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 ?

You can now get glasses that slow down the progression of myopia https://www.hoyavision.com/uk/vision-products/miyosmart/

My eyes are -12 which has been pretty irritating, especially as a teenager, so if DS needs glasses in the future I'll be getting him Miyosmart lenses, I'd hate for him to end up practically blind like me.

As your child is only very young, it's normal for eyes to change prescription rapidly, as the eyes change shape as the child grows. Neither optometrist was wrong.

I knew someone who didn’t believe her child’s eye specialist who told her that her child needed an operation to fix her squint. She refused to let her have the op with the result that the child lost her sight on that eye.
Being Short sighted isn’t life threatening, wearing glasses isn’t the end of the world. I have always had myopia, astigmatism and now have glaucoma, My eyes suddenly took a downturn three years ago due to cataracts but since cataract surgery my vision has gone from -10 L eye and-9 R eyes to -1.75L and -2 R. I have my long vision back and wear glasses for reading. The glaucoma is treated with eye drops, no problem.
Listen to the doctors.

I would love to have seen that happening.
My eye sight is steadily getting worse instead (and I’m 50+yo)…..

Very jealous there!

Get the kid his glasses.
Make him wear them.
Go back as required.
Your child needs glasses, like thousands of other kids.

Don’t worry that isn’t too bad at all. Several people in my family wore lenticular lenses up to the 1990s when tech moved on and they were very short sighted. One became a teacher, so it won’t hold them back

@gravitytester
Oh don’t be ridiculous. By age 4 my son was -8, I’ve paid to see the best specialists in my region and somehow none of them have been quite so dramatic as you.

writing something like this to a parent who already is clearly very anxious is just unacceptable.

ask about orthokeratology. It’s when you wear a gas permeable lens overnight that removes the needs for lenses or glasses during the day. It also slows down (or even halts) the worsening of the prescription. My daughter has used this system since she was 8 and it’s been brilliant. Her prescription hasn’t changed much at all and she’s now 21. My prescription is -8.5 and I think she might otherwise have been the same as decline started at same age.

It's not horrifying at all. My DD wore glasses from a tiny toddler - not a problem. I was just grateful that they were available to her.

Short sight does deteriorate over time, but usually settles down a bit in the teens. I have been very short-sighted from early childhood and it did settle a bit, although went on declining very slightly till late 40s.

If you are worrying that the tests were inaccurate, please bear in mind how hard it is to test the eyes of small children. Minor inaccuracies can creep in - you have to rely on the professional's experience to try and get the prescription right.

I would not be worrying about this. I would be starting to foster a positive attitude to glasses.

Oh that's a shame! My optician told me I can look forward to some improvement!

It's not ridiculous.

Eye care professionals are being told that the standard of practice now is to show concern and talk about myopia control.

It's almost import consume all of the literature/clinical trials/peer reviews/CPD because it's become so prevalent that it's all the optics world is focussed on right now.

ETA:
Yes, I can see that the post was insensitive considering OPs anxiety- OP it was poorly worded and I apologise, I do stand by the comment about researching myopia control- as has been mentioned by others.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220927-can-you-prevent-short-sightedness-in-kids

Definitely seems linked to being indoors more

Adults become presbyopic in late middle age not more longsighted although confusing as + lenses correct both. Those with small amounts of myopia often find they can read better with glasses off.

Hi,so I fall into this category. Shortsighted since child
yes, you are correct that long term myopia increases risk of retinal damage. But it is not a given. And significant sight loss such as retinal detachment is rare
more common is what I have, vitreous detachment- when the jelly like vitreous degenerates over time and then starts to pull away . What that does us leaves large floaters in your eye.

BUT, here’s the key thing…this didn’t happen till I was in late 50s . First one eye and then other about 12 months after. Bit scary at time as I didn’t know what it was. But a good scan showed what had happened and once detached stays like that really. I do have permanent floaters but the brain adapts quickly to ignoring them. If I’m looking at a well lit white wall, sure I can see them. I have to have expensive verificol lenses but can drive, and do teeny tiny embroidery stitches . My eyesight with glasses is perfect for most needs except if I need to fit an aircraft 🙄

this vitreous degeneration is about the most likely thing he’ll experience- but not till he’s pretty old . Until then he’ll take his eyesight issues for granted if you don’t make a fuss. When he gets to Kate teens he can switch to contacts. I wore those, even varifocal lenses now available, and didn’t switch to glasses fully till retired

it will have no effect on his life probably, unless you make it so. Even if he develops problems later in life they are manageable. Or if he decides he wants to fly planes unfortunately. But that’s it.

