Child short sighted

[user1475317873]

Hi

I took my children to the optometrist for an eye test; just for a check up not because I had any concerns, apart from mild strabismus for the 6 year old, who happens to be OK; however my 9 year old was found short sighted; I was not expecting it as she says she can see everything properly and does not have any problems at school and has never complain. The lady recommended glasses for school and to watch tv; she said the prescription is very low at the moment. DD does not want to wear glasses; can we wait for awhile? DH has the same problem and did not start wearing glasses until he was 16.

When will she be able to have laser surgery; I had lots of friends back home who have done it, also my sister and it has been great.

[Confutatis]

Maybe get a second opinion? I can see the issue from your DDs perspective; my DD hated wearing glasses and was glad to switch to lenses mid teens. Not sure i'd recommend laser for a 9 yo... But maybe check out DDs story - can she really see as well as she says? Play a game when you are next out - who can read that number plate over there? See if it is as good as she is prepared to let on.

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

if she's not very shortsighted then she probably is managing, big tv, sitting near the front at class, cribbing from child next to her
...it's a "small world" at that age on the whole.

Once she starts making her own way about, needing to see bus numbers...that sort of thing, sitting at individual desk, stuck at the back of class then she will struggle more.

I have shortsighted children and all claimed to to be "fine" at primary school and despite not much prescription change they are all full time spec/lens wearers now.

[IwillrunIwillfly]

I first got glasses when i was 10. If you'd asked me before i got them if i could see i would have said yes. But i still remember the feeling of getting them and beong able to see things i didnt know i was missing, like the le9aves in trees and detail on tv. Might be worth giving the glasses a go and seeing how she gets on?

[tygr]

I was adamant at 11 that I didn't need glasses and it was all a mistake and I could see perfectly well.

Couldn't believe it once I had them and could ACTUALLY see properly. Initially wore them in class only but very quickly realised it was so much easier to wear them all the time.

[user1475317873]

She definitely does not want to wear them and has been crying; the optemetrist said the prescription is very low at the moment and it is only for school and watching tv; she said she didn't need to get them straight away (perhaps give her some time to digest it); so I don't think is urgent.

Has anybody heard of iGo OVC night contact lenses? aparently they can stop the problem getting worse and are recommended for children over 7.

Laser surgery is not an option until she is 21.

[Ilovecaindingle]

I failed miserably at school due to my dm not enforcing glasses wearing. .
I remember sitting at the front and copying onto a desk by squinting and managing bits of the questions....

[tygr]

I was exactly the same. I was distraught, cried, raged, said it was all wrong, called the optometrist names, all sorts. I point blank refused to have them and my parents had to work really hard to persuade me to try.

Back in my day glasses weren't stylish and fashionable like they are now and there was a stigma attached to 'NHS specs'. She'll probably come round if she finds out they're helpful.

[booellesmum]

Hi. Do you know what the strength is?
If you have the paper they gave you it will say minus and then a number eg -0.50 or -1.00 etc.
Usually primary school kids get away with not using anything up to about -1.00 as they don't need to see so far away as older children who sit further from board or adults who need to drive.
If you let me know the strength

[booellesmum]

Oops!
If you let me know the strength will try and help more.

[MommyVan]

I will never forget, age 8, looking out of the optician's window wearing my new glasses. It was like seeing in colour for the first time. Before this I'm sure I thought I could see fine, but I had coping strategies - sitting near the front, checking what the kid next to me was writing, staying close to parents in a crowd etc etc...

I know a lot of kids with glasses and without exception they wear them without complaint, as they realise how much it helps them.

If the prescription is very low then I have some sympathy for your DD, however kids eyes change so much you would need to ensure regular check ups to ensure the eyes didn't worsen.

Good luck OP!

[user1475317873]

Right:

Sph Cyl Axis

• -
  

1 00 050 90

On the left:

Sph Cyl Axis

• -
  

075 025 90

What does this mean?

[user1475317873]

Right -100 (Sph) -050(Cyl) 90 (Axis)

Left: -0.75 (Sph) -025 (Cyl) 90 (Axis)

Thank you all. What will I do without mumsnet

[Ragwort]

I made enquiries about those night time lenses (for myself) and was advised strongly that they had not been thoroughly tested and were absolutely not recommended - I really wouldn't want a child of mine using them (decided not to use them myself).

[booellesmum]

Hi.
The sphere is the basic amount of shortsight.
The cylinder indicates how much astigmatism there is (if your eye is shaped like a rugby ball rather than a football) and the axis is the direction the rugby ball is pointing in.
Although there is not a huge amount of shortsight there this is a prescription I would recommend getting.
At 9 your DD will not need to wear them all the time but it will be useful to have them for if they are needed. She may find them useful if she is further away from the board at school, for cinema trips, trips to the zoo etc.
At the moment it would not do her any harm not to wear them but I would try them. As others have said she may think seeing the world more clearly in the distance is brilliant.
Shortsight does increase as the eyes grow, so the prescription will increase over time and she will eventually need them more.
It is impossible to predict how much her eyes will grow and over how long. ( A bit like trying to predict shoe size next year )
It is really important she has a check at least yearly to monitor the change in prescription and eye health.
Hope that helps a bit.

[booellesmum]

Also I would let the teacher know she is shortsighted so if she doesn't wear them at school they can look out for any signs of her struggling.
( I am an Orthoptist by the way!)

