6 year old needs glasses

[WhatIsIt082]

Was anybody elses child "diagnosed?" ( sorry, I dont know the correct term?) With glasses at 6 years old and their eye sight ended up improving?

My child had an eye test yesterday & has astigmatisms in both eyes

The guilt is eating me up. I feel so so bad for him that he has never been able to see properly and I didnt know. I feel even worse that he missed his eye check up at school last year and I didnt bother with a follow up appointment as nobody in my family has any eye issues at all ---- how could I of been so naive?

I was so shocked yesterday I can barely remember what the optician said, he said somthing about it was good he was seen before he was 8 and somthing about before 8 eye sight can improve

But he doesnt stand much of a change with only 18 months left before he turns 8 does he?

Now I think back and the signs were there ---- he does have different shaped eyes to me and my other children but their the same shape as his cousins on his dads side so I assumed it was just genetic ( they dont wear glasses )

I've always told him off for standing so close to the TV, he always gets his numbers mixed up and backwards.. I assumed he was possibly dyslexic as he has always struggled with school work... again another sign that was missed

I feel so bad for him. I've really really let him down. The optician said glasses were going to change his life.

I've really bigged up having glasses to him, said how handsome hes going to look and how exciting it will be to see properly, his older sibling is really really jealous as theyve always wanted to wear glasses, he was so excited he asked his teacher if he could tell his class and he stood infront of everyone and told them

I suppose I'm just really hoping that I havnt neglected him so badly I've ruined his eye sight for life? Is there a small chance he might be able to see properly on his own in 18 months time?

I feel like the damage has been done and I feel so guilty for it, I've had an awful impending feeling of doom since yesterday.

I know it's not a big deal if he needs glasses for the rest of his life, their trendy now a days and it really wont be an issue, if he still needs them they will improve his quality of life,

I just feel so guilty it's been left this long and hes struggled all this time and not known,

I had to hold his head straight and still on the machine thing as the optician said he tilts his head ever so slightly as he has slanted vision.... how did I not notice?

It’s good he’s been seen before the age of 8, as up until around 8 the links between the eyes and the brain are still developing, hence having glasses can help these develop correctly.
It’s easy to overlook taking kids for an eye test, especially if they don’t seem to be struggling. So don’t beat yourself up. Just make sure he wears the glasses as directed and attends follow-up appointments as requested.
Without knowing the prescription it’s hard to say whether standing close to the TV etc is due to eyesight or just habit (a lot of kids who can see well do this anyway)

I didn’t know my daughter had astigmatism until last year when she was 8, it had been missed at the previous year eye appointment, she has it one eye.
the only reason we went back to the opticians was because she started getting maths questions wrong believing she saw an 8 when it was a 3 for example and severe daily headaches.
she now also realised that when we drove at night that the lights don’t look the same as they do to me.
Nothing can be done it’s down to the shape of the eye

It’s only glasses. Millions of kids have them. Really nothing to beat yourself up about! You haven’t done anything wrong and his eyesight is easily corrected with a pair of specs.

You've slightly mis-understood the optician, I suspect at the moment, due to the fact he hasn't been able to see properly, he has amblyopia. This means that even with glasses on, he's not able to see the smaller lines on the chart.

It's due to the fact that eyes need to have clear vision to develop properly and it's this development that's mainly complete by age 8.

So, wearing his new glasses, will help his eyes to develop, so that ultimately he will be able to see those smaller letters. They won't reduce or eliminate the need to actually wear glasses to be able to see clearly - he'll probably always need to, although he'll be able to wear contact lenses when he's older.

Ahh ok, I wouldn’t see it as a big deal. I wear glasses because I have bad eyesight and prefer glasses over contact lenses because they aren’t quite the same strength and sometimes I just go out with poor vision as can see in front of me. Haha
i wouldn’t beat yourself up over it

Fellow Mum guilt here, when my boy was found to need glasses at 5 years old, admitted he couldn’t see words on tv very well. By the time he’d left primary school he no longer needed glasses as his eyes were fine. Unfortunately by about 25 he has needed glasses again, mainly due to working on screens all day long.

DS1 needed glasses at 7 or 8. A year later he didn't.

he does have different shaped eyes to me and my other children but their the same shape as his cousins on his dads side so I assumed it was just genetic ( they dont wear glasses )
What do you mean by this though? Is it a reference to the astigmatism? Because surely that's not something that's visible generally? As in you can't tell by looking at someone?

I've worn glasses since I was seven - it's really not a big deal and nothing to feel guilty about.

It is fine for kids to have glasses but ask if check up is every 6 months or yearly. Booked those appointments.
Not sure if your child is into swimming but powered goggles was great.

Alocasia
When I told his teacher she was surprised & she taught him last year too... she also wears glasses so he was really excited to match his teacher.

I said to the optician that I felt awful as I'd been telling him off for standing so close to the TV and he said that it wasnt a cause, he said my son will of been born like this, which makes it all the worse that it's been like this all his life for him

larlypops
Thank you for sharing that. It's funny you mention nights at light as I was looking up information about my sons eyes and came across pictures of what lights look at night for him. I have always seen lights like that so I am going to book an eye test for myself

10HailMarys
Logically I know your right, my family and friends have said the same. It's just horrible knowing hes been struggling and It could of been sorted sooner had I followed up with the appointment

underneaththeash
Yes I think I will of misunderstood, I dont take information in very well once I'm stressed or upset. He will be getting his glasses within the next weeks so I'm going to ask more about it then when I'll be able to take it in properly. There were 2 things on one of the tests that he couldnt see at all.

