Should we have been prescribed glasses?

[MissAtomicBomb1]

DS 11 went for an eye test today at soecsavers
His prescription is -0.25
(-0.25, cyl -0.25, axis 0.90)

He's slightly shortsighted apparently.
DS is really upset about the prospect of wearing them when he start a secondary. I've reassured him that he won't need to wear them all the time & we've ordered a pair of Nike ones.

It seems this is on the cusp of having a prescription at all? He's adamant he doesn't need them and DH is saying he's going to end up reliant on them & his eyes will become worse! Not sure how firm I should be with him wearing them?!

I'm no help on whether he definitely needs to wear rhem, but your DH is talking complete nonsense. No one's eyesight gets worse from wearing glasses.

If the optician says he needs them then he needs them. But if he’s almost secondary age and self conscious about them can he not try contacts instead?

DH is saying he's going to end up reliant on them & his eyes will become worse
This is also a complete myth. It’s more that when you’re wearing the glasses some of the time you start to notice that things aren’t properly clear when you’re not wearing them, whereas before you didn’t know any different.

If he’s short-sighted, he may struggle to see the board in lessons when they go back to school in September. Classrooms in secondary school are generally bigger, and students may find themselves further away from the teacher. Of course, you can always ask that he be sat at the front of the class, but he won’t like that at all.

Has he only got a prescription in 1 eye or are both eyes the same?.

It will depend on where he sits in the class as to how often he will need to wear them. He may need them to see the board/screen clearly if he is sitting near the back of the class.

My ds recently got glasses (age 16) for short sight. He only wears them when he really needs to in class. Conversely dd has had glasses for long sight since she was 18 months old and needs to wear hers all the time

My prescription is -3.5 and -4. I certainly couldn’t read much now without glasses/contacts but my eyesight has gradually got worse over time. I think when I first got glasses at age 11 ish it was around -2 and I only wore them for actually having to read stuff on the blackboard in lessons. I definitely didn’t wear them all the time.

I’m very certain -0.25 will not require him to wear them for much except looking at the board. Even then he could probably manage without

Not saying sight has got worse btw cos I’ve worn glasses, I think it’s just declined with age sadly!

in fact it was pretty stable for a very long time and really seemed to change a lot in the last 2 years (I’m 38).

-0.25 don’t really need glasses at all.

Id be asking about the contact lenses that stop myopia from getting worse in kids. They didn’t have them for my DC, wish they had.
https://mykidsvision.org/knowledge-centre/soft-contact-lenses-for-myopia-control-in-children

If its -0.25 plus the other -0.25 for the astigmatism then is it not actually -0.5 for that particular eye?

DS2 had a script like that initially, but he preferred the text without the correction. They said to come back in 6 months. He then needed a stronger script, and prefered things with correction, so got glasses, but didn't wear them most of the time. Third visit, and stronger lenses again, and he started wearing them more.
With that low a correction, I'd let DS choose. But go back for a review.

He might actually find it easier to always be the kid with glasses rather than get them part way through Y7, as a change is more likely to be commented on, imo.

That's interesting @MillicentBystandr
Will have a read - thanks.

@dementedpixie yes possibly! I just presumed it went off the first number. They did mention a slight astigmatism.

What is the full prescription?
Is the other eye affected too?

Here we go!

Your DS is certainly old enough for soft contact lenses. You’d have glasses as a back up anyway, so the ones you ordered are not a waste.

As he is upset and not wanting to wear glasses, it is worth looking into. Thanks for saying you’d give it a read.

He probably doesn't need glasses with that level of vision.

You can also get glasses that do the same thing.

My DD had the same prescription and was told she most likely didn’t need them unless she really really wanted them. We didn’t bother. It’s not got any worse at her recent checks.