Can someone explain child prescription/astigmatism please?

[MothersJumpers]

Hello- have googled but I must be a dufus because I can’t seem to make sense of it.

DS aged 5 had an eye test today and the optometrist said he has astigmatism. Prescription says cyl in the right eye is -1.00 and in the left it is -1.50. He needs to wear glasses for 6 months then we have to go back for a check up.

What do these numbers mean exactly?

Is this a severe or mild astigmatism? Do kids grow out of it? They asked if he was a forceps delivery which he was- is this a cause? Is astigmatism something that gets worse or can glasses improve it?

So sorry for all the questions- DS had an eye test in school a few months ago and everything was fine and the only reason he has an eye test today was because I was actually concerned about his younger sibling’s eyes so booked them both in.

Thanks for any insight/info.

The minus means short sightedness, myopia, relatively mild. Astigmatism means his eye ball is shaped more like a rugby ball was how an optometrist explained it to me. Laser surgery would treat it as an adult but I don't think it's something that can be cured, my experience anyway..

Ds wears glasses for astigmatism. His actual prescription is pretty low ie his eyesight is not too bad at all, but we were told he would likely be wearing glasses for life.

Sorry, to add its like a scale so the worse the eyesight the higher the number gets. So for example -7 would mean very poor vision and needing to wear glasses all the time..

What's the Full prescription?
Is there a Sph figure or just Cyl?

mild, and no, it won't change. I've always had astigmatism. That is a very mild prescription though. He most likely won't need to wear them all the time, but just have the option when he needs them, tired, or looking at something a long way away, etc

The minus isn’t astigmatism, it’s how short sighted someone is. -1ish is a really low prescription (mild). Generally a child with myopia and astigmatism wearing glasses aged 5 is likely to need them for life but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to get hugely worse over time, sometimes it just stabilises.

I have very bad astigmatism and I am severely short sighted - I’m -9.50 both eyes. I’ve worn glasses since I was 4. To be honest the astigmatism isn’t really an issue for me. It never has been. Glasses correct it well - I did wear contact lenses from age 12 but I’ve had to stop wearing them now as I’ve developed Sjögren’s syndrome which means I have severely dry eyes (I’m 43 now).

Meant to add - the degree of astigmatism can change over time, so every time someone has an eye test their prescription will also record the amount of astigmatism but it’s unlikely to ever go away.

@Pigeonqueen the OP says the figures are in the Cyl column and that does relate to astigmatism. The Sph column tells you the extent of short (or long) sight

It’s the same as my prescription (in fact slightly ‘worse’ as one of my eyes is -0.75 and one -1.5) and I have to wear my glasses all the time, as the blurriness without them gives me headaches!
Chances are OP that he’ll always need to wear glasses, but it’s not the end of the world.

There should be 2 numbers for each eye for astigmatism, one in the cylinder and one for the axis. Those are quite mild though not insignificant. Mine are moderate to severe at - 2 and - 2.75 and without my glasses the world is very much enshrouded in net curtains at all distances and I can't make out any detail at all with my worse eye.

Thank you everyone for your replies! If I’m understanding it correctly- it means that the curve in each eye is different- so will glasses help to balance both eyes together?

Sorry I forgot to add the other numbers in the original post

Sph for both eyes is 0
Axis is 180 for both eyes

What is myopia?

Also they said he needs to be wearing the glasses most of the time- is that basically all day apart from sleeping?

I don’t know why I’m feeling so terrible about this, not because of him having to wear glasses (in fact he’s quite excited and picked out Spider-Man frames) but because I never noticed any issues with his eyes, no symptoms that I picked up on etc- and today it was just kind of by chance that he had a test. I often get mum guilt from time to time but tonight it’s really bad.

If it’s any consolation, my daughter told me she was struggling with her eyes and as she’s normally a massive drama queen I basically only took her to the opticians so that I could say ‘see, there’s nothing wrong with them’, and it turned out she was of sighted with an astigmatism 😳

Oh sorry, it’s late and I missed that 🙈 my astigmatism is something like 140 so I assumed the -1 was myopia.

Myopia is just the technical term for short sightedness.

Don’t feel bad. That’s such a mild prescription chances are he’s not really realised he couldn’t see as well as he could have before. You sort of adjust to it. In fact the same thing happened with my own dd when she was 13 - I took her for a test so her younger brother could watch as he has autism and I wanted to prepare him, and they said she was -1.25 in both eyes. It really surprised us as she hadn’t reported any issues at all!

Yes if he needs to wear them all the time then it’s basically all the time except sleeping.

I have one. Mine is -1.00 and -1.75. Had the same prescription since 2006. I wear a mixture of glasses and contacts. I don’t wear them first thing in the morning, I can still see just not fine detail. I first noticed I couldn’t see well when driving, so had an eyesight test and found out then. I was a forceps delivery too!

Thanks again everyone for your replies. You’ve all helped me feel a lot less guilty this morning.

One last question- as the Sph figures are both 0 does this mean he’s not long sighted/ short sighted but just has the astigmatism?

@MothersJumpers no, it basically means that he's short sighted, but only in in one direction.

People who are short sighted focus in front of where they should in the eye and people who are long sighted focus behind where they should. So things that he sees vertically, focus too far in front of where they should

Astigmatism can change, but as it makes certain things blurred it can mean that his eyes may not develop properly if he doesn't wear the glasses. That's why they're going to see you again in 6 months.

There is a good guide here

https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/mediaLocal/ozfbq4af/astigmatism-teensplusparents_0.pdf

@theeyeofdoe Thank you so much for the link- have found it really useful and informative.

DS has picked up his glasses today- we have tried to build up the excitement over the past week, keep things positive etc.

Unfortunately I’ve already had comments that he must have been watching too much tv etc- trying not to let it get to me but easier said than done!

Hi
I’ve no idea why the optometrist asked about forceps delivery- never heard that as a cause of astigmatism in my 40 years in ophthalmology.

There are currently some research studies into how to slow down the progression of myopia but the comments about him watching too much TV are silly. Research is finding that close up screens such as phones, iPads etc can make myopia increase faster than it normally would and there are various trials of specialist lenses, low strength atropine eye drops to slow this progression ( no definitive answers yet to what is the best treatment, other than reducing screen time and plenty of outdoor time), but TV at a normal viewing distance won’t have made him myopic
It sounds like you have done all the right things being positive about him wearing glasses, I’m sure he’ll love them and feel special wearing them. His vision should sort itself quickly but he’ll need to have regular tests going forward as he grows and his eyes change.

How’s he doing ? Going through this now x