[unlucky83]

DD1 is extremely short sighted - I was asked to get her eyes tested by the school when she was 5-6 . She had already been for a test about 6 months before because I had realised in a certain font she couldn't tell the difference between h and b - and had been told she didn't need glasses then but probably would in the future.
As they grow they do get more short sighted - that 6 months at that age made the difference between being ok and needing glasses. They got progressively worse over the years - a new prescription every year if not every 6 months until she was 12 ish when it slowed down a bit. Now nearly 16 they haven't changed for 18 months.
She went through a stage before they got really bad of not wearing her glasses as often as she should but eventually she just appreciated it was easier for her when wearing them.
So in your case I would get some for her that she likes and just let her try them - no pressure - they are just there for if she feels she needs them and hopefully she will work out it is easier to wear them once she gets used to the idea...

Our opticians won't do contact lenses for children until they can be responsible for looking after them themselves.
So DD (who I now know has ADHD) was 11 nearly 12 when she got her first ones and even then we have had a bit of a battle with her wearing them too long, falling asleep in them, not changing dailies every day, not washing her hands before touching them etc. She went onto to monthly ones to try and force her to change them more but it became even worse. At one point they were saying they were going to stop her prescription as she was damaging her eyes.
She said she hated wearing glasses after having lenses - she couldn't see as well with them.
She now has super posh ones that allow more air through or something and can be worn day and night for a month but she has also got better at taking them out regularly -more or less every night now.
Luckily she has never had an infection but I think the last optician finally got through to her how serious one could be. Also she was referred to the eye hospital (not actually related to the lenses) -they thought she might be at risk of getting a detached retina. She is fine - but that freaked her out a bit too.

[user1475317873]

Thank you very much. This is very helpful.

We are going to wait a bit to get the glasses and get used to the idea first as it was really unexpected. She is not affected at school or falling behind; and if it was not because I wanted to test my youngest one, I probably would not have tested the oldest one and I would not have found out until she would have started noticing it.

[Scarydinosaurs]

The problem with not correcting it is that it will put strain upon her eyes for longer. Yes, it's only a tiny correction now- but that means she can have whatever frames she wants and they won't leave marks on her nose etc.

Is it to do with her self esteem and body image? I would try and work on that and address those issues.

[NicknameUsed]

I assume that you don't wear glasses or contact lenses. It is recommened that children with "normal" eyesight has their eyes tested every two years as problems can occur at any age. If you don't need any correction for your eyes it probably wouldn't have occurred to you to do so.

I am a little concerned that you come across as seeing the need to wear glasses as being a very negative thing, and I think your DD has picked up on it. The way you talk about contact lenses and laser eye surgery straight away is a bit of a giveaway.

I have worn glasses since age 9, OH wears glasses and DD has worn them since age 4. We see them as a normal thing. Quite a few of DD's friends also wear glasses. And it has not put DD off being popular with the boys (she is 16 now).

[Blossomdeary]

I started with glasses when I was about 6 - and I would have said that I could see OK. What a surprise when I got my glasses to find that trees have leaves!!! Little children do not know whether they are seeing properly because they think everyone else sees the world in the same way as they do - it is not until they get their glasses that they realise what they have been missing.

One of my own children wore glasses from age 1 and never had any problem with them - except that she kept losing them and breaking them! - well she was very small! She accepted them totally and never felt unhappy about them because we were very upbeat about them and always made sure that she had attractive fashionable ones. Glasses are quite a fashion statement among children now and I think that if you are positive about them then she will be too. I think you need to encourage her to see them as an asset - and look at some styles online and in shops - if she gets into the choosing she will probably come round.

[GraceGrape]

Why doesn't she want to wear glasses? My DD (now 6) has worn glasses since reception. There are at least 5 other children in the class who wear glasses. There really isn't any stigma attached to glasses wearing these days.

[user1475317873]

She does not want to wear glasses as she says nobody in her class does and she has not met other children who wear them; she has moved classes 3 times and has not came accross other children who have too wear glasses.

She will have to wear them though and I am sure she would get used to the idea. At the moment they are not urgent but I am sure she will have to wear them permanently when she is a teenager as my husband is severely short sighted and has wore them permanetly since he was 16. He said it is only the boys in his family who were affected so I wa not expecting it, speciallly so young.

I do not have a problem with people wearing glasses and barely notice it to be honest; however I rather she was not short sighted, as glasses are not that convenient for playing sports, swimming, skiing, snorkeling, etc. DH has to wear them even in the swimming pool and the sea (I have to be very close to him for him to see me properly without glasses) ; it is not that good for skiing either or cycling as they get fogged up.

So for those reasons I will definitely recommend her laser surgery if that's an option for her when she is old enough to have it. My sister had it 20 years ago and a few friends too and it has been great for them. Would you not prefer having your eyes seeing properly without having to wear glasses or contacts?

Thank you again for taking the time to reply.

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

laser surgery is not as simple as a one off zap= perfect eyesight forever. There are many and varied side effects.

With her prescription as it is, then it's really not a full time wear situation, so I would chivvy her into getting specs and suggest she wears them for cinema and pleases herself about it for school for now...just accepting specs and giving her control with some advice iyswim

There's not any particular set pattern, for prescriptions changing, but there are trends, so there can be rapid changes in prescription as children enter their early teens, some maybe later in adolescence, some may stick it out into late teens...some have a few big changes, some just change steadily

pretty much what booellesmum said really. :D

[Scarydinosaurs]

Her prescription is extremely low- there is absolutely no reason to think she will have to always wear glasses, you're catastrophising. I have -12 in both eyes and my opticians don't expect my children to follow suit.

The idea she has never met another child who wears glasses is a statistical improbability. I've never taught a class that didn't have someone in there with glasses- in more than ten years of teaching.

[NicknameUsed]

"The idea she has never met another child who wears glasses is a statistical improbability"

I bet there are children in her class that probably do need glasses but maybe haven't had their eyes tested. When DD started primary school there were two other girls in reception with glasses, and loads of girls at secondary who wear them.