Just been told dd needs glasses. AIBU to be quite gutted, and also a bit confused actually?

[PopBiscuits]

dd is 7.5

Just been for her first eye test with absolutely no expectations of finding any problems.

I was gobsmacked to see her struggling to read the 3rd or 4th line of the chart with her right eye.

With her left, she read all the way to the bottom, no problems.

Optician has recommended that she wear glasses full time for 6 months in the hope that her right eye improves.

She is devastated about this, and therefore so am I, IYSWIM?

Also, am confused as optician said that if there is no improvement after 6 months then we can give up and not bother with the glasses.

Huh? Anyone been through similar and can explain?

[iscream]

There are really cute specs now, when I was 7 they were all hideous. I used to hide mine on the way to school, and get them on the way home.
I was sad when my ds1 needed glasses at age 8. However, we did get him contacts when he was a teenager. Hope your daughter finds some specs that she likes, and will wear with confidence.

[ouryve]

Just a wee update - DS1 is short sighted and he's thrilled with his new glasses!

And i checked my prescription and my cylinder for my astigmatism is -2.00 for one eye and -3.00 for the other - the -3.00 is why i sometimes have to wait weeks for new glasses.

[startail]

Yes the computer is great, the big ( D&A) had one. The lady saved the pictures so DD could sit down with her glasses on and flick back and forth between the ones she'd tried.
A huge improvement on trying to work out what you look like from 3 inches from the mirror and loosing track of your own glasses and the ones your trying on in the a fuzzy haze.

[5ofus]

My DD who is 6 wears them. In their Year 1 class last year there were lots of children with them. So much so that one of her classmates was in tears at the optician when told he had perfect eyesight and wouldn't need them. DD's eye problems were picked up at a screening test at school. I felt guilty as I'd never considered having her eyes tested despite being a speccy four eyes myself.

[quirrelquarrel]

My cousin had that kind of thing. She had to wear a patch for maybe two hours a day or so. Maybe your daughter's case is worse, but you could see about that kind of thing?

[youarekidding]

random Specsavers have one of those too! I'm with Vision express and find they have a lovely range and very comperitively priced. I love the computer

[randommoment]

When it comes to choosing them, Vision Express have this lovely photo machine so you can try them on and look at yourself wearing them, v. handy if like me your eyesight is so awful that without specs you can only see six inches in front of your nose, so a mirror's no use when the display frames have no glass in them!

[startail]

I've worn glasses since I was 10 they are totally part of me. I didn't tell anyone I couldn't see the board for ages so being able to see was just magic. I very occasionally wear lenses and it feels really odd.
DD2 wears glasses too, she is a bit of a fashion queen so she is a bit fussy about what they look like, the last pair took a bit of leg work to find some she liked. However, she does wear the new ones because they are the right prescription (the previous pair got left off a lot. I now realise, because they weren't helping much).
Please be positive, OP, glasses are a minor pain. Having no 3D vision like a friend who's parents didn't get his squint corrected is a major pain.

[ItsTimeToBurnThisDiscoDown]

S'ok landrover :)

[landrover]

sorry disco

[FabbyChic]

The first time I took my son to an optician they said he would need surgery before glasses. I was scared. I paid £80 for a private consultant to tell me that he did not need glasses, that he had a lazy eye and that he could manage as it was.

That was 13 years ago, he still has the lazy eye and it gets blood shot sometimes where he studies for hours on end, but he has never been back to the optician and says he won't go and will go without glasses, however if he did need glasses he would need corrective surgery as they would pull his eye into his nose.

I'd get a second opinion the first Optitian I see scared the life out of me.

[youarekidding]

aquashiv that's what my DS wears glasses for, same problem with board. Thing with astigmatism is it can be affected by light so the damned white boards are a PITA for people who have it. The good news is his eyes are correcting so hopefully your see an improvement with your DD.

[youarekidding]

Amy yes astigmatism is in both eyes. 1 eye is 1.75 at 12° and the other 1.25 at 180° - and I have no idea what it means.

Sorry wasn't clear with corrected VA. Without distance lenses (so just correcting astigmatism) it is 20/30 or 20/40 (depends on light) but with distance correction my vision is better than 20/20. I only know because we were discussing whether to just correct astigmatism.

[ItsTimeToBurnThisDiscoDown]

Landrover I didn't say op would get done for fraud for seeking a referral, I said she MAY get looked into for fraud if she took her DC for a second test without mentioning the first. The other option would be to ask for a retest at the original practice with a different optician, which would be covered under the first test.

[AmyStake]

ouryve Whoops, I was under the impression that the axis further affects your astigmatism, thanks for clarifying for me :). I guess I really don't notice it with my eye how it is!

Kids glasses today are so cute! We get lots of disappointed children with perfect eyesight. . Bench do some really smart kids frames but I don't think they'd be free on the NHS. :(

[CocktailQueen]

YAB a bit U for being upset - glasses for kids are gorgeous now and there is loads of choice!

But how bizarre of the optician to say about trying for 6 months then givnig up - def ask about that next time!

[Strawbezza]

OP glasses aren't a medical appliance. Think of them as a piece of jewellery, and be excited that your DD can choose a lovely pair of her own.

[ouryve]

We've just broken it to DS1 that we think he needs glasses and that he's having his eyes tested on Saturday and he sounds like he's going to be really disappointed if we're wrong! He wants to be like his dad!

[Notinmykitchen]

OP you'll be amazed how quickly you get used to her wearing glasses. My DS (3) has been given glasses in the last couple of weeks. I was not over the moon that he needed them, but he looks odd now without them. It doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest either. Luckily he has an older cousin who wears glasses, so he thinks they're really cool.

[aquashiv]

I understand your confusion.
Our dd age 6 has just been told she as astigmastism and is long sighted. She has had trouble reading the white board. I feel awful I hadnt picked up on it. I was given really vague advice.
How long will she wear them for? A WHo knows.
When should she wear them? A When she needs them.
Will wearing them improve her sight? A WHo knows.
The glassses she has are lovely though.

[landrover]

Sorry op, i really do think its important to get referred to your local specialist (ring gp up and they will arrange it, and of course you wont be charged or accused of fraud!!!) It is Always worth a try at patching before 8 years old, you have nothing to lose anyway by trying!!!! We did it for a couple of hours after school everyday on her ds (apparently that really helps) Please dont just go by what your optician says xx

[ouryve]

170

I'll get there in the end.

[ouryve]

Forgot to add, that means that 30 degrees is no better or worse than 17o degrees - it just means the lenses bend along a different line.

[ouryve]

Amystake - the axis for an astigmatism refers to the direction in which the eyeball is distorted - the corrective lenses are like a cylinder or tube instead of the jam jar bottoms needed for short sightedness and the axis is the direction the cylinder travels along.

[herhonesty]

i can see why you are upset, i would be. whilst not to make light of a medical situation can i just say

1. little kids look adorable in glasses. imho.
   
2. if you can, make her think she is very special for having glasses - no one else has the privilege...
   
3. lots of other kids will be secretely jealous of the glasses (as I was, with my BF. so much so i went to the optician and tried to fake the eye test. i didnt work.)
   
4. its better you have found out now than later because of a symptomatic reason, i.e. struggling at school, headaches.
   
   yanbu, but dont turn it into a drama!