the assessment. Information on more than 115,000 babies has been reported to date. Data for each of the 10 years consistently shows that 8% to 10% of infants have eye problems that require very close follow-up or immediate intervention. The most common conditions that require monitoring or early intervention are refractive error, amblyopia and strabismus. Observations about fixation, ocular motility and gaze patterns can play an important role in an infant’s future vision. In fact, it is now widely recognized that gaze aversion is one of the earliest signs that an infant may be at risk for developing autism.

In January, the AOA created the InfantSEE & Children’s Vision Committee to monitor and develop programs for children. The committee is in the process of preparing educational and informational tools for optometrists. These tools will be aligned with the pediatric guidelines set for release in 2016. In addition, the committee is looking at ways to promote the fact that comprehensive eye exams should occur before school age.

BECOMING A PROVIDER

To become an InfantSEE provider, simply visit infantsee.org, click on “Optometrists,” click on the “Sign up” button, and fill in the required fields. If you are a provider who signed on before April 1, 2015, you must re-contract by logging in at infantsee.org/x4695.xml in order to continue to be listed as an InfantSEE provider.

THE BOYS

Anthony and Alexander’s stories are two of several that illustrate the importance of infant vision exams and the profound affect O.D.s can have on infants as InfantSEE providers. OM

LEONARD J. PRESS O.D., F.A.A.O., F.C.O.V.D. is the optometric director of the Vision & Learning Center in Fair Lawn, N.J. He specializes in pediatric vision. Dr. Press completed his residency program in pediatric optometry at the Eye Institute of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, and he served as chief of the pediatric unit of the Eye Institute. In addition, he’s a Diplomate of the AAO and has written three textbooks encompassing pediatric optometry and is a Diplomate in the Pediatric Optometry/Binocular Vision and Perception section of the AAO. Email him at visionlecture@gmail.com, or visit tinyurl.com/OMcomment to comment on this article.