This is somthing I'd like to ask

I've been reading up about childrens glasses and I didnt realise about where they sit on the ears, if they fit the nose, the shape ect

Yesterday he tried on around 10 pairs and he picked which ones he liked best, but I didnt check to see any of the above

I'd like to get a second pair so I can make sure their a proper fit and suit him properly, how do I do this? I know I'll have to pay, are they expensive?

The dispensing optician will check the fit of the glasses. Did you get a copy of his prescription?

My DD was diagnosed with an astigmatism while in reception. She was the only one with glasses in her class. By the time she got to Year 1 half of her class had glasses. Her vision improved after about a year. She carried on wearing them until secondary. She's 21 now and hasn't worn them for years. Don't worry, they soon get used to them.

I've had glasses since I was the same age. Never had a problem. More children wear them now so there is a better choice of frames compared to when I was young.

My nephew just got glasses at 7 years old, quite a strong prescription too. He looks great in them and has got a cool brand as well. It's really not a big deal, lots of children have them.

The optician will check the fit and heat them up to be moulded to his ear shape if needed.

I have astigmatism in both eyes and I didn't have glasses until around 7. Even then, I hated having them and avoided wearing them whenever possible. My dad has astigmatism and had glasses from 4/5. His eyesight is very marginally better than mine. What I'm trying to say is, there is very little you could have done and being close to a TV definitely didn't cause it.

My DS had his first sight test at hospital aged two. The HV booked it in as my DH has astigmatism too. The optometrist said that eyesight problems connected to astigmatism can often take a while to actually emerge anyway. So while DS did pretty well in his test, he still has to go back in 6 months. I'm saying this to reassure you that your DS may not have had vision problems his whole life, despite being born with astigmatism.

We found DD2 needed glasses at the same age for astigmatisms. They’d improved at her last appointment but she still needed glasses. It wasn’t picked up at the school sight test - I don’t think that one is thorough. There’s no need to feel guilty - you took him to the opticians and he needed glasses. Chances are it wasn’t that bad if you hadn’t noticed before.

Maybe this is a sign that everybody in your family should get their eyes tested and attend checkups regularly.

My daughter has had glasses since 3 she is 8 now, I had no idea she needed them until nursery pointed it out, she was under the hospital for a little whilst but just sees the optician every 6 months, her prescription is currently stable and doesn’t seem to have gotten any worse unlike me, I needed glasses from age 4, my mum knew I needed them as used to sit and squint all the time and my eyes gradually got worse up until my 20s and they have been stable ever since

My sister was diagnosed with issues at 7 and her reading was falling way back. Big print /easier text were OK but as the print got smaller they believed she had a learning problem .
At the time eye test every year in school, no problem picked up . My mam (btw a nurse) eventually took her to a local optician who could not believe the school service had not picked it up.
She's worn glasses since. She's early 40s, working in her chosen field, has held some great jobs she loved , has degree and masters

A friends daughter got glasses sometime in y3/4. When she came home she noticed
Her wallpaper had small flowers on,
When you use the remote numbers came on the screen
During piano lessons , that the lines had little notes on to shoe what key to use! (Everything by ear upto that point!)

I think as parents we often ask how did I miss that, but remember specialists miss things too

Glasses are nothing to worry about; I've worn glasses since I was that age and I'm 68 now. Modern frames even for children are much more stylish and fashionable than the horrible NHS frames I had to have sixty years ago!

I'm very short-sighted - it runs in the family - and if I'd not got glasses I'd not have been able to do my schoolwork.

I took Foster Son to opticians for a check up as soon as he came to live with me and I was told he was virtually blind in one eye and very poor sight in his other eye. He had to be patched on his good eye for about 4 years. His bad eye did improve but slowly. In his bad eye he went from having 1/30 of normal sight to about 1/8 of normal sight. His good eye didn't change as much but over time improved slightly. He's now +8.5 and + 6. He has poor depth deception because of the differences in his eyes so maybe not always working together. When he's older we'll try for lazer treatment if they think it will help him. In the beginning when they patched his good eye he was walking into things and falling over a lot. I don't think he could see much for 6 months.

Children are entitled to have an annual eye test.

My dd (19y) has had glasses since she was 18 months old due to being long sighted and had a squint too. Ds (16y) had glasses for a very small prescription for a short time for long sight and now has a small prescription for short sight.

Been through the mum guilt myself.
Eldest daughter was given glasses at age 6. Severely short sighted and a massive prescription. Under hospital until age 9 then signed off to usual opticians. I felt terrible I didn't have any idea her vision wasn't tip top - especially being a glasses wearer myself.

No one picked up an issue, not my self, family, school, nursery, doctors etc. She passed the school vision test but the nurse who administered it noticed she had a slight squint and asked if i was happy for her to make a referal - as her mum I also never notice a squint either.

Her vision has massively improved, even now aged 12 her presciption went down again this month. She wasn't keen on glasses at first. Her presciption was beefy and going straight from seeing the world as she had always known it to now seeing it in completely different way she disliked, it also made her feel sick. But she grew used to it and we had to slowly transition. She now loves wearing glasses, it's one of her favourite days of the year going to the optician to pick a new specs. Ive worn glasses since i was a child too and also love it. I hope your son loves wearing glasses too

Ds has worn glasses since he was 5 he is now 17. He was under the eye hospital for 18 months due to one eye needing a much stronger prescription than the other. They would have patched him but he wore his glasses religiously, all the glasses wearing teachers at the school big up any child who starts wearing them, and of course Harry Potter wears glasses.

Ds's eyesight has massively improved but he still has a decent prescription. Ds could see tiny lego pieces so we never thought there was something wrong plus he "passed" the eye sight test in reception. I think they tested his good eye first and he just remembered the letters for the bad eye.

As an adult you should get your eyes tested every 2 years, children is every year and free. Eyesight is so important, it is good that you have booked your own test.