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AIBU?

To be worried about dd's glasses prescription

43 replies

Justalittlelemondrizzle · 15/10/2016 19:30

Ok so i'm clearly posting here for traffic as im so confused. I've also posted this in children's health but it's very quiet.

Any opticians or knowledgeable parents around?
My dd(9) has just been for her annual eye test and her prescription has gone up yet again. I was wondering if anyone could explain it to me as all I know is it's quite high.

(R) Sph: +5.00 Cyl: 0.75 Axis: 10.0
(L) Sph: +5.25 Cyl: 1.75 Axis: 145.0

I'm worried the prescription will keep increasing every year as that is what seems to be happening. Two years ago when she was still attending the child eye clinic her prescription was only +3.25!
Then last year at the first test at the Optician it shot up to +4.75 +5ish and now it's gone up again.
I asked the Optician after the appointment today and he was just very passive about it.

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PickAChew · 15/10/2016 19:33

Yes, it can change a lot, as they grow. Ds2's kept going up, but the last one went down, which was a relief as even thinned lenses were getting like pebbles.

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Justalittlelemondrizzle · 15/10/2016 19:36

I've paid to have her lenses thinned this time. They recommended it due to the glasses she chose. I really hope your right and it doesn't get any higher than this.Confused

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MyGiddyUncle · 15/10/2016 19:36

I don't think it's too concerning...i'm assuming the + is longsighted (no idea what the other stuff means).

When I was diagnosed as needing glasses at age 7, I was a -3.5 (shortsighted). By the time I was 11 I was -10.5 (very, very poor sight, think not being able to safely cross the room).

It stopped there, until I was 25. I noticed my sight had changed and I'd gone up to -11.00. I freaked out because I thought my sight was about to deteriorate but it hasn't changed since and i'm still -11.00 at age 30.

I wear Night and Day contact lenses which you leave in for a month. I pay a fortune for glasses to have them slimmed down, or the glass is like bottle tops. Other than that, it doesn't affect my life at all.

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RaspberryOverloadTheFirst · 15/10/2016 19:41

My prescription changed pretty much every time when I was growing. Mostly worse, but occasionally it went the other way.

I'm currently around the -10 point. High, yes, but the prescription largly settled down and remained consistent for many years. It's only now I'm 48 that I've had to have varifocals.

Perhaps when she's a little older, your DD could have contact lenses? My DD has had them since she was 13.

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dementedpixie · 15/10/2016 19:44

Long sight tends to improve as they get older. Maybe she wasn't given the full prescription in previous years. When did she start wearing glasses?

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dementedpixie · 15/10/2016 19:46

P.s. your dd has a similar prescription to my dd but hers has improved very slightly over the last few years. She started wearing glasses at 18 months old and is now nearly 13

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Justalittlelemondrizzle · 15/10/2016 19:47

She started wearing glasses at 2.5yrs. She had a noticeable squint which alerted us to her needing glasses. Squint has virtually disappeared after years of patching.

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TheSconeOfStone · 15/10/2016 19:48

My DD has a + 2.5 and a + 6 (and a squint when not wearing glasses). Hasn't changed significantly in the 3 years since she started wearing glasses at age 3.

Her lenses have always been thinned. I never knew they did it until a pair was sent to the dispensary that hadn't been and they showed them to me. The dispensary requested a thinned pair as they feel it is unfair to expect her to wear huge thick lenses. This is at the eye hospital so less choice of frames but they are perfectly nice and always light weight and an excellent fit. I work 2 minutes away which is perfect for frequent running repairs

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PurpleAlerts · 15/10/2016 19:50

My DD had +5.5 in her worse eye when she was 2 and a half! Also had a lazy eye and quite a significant astigmatism.
This kept going up until it hit +7.5 at the age of 4. We too had to pay to have the lenses thinned out.
Her prescription stabilised then started to come back down when she was about 7.

Now aged 18 her prescription is now just +0.5 and is even in both eyes and no astigmatism.

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TondelayaDellaVentamiglia · 15/10/2016 19:52

is the cyl + or - ?....there's two ways of writing a prescription

As children get more familiar with the eye exam, and more confident you tend to find the prescription can change as the exam can be fine tuned more accurately

Also as dementedpixie says often the full prescription is not given at first

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booellesmum · 15/10/2016 19:53

Hiya,
I am an Orthoptist. Longsighted eyes are eyes that are relatively small - this gives a + prescription.
Shortsighted eyes are relatively big - this gives a - prescription.
As children grow their eyes may also grow.This is why shortsight increases.
However, your child is Longsighted.
As your eyes cannot shrink you cannot get more Longsighted as a child. The normal progression would be for Longsight to reduce slightly over time.
Sometimes prescriptions for Longsight do go up if the full prescription wasn't given initially to "ease" the child into glasses.
This is common with small children, but very uncommon with an older child.
If Longsight is overcorrected, for example you are +4.00 but given a +5.00 this will cause blurring in the distance.
I think you really need to speak to your optometrist about why they have increased the prescription. If you are not happy please get a second opinion or ask your GP to refer back to the hospital Orthoptic department.
Any questions please ask!

