My 3.5 yr old is diagnosed with Myopia and I am terrified and confused just thinking about it.

[sarahhoping]

My baby boy was born in Feb of 2020 , just one before lockdown . A kids eye doctor told us he's got myopia of -2.5 in left eye and -0.5 in right eye when we went to her for eye allergies .
She said its likely due to kid not getting enough sunlight during covid lockdown and that without enough light to eyes, the eyeball elongates and hence the myopia.
Since he was dealing off and on with recurring eye allergies, we couldn't get a glasses for him . Because we wanted to be sure his number is -2.5 in left eye, because it seems like too much . This was 2 months ago
We consulted with another doctor today today and after reading from snellen chart, she said his number is -3.5 in left eye and -1 in right eye.
Now I am confused which doctor is correct. Also how it moved from -2.5 to -3 now in right eye, and -0.5 to -1 in left eye. has his number increased or is it simply error and difference of opinion among these 2 doctors. Can the prescription glasses really increase so much in just a couple of months.

Can someone please help me out. I am worried and confused
I am worried for my child's vision . Anyone else faced anything similar ?

Myopia = short sighted. It’s not a separate condition. They are not very strong prescriptions, I really don’t think you need to worry.

So true @Clefable . I find it really annoying that my child who's otherwise a total prankster at home refuses to even speak properly during a snellen chart reading test. It drives me up the wall honestly. And this is despite he knowing how to read from A to Z. It just ends up making it harder for me to understand how he sees . I wish I could see how he sees. I wonder how long before he starts making some sense and we get to know his real prescription number

My dds optician said similar about sunlight slowing down progression of the myopia. The miosmart lenses are suppost to slow down the elongated eyeball progression which our optician said in children progresses with growth and then will level out when they stop growing.

I'm at something around -6.5 and -5.5. You can't be a commercial pilot or a soldier if your prescription is over -6; other than that it's not likely to affect his life. (And there's no guarantee he'll have a prescription over -6 anyway.)

There's a correlation between short-sightedness and high IQ, in case knowing that helps at all!

Don't panic. Kindly, you're over reacting. As others have said, it's just short-sightedness which is very common - and common in children as well as adults.

Don't worry about glaucoma or macula degeneration - for a start, with short-sightedness he will have regular appointments where they will routinely check for these conditions (as is normal for any eye health check for any person).

I know a couple of people with glaucoma, one who's had it severely since childhood, and they both lead normal and very full lives.

As with anything medical, it's easy to get scared looking at literature where they say chances of something developing are more than average with some conditions but the majority of people who've been short sighted since early childhood never develop it.

You really, really don't need to worry.

OP are you mixing up myopia with astigmatism?
I must admit I am hugely sceptical about opticians.
Both of my children were told that they had myopia when they were very young. Tested at school.
I decided to watchfully wait and see what happened as they developed.
Both have perfect vision now.
Just my experience obviously.

@sarahhoping did they not do the test with pictures rather than letters? Did they use drops in the eyes to get the prescription?

My dd has had glasses from 18 months for long sight and still has them age 19.

OP I would trust in the professionals . In my experience they are really good at figuring out a child’s prescription - even when they are young . My son had some big jumps in prescription , sometimes only 3 months apart . He has ended up about -6 ( similar to me ) Echoing another poster it is an inconvenience, nothing more. Glasses / contact lenses make it all ok and I can function pretty well without , I might not recognise a friend at a distance without Correction but I can navigate obstacles for example

Has he actually had a proper eye test using eye drops? My dd was under orthoptist care at the hospital from 18 months until age 7/8ish and now we just use a local optician

Mine settled at -12

Myopia is just short-sightedness. High myopia would generally be 5+. The elongated (rugby ball) shape of the eyeball is what causes the myopia because the light is not properly focused on the whole retina.

One thing that is important (I'm not an optometrist but work in the industry) is to start treating your DS as soon as possible with corrective lenses. Nothing can stop the progression of myopia but wearing the right glasses can slow it down, hopefully leading to a less severe grading of myopia as an adult.

