Every parent is concerned about their child's health; mindful of symptoms that they need attention which are not as obvious as a high fever, or perhaps rash; and persistent in making sure they have got the proper shots, and screening. For some reason, it's rare that it happens to a parent to seek a pediatric ophthalmologist. This is especially true for parents with more than one child. By the time I had my last child, I was pretty much resigned to the thought that as far as something washed off, rubbed off, or perhaps wore off eventually, whether it was tears, or just his brother's sudden urge to trim his hair, there was minor reason for intense concern over his health. As my youngest son grew older, I started out to observe some upsetting issues with what I presumed at the time was his incapacity to balance himself correctly. For example, for the first seven years of his life he refused to participate in any activity that required him to balance, including learning how to ride-on a bike, or skateboard. He gradually mastered the bicycle, so I chalked it up to the reality that he had severe ear problems until he was five years old, when tubes were inserted to reduce further infections. When he was nine, he was performing things that were somewhat more disturbing. He would run up to a number of stairs, and then constantly come to a dead stop before proceeding. Just weird little things like that started to add up to my suspicion that there was something really serious than a minor problem with his balance. After comprehensive tests to figure out that he was healthy in all other way, it finally occurred to me that he might have a problem with his eyesight. Occasionally a parent must follow the intuition that general screening has not exposed a health issue.

Pediatric ophthalmology is quite different from the procedure of a pediatric optometrist. Ophthalmologist versus optometrist is simple and easy. A pediatric ophthalmologist specializes in the eye disease, and surgical needs of young children, whilst a pediatric optometrist stresses the level of function of a child's eye-sight, and also any non-surgical corrective methods necessary (e.g glasses). My son had been screened by pediatric optometrists repeatedly, and no difficulty had ever presented itself. This might be one reason why it hadn't occurred to me that his problem was a problem with his sight, instead of damage to his capability to balance due to his ear disorders. I was blessed in that a friend of mine was a retired teacher, and had detected similar issues in other children. At her insistence, I looked for a pediatric ophthalmologist, and was also lucky enough to choose one that was ready to listen to my issues, and also pursue testing that another doctor might have refused as unnecessary. Dr. Wang, pediatric ophthalmologist, confirmed that my son had endured damage during birth, and had limited peripheral vision on the upper part of his right eye. Although he was describing the sensation of feeling as if he might fall, he was in fact just unable to see a slight portion of his surroundings, giving him an imperfect picture of how he could maintain his footing.

I think most of us think that any health problems of major concern will be common, and observable enough that we'll know the proper specialist required to address them. Seldom does an illness or disease create a nagging feeling, instead of a frantic trip to the doctor's office, or emergency room.

pediatric ophthalmologist