Glasses for 4yr old long sighted +1.75 and +1.50?

[maddy236]

Wondering if anyone can help. I took my DD to optician for an eye test as she has developed a transient tic (blinking heavily).

At the first test, optician said her right eye was fine but left eye it was difficult to tell, so we went back the following day for a repeat test with drops.

It was a different optician, who said with drops it showed DD had +1.75 right eye and +1.50 left eye, and advised glasses for close up work. She said this would help her eyes develop properly.

I had a fidgety 2yr old with me and didn't get to ask questions properly.

Is it usual to have glasses for this level of long sightedness? (DD hasn't had any problems other than the transient tic).
What is the rational for glasses helping their eyes develop properly?

Thanks for any help!

My DD who is 8 is slightly more longsighted (2.25) and wears glasses all the time because her left eye was starting to turn inwards with the strain of focusing. That's actually what made us get an eye test, we hadn't been taking them regularly enough. I imagine that's the kind of thing your optician wants to avoid because it can effect their 3d vision long term. We've been told DD may not need them later in life but she should keep wearing them while her vision is still developing.

It depends really on her binocular vision status (so how well she used her eyes together) and also on her accommodative amplitude and facility (so how well she can adjust her focus from distance to near and how close she can bring objects until they become blurred). There's a lot more to it than that, but that's the basics.

How old is your daughter? A blinking heavily tic may be a sign of a visual issue, its a significant prescription and I would often prescribe that for reading in symptomatic patients.

I agree with most toffee underneath the ash apart from.saying it's significant.
It's not it's v mild and borderline on whether to prescribe or not.
In the absence of any a quint of binocular vision or amblyopia ( lazy eye) then I wouldn't prescribe at that age.
Ask.for a referral to an Orthoptist your health visitor or gp csn arrange that . They are children's eye specialists

I’m not an optician but my DD has a similar prescription. She has also been referred to optometrist because of weakness in her eye muscles. She is 6 now and has had glasses for 12 months.

We decided to go for glasses for close work as she was struggling with reading and holding the book next to her nose virtually! It has improved her confidence in her reading and for her it was the right choice,

OP i’ve just seen that your daughter is 4, apologies I didn’t read your post property. As Helen said that is NOT a significant prescription for that age, most children at age 4 would be around +0.75/+1.00. It’s only slightly above average, although it may still help especially if your daughter has a binocular vision problem.

you don’t need a referral though.

Thanks for all your replies, that is really helpful. The optician said she wanted to test binocular vision, but couldn't because of eye drops (and couldn't see from the notes if it had been tested the day before without drops). She said they would test it on return in about 6months, but I might ask to speak to someone again this week to discuss things more, before we collect the glasses.

Our daughter has an inward squint and was referred to eye specialist at Yorkhill (New one) and diagnosed with long sighted script which I think is 2.50+ each side.

She has to wear them an hour a day but is retested in April.

Our daughter is 3.

That amount of longsight is within the normal range for a 4 year old and most children of that age would easily be able to increase their focussing to see well without glasses. There are however a number of reasons why glasses might be prescribed for example if a child is complaining of headaches or has a squint, frequent blinking can happen in children who are struggling to see but similarly can also be due to a tic. If her excessive blinking settles with the glasses then it would be reasonable for her to try them but they may well not be needed long term ( I’m an orthoptist by the way)