Check out this website for more info: www.myopiafocus.org

As pp said, very common indeed. My dc were similar, and had glasses when younger, and contact lenses as soon as they were old enough to cope with them (around Year 5/6).

I’m short sighted and have worn glasses since I was 8, occasionally wear contacts now but mainly glasses. It’s really not an issue. Opticians can offer special lenses and contacts when your child is old enough to help reshape the eye and slow down or stop the short sightedness getting worse. My son is also short sighted and was offered them but due to his ASD and sensory needs it wasn’t an option. The only reason I considered it is because as an adult I really begrudge paying for glasses!

Myopia is increasing in children , partly generics but also too much time indoors and on computers .. ( not making judgments about your child just generalising)

yes short sighted people are more at risk of the conditions you mention but these are word case senario’s .

get them some glasses it will help vision . It is probably worth looking at stellest lenses when a little older .

You really need to calm down about this.

im -5.25, -6.5 at the moment. My prescription has fluctuated a bit throughout my life. It is really really not a big deal. Are you normally excessively anxious? Because that’s what is coming through in your posts.

OP here. well they did said they don't rely on child's reading and telling them for the numbers. They did the IOL Master , the axial length check , and it showed a reading of 23 point something and 22.9 in other eye
So the doctor said it correlates to the prescription numbers she said
I am still a bit skeptical , because when we went for repeat check from different eye doctor at same hospital , I heard the optometrist whisper to his colleage optometrist : "The first doctor has prescribed this number , how can I challenge her" . I was baffled and angry , but didn't reply to what the heck was he saying .
I mean " challenging a doctor" was not ok , but playing with a child's developing sight is fine. strange.

@RJnomore1 yes I am . Also had diagnosed with ADHD , but I prefer to believe I don't have it ! Also I naturally have a high CD Ratio of eye (0.65) but my vision is normal , including in visual field tests. My Dr said I am fine

You haven't answered whether they did a test with the drops. That helps them get an accurate prescription without relying on answers from the child.

Are you in the UK?

@dementedpixie yes they did that too , and in that one he was kinda ok . So the optometrist gave him 6/6 vision . thats what baffles me lol

It's ok! I'm -6 on one eye and -5.5 in the other.My eldest at 11 is -6 and -4. My youngest is +4 and +3. We just wear glasses... It's fine!

@dementedpixie they did the IOL master or something in which they do axial length check. apparently one eye ball is slightly longer than other

I have astigmatism and short sighted so the different shape
Was found when I was about 4-5. My prescription changed over the years yes, and then stabilised. I'm around -4.5 and -4.75

You can prefer to believe what you want but that doesn’t change facts. What a nonsense thing to say. A diabetic can’t just choose to believe they are not diabetic, just like someone with ADHD can’t just choose to believe they do not have ADHD. It is what it is, and that’s that.

For your own anxiety, you’d be best to start believing so you can work towards settling your anxious thoughts & feelings. It might help set a better example of mental health management for your kids too, as ADHD and the like can often be genetic.

It sounds like you’re choosing not to believe your child’s need for glasses too, which I hope isn’t the case

Get your kid in the glasses - nobody spotted how short-sighted I was until I was seven, by which time I'd missed out all the learning basics for maths (but was a brilliant reader). You sound really panicky about this but it won't help your child.

Myopia is when your eyeballs growcomparatively more than your head.

Look out the Chinese treatment to reduce myopia. Its for kids. Involves them wearing big lenses to suppress eye growth and map it more closely to head growth.

I decided not to take my kids through it and they're fine as adults now - prescription no where as big as I wS told it couldbe!

Mine is -7.0, there's are around -2 or 3.

I get by at -7 though, so wouldI pay a lot of money privately for lenses my child (who has sensitive eyes might nor get on with... I'm not sure, but it's worth looking into x