remember that many many older people have sight issues as they get older. My dad is now at 85 registered blind, had to stop driving in mid 70s because of a mini stroke- he had brilliant perfect vision all his life. Other older people get macular degeneration or cataracts. Eyes grow old like the rest of our body parts. You will send yourself mad trying to protect him from all these risks as it’s not possible. He will get old just like the rest of us, and he’ll pick up god knows what conditions health wys throughout his life

myopia is a eyesight condition. It is not a disability. Stop treating it as such or you’ll do him harm

It's almost import consume all of the literature/clinical trials/peer reviews/CPD because it's become so prevalent that it's all the optics world is focussed on right now.

That's the job of eye care professionals, not anxious non-professionals who can easily misinterpret scholarly papers/articles.

Professionals stay on top of the latest literature, then take their learning and convey it to patients in a way that gives them a good understanding of how they can be proactive about their or their children's medical care, without straying into scaremongering and hyperbole.

It's totally unacceptable not to mention inaccurate if a medical professional described her son's prescription as "horrifying".

My optician said that there’s now a whole generation of short sighted youngsters because of too much screen time and not enough playing outside where eye muscles can be worked.

I’m short sighted (-5) and have always been a bookworm (no screens in my day). There’s also a hereditary link.

Oh that's a shame! My optician told me I can look forward to some improvement!

My eyes have gone from a -1.5 and -1.25 to a -1.25 and -1. Not a huge improvement but enough to need a different lens prescription! Late 40s.

It is actually true- sunlight does have an effect, known to be a correlation for donkey’s years but newer studies looking at mechanisms
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-85825-y

now whether lock down played a part is a bit hmmmm…depends…some kids may have got MORE exposure to sun during lock down as spent a lot of time in gardens and parks and it was a lovely sunny spring that year 🤷🏼‍♀️

This is really sensible advice

Jeez, my prescription changes depending on who does test…had a massive argument (debate ) with optometrist last visit as he said my last prescription was too strong 🤷🏼‍♀️
if I can’t get it right in answering what I can see after 47 years of sight tests, I imagine a 3 year old, slightly bored, lacking full adult communication and concentration skills is lucky to get a decent prescription at all 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣

Nope…but lockdown seems a bit Naaa

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-85825-y

My understanding is that glaucoma is generally more of a risk if it is in the family, but even then you are unlikely to get it until quite late in life. The chances are that by the time your child reaches the relevant age treatment will be pretty good.

I have had myopia and astigmatism since I was around 6. My father had glaucoma; I now have it in one eye at age 67 but in fact that seems to have been brought on by having shingles in that eye. It's controlled fine by eyedrops.

Nonsense. Maybe in a few people.
but I know, cos I asked my qualified optometrist why it didn’t cancel out, that most short sighted people end up just as long sighted as everyone else as they age.
I know and pay £500 for ridiculously expensive varifocal lenses given my extreme myopia is now added to with a degree of long sightedness
my field of good eyesight is now about 6 inches wide and 12 inches from my nose
now that is truly annoying 🤦‍♀️🤨
hey ho, that’s old age

I mean, my optometrist is qualified too and I also pay hundreds for my lenses but I accept it doesn't happen for everyone

My prescription has reduced with age.
For my contact lenses I opted to have a reduced distance correction so I could read without having to wear reading glasses (varifocal contacts didn’t work for me). I’m still legal to drive.
My varifocals glasses on the other hand have a much higher reading bit at the bottom because I do a lot of close up stuff at work, for which I don’t wear my lenses.
Glasses prescription isn’t set in stone. It’s about correcting to suit lifestyle.

You seriously need to stop catastrophizing. You will make yourself ill.
Your child is short-sighted. That's what myopia is. That is all it is.
Stop googling all the possible eye diseases you can get if you are short-sighted. Severe myopia can increase the risk of some of them but that does not mean that is what will happen in his case. People who are not short-sighted can also get glaucoma etc.
He needs glasses. Make sure you schedule regular eye examinations to keep an eye on his general eye health.

It's probably difficult to get an exact reading from the Snellen chart because he is so young and maybe not entirely cooperative - just saying any old letter or giving up even though he could read things. When I was little if I was overtired my optician's appointments were always a disaster and sometimes the results were way off. I had a lovely optician though who recognized when that was happening and scheduled another appointment.