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MyGiddyUncle · 15/10/2016 19:55

booellesmum, I thought eyeballs stayed the same size your whole life?

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booellesmum · 15/10/2016 19:58

When you are born your eyes are approximately 1/3 adult size. They do grow. The natural growth is why some people see fine as a child but then become shortsighted later in their teens or twenties.
It is possible to need glasses for Longsight as a child, grow out of it and not need glasses, then continue to grow and become shortsighted and need glasses again.

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Rollergirl1 · 15/10/2016 20:01

Hi OP. My DD is also 9. She was seeing an eye specialist at hospital rather than the optician because her prescription was changing every 3 months. She also has a squint in one eye. We were told that rapid deterioration was not unusual while she is this age as she is still growing. It will settle down. She has been signed off by the hospital now.

Most recently (in one eye) her prescription has gone from 3.75 to 5.25 which is a significant deterioration. I am hoping it will settle down.

DD's optician told us about a new treatment called Ortho K. It is basically using hard gas permeable contact lenses overnight only. They reshape the eye and correct the vision for the next 24 hours. There is also some evidence that if used when young enough it will prevent further deterioration. It is very expensive and only select practitioners offer it but it might be worth you considering.

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JinkxMonsoon · 15/10/2016 20:03

I'm longsighted and as a child, my prescription was 4 (or perhaps more) and these days it's +2.5.

Prescriptions do change all the time. Mine is always slightly different every time I have a test (I also have an astigmatism and this always seems to change fractionally).

So don't worry about it Smile Her prescription isn't going to get higher and higher all her life.

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Corneliussnitch · 15/10/2016 20:06

I'm another orthoptist and have already answered on your other thread. Your eyes do grow and as boelle said you tend to bcome less longsighted as the eye grows. Longsighted children are often deliberately undercorrected when young if they do not have an associated squint. Children have very good focussing( accommodation) and overcome any long-sight not corrected by their glasses by doing some extra focussing themselves

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Corneliussnitch · 15/10/2016 20:08

Rollergirl the lenses you are talking about are only used for myopia(shortsight), and are not suitable for longsight

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Rollergirl1 · 15/10/2016 20:13

Cornelius: Oh right. Sorry OP. Blush

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nicky2512 · 15/10/2016 20:13

ds (nearly 11) has started to improve now. Up to this year prescription increased every year and we have been getting lenses thinned too. Don't know the figures but there was a significant improvement this year.

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booellesmum · 15/10/2016 20:14

Sometimes a Longsighted prescription will be deliberately undercorrected if the child has a divergent squint - an eye that drifts outwards. Giving the full prescription would increase the drift out. This would be a reason for an older child being given a reduced prescription if the hospital was managing the squint.

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booellesmum · 15/10/2016 20:19

Corneliussnitch - nice to see a fellow Orthoptist on here, there aren't that many of us!

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Corneliussnitch · 15/10/2016 20:28

Boellesmum , hello rarely meet another one outside of work

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ClaudiaJean2016 · 15/10/2016 20:32

So what if the prescription does increase? It has to go very very high before glasses or contacts or a combination of both can't correct it. Loads of people are short or long sighted. I think it's more common than having 20/20 vision.

For what it's worth; my prescription increased noticeably every year until I was in my late 20s and since then has gone up maybe 0.05 every two or three years. I wear contacts or glasses and my prescription doesn't affect my life at all. Putting contacts in is like the same thing as brushing my teeth in the morning, just an everyday fact of life. I doubt your daughters prescription will bother her.

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Justalittlelemondrizzle · 15/10/2016 20:34

That does make sense as up until she was 7 they were focusing on improving the squint. Her long sightedness was obviously always worse than they said.
Would you say a +5.00 & +5.25 is very strong?

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booellesmum · 15/10/2016 20:36

OP - just wondering if the cylinder (second number) is minus or plus?
R +5.00/-0.75x10
L +5.25/-1.75x145
is exactly the same prescription as:
R +4.25/+0.75x100
L +3.50/+1.75x55
If they have changed from writing a plus cyl on one prescription to a minus cyl on the next this would make it look like the prescription has changed more than it actually has.

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