Eye Tests

[GrockleBocs]

Ds is 7. He had his eyes tested 6 months ago and may be shortsighted. He had to go in for a retest recently. The optician wanted to put drops in his eyes to relax the muscles and announced it would sting so ds had hysterics and wouldn't co-operate. I know I need to get it done somehow but I don't know whether a different optician would be better or whether I should speak to the GP. Or if there are other options? I'm not very familiar with short sightedness!

They will need the drops to get an accurate prescription. I remember dd being held down to get drops in on one occasion

Thanks Pixie. I will be wrestling him to the floor then :( Don't fancy my chances. He's very strong!

Bribery?

Possibly! Perhaps a Minecraft pack would do it. Just need the optician to NOT scare him silly first.
Do they really sting or is it just a short sting?

It's just for a few seconds. They need to relax the muscles to make sure one eye isn't overcompensating for the other.

It's a momentary sting rather than prolonged pain

Don't they test them separately though haba?

Thanks Pixie hopefully it will be manageable then. It's fear of it that's spooked him.

They do, but they do tests with them both together too- I wasn't diagnosed long sighted until I was an adult, as I'd masked it in every eye test as a child.

This is by far the best way to get an accurate child's eye test. Please don't refuse - your optometrist does not receive more money for this so they must think it is necessary to spend the extra time and justify the cost of the drops to the practice

Thanks haba.

Earl I did say that to DH that I didn't think they were doing it for fun! He's an old cynic though.
No, I don't want it not to happen but wasn't sure whether we try again there or whether there was an alternative route to getting it done.

Yes, it is really important to get the prescription accurate. Its called a cycloplegic refraction if you want to google it.

if you get your child to lie down with his eyes shut, they can just put the drops into the inner canthus. It does only sting for a moment.

I will google it under! Thanks. We're going in mob handed with me and DH so if needed one of us can demonstrate and we can both help to get them in him. The screaming we had over his first baby tooth about to fall out was ridiculous. Once it was out he was totally cool with the next one :)

Just to update the thread, different optician managed the test without the drops and actually he's slightly long sighted but no glasses required :)
Thanks for all the info as I was able to prepare him well and he was OK with the idea that this optician had special drops that only sting for a couple of blinks.

Grockle - The original optometrist must have thought that he was also long -sighted (you wouldn't do a cycloplegic refraction for short-sighted children).

My DD who is almost 7 is a good example, without the drops her retinoscopy result (so the test using the light) comes up at around 2D R&L, but her actual prescription with the drops is R+3/L+4D.

Did you have any concerns which lead you to get the original eye test done? I'd really be tempted to go and get it done properly.

Hi under
DH took him for both previous tests and he didn't really remember which one it was
DS had been missing out chunks of text on a page when reading which I assumed was due to inattention but thought he probably should have an eye test to rule any problems out. He'd only had the screening one at school. He's stopped the missing things out thing though as his reading has got better.
The results were +0.5 and the optician was happy. We'll go back in a year or sooner if needed.

My dd has had the drops several time, and never once complained of any stinging / pain or even discomfort..... she was in Reception the first time, and we did a big thing about "What big eyes you've got" (a la Red Riding Hood), and took her a little hand mirror to show her, and she quite looked forwards to having it done each time after that.