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 ?

I think it's very different myopia reducing in middle age than as they grow. Myopia in children doesn't usually improve. It usually gets worse and can increase faster through certain periods of their lives such as puberty

You are catastrophising.

No-one wants their kid to be anything less than perfect and wearing glasses/ contacts (I do) isn't the best thing in the world but in the great scheme of things it's a minor inconvenience.

Yes, high myopes have a higher risk for retinal detachment but you can't do a huge amount to influence that so it's not worth a huge deal of angst IMO.

I know I'm at risk and have two friends who've had one but it really isn't something that I worry a lot about as it isn't modifiable.

And wearing glasses and being able to see will help your child so much educationally.

Anecdotally one of my friend's childrenwas confirmedly not interested in books at all which was very unlike his older brother/ rest of their family. The only one you could ever get him vaguely interested in was Zog. He had his pre-school eye test, got glasses and rapidly started loving all the books not just the one with the big orange dragon who stood out on the page.

Absolutely agree with “Glasses prescription isn’t set in stone. It’s about correcting to suit lifestyle.”

I have 3 sets of glasses, even now retired
when I was working I had varifocal contacts, over which I’d add glasses to boast either near or long distance vision, plus a set of varifocal glasses for when I was not in contacts

you have to be clear with optician what your lifestyle is, and work at getting best results.

I personally find the people who make most fuss about glasses wearing, forgetting where they’ve put them, finding them irritating are those that only developed issues later in life. People who’ve always worn them treat them more like shoes, a necessary device to navigate life safely and easier, that you don’t even question wearing, and with a selection to chose from depending on needs

Absolutely!

I was diagnosed short sighted aged about 6.

I can’t recall what my prescription was but I could only just see the first three lines of the chart.

Highest prescription in my late teens/early twenties was -10.5 in one eye and -9.75 in the other. Fully corrected with specs/contact lenses, never stopped me doing anything.

Now I’m in my late forties and it’s been going backwards for a few years now.

Hi OP, I’m an optometrist, you’ve had some good advice and some questionable, @gravitytester I thought your comment was spot on.
Myopia generally starts age 8-12 and then progresses as the child grows and the eyeball elongates. Once growth slows, prescription tends to slow. So the issue is the younger myopia starts the more time there is for it to change and usually the end prescription is higher (different to + prescriptions which improve as the child grows)
With regards to the accuracy, it is possible for the numbers to have increased as you’ve seen. In the UK we would determine the prescription by putting drops in the child’s eyes which gives us an accurate prescription without any input from the child as it can’t be relied on at that age!
But to put your mind at rest - it is correct what you said about the increased risks of retinal detachments, glaucoma etc - but these risks are still small. For example, if a non myopic person had a risk factor of 0.5% and the myopic person was 10x more at risk would only be 5% meaning a 95% risk of having no problems. I’ve only given these numbers as an example, but it just means a ‘very small risk’ might become a ‘small risk’
Defo get glasses asap, minimise close work tasks/screen use and maximise time outside. As others have mentioned myopia management lenses - glasses or contact lenses have proven really effective at slowing down the rate of progression, we would usually offer to over 6yr olds but worth trying to see if possible for your little one. Get regular check ups, every 3-6months ideally and try not to worry, I do understand your concerns and they are justified, but especially with the myopia management options now the outlook is much better and as this post has demonstrated lots of people love with high myopia with no problems

I am -4 in one eye and -4.5 in the other. I have astigmatism - my eyeballs are slightly wonkily shaped so images don't focus on the back of my eye as they should. I've worn glasses since I was about 6/7. Honestly, chill out. Lots of people are shortsighted.

For perspective I would like to also point out that the prevalence of retinal detachment is 12-13 occurrences per 100,000 people, most occurring in people over the age of 40. It's extremely rare.

Nine out of 10 of those retinal detachments are effectively repaired with a simple operation.

So even in the extremely unlikely case of your son suffering a retinal detachment when he is an adult, it has a 90 percent chance of being fixed.

I hope this helps you stop catastrophising.

-6.50 here and -5.00 got progressively worse now stable- glasses and lenses no stress - eyes healthy otherwise no need to stress- lack of light sounds like bs to me - usually it's hereditary- parents and all 4 grandparents wear/wore glasses so not likely to avoid it

I've been myopic as a bat since birth and just turned 60. My life has been fine with an interesting lucrative career and plenty of love. Wearing glasses or contact lenses isn't the end of the world.

OP here. thanks for the overwhelming responses from all of you here :)
If you can do just one more favor and tell me what to do :

1. First doctor whom we visited in July this year wrote in card my sons prescription number as -2.5 (L) and -0.5 (R) . However in her paper she gave us , it was -3.5 (L) and -1 (R). I just checked
2. The doc we visited today also said its -3.5 (L) and -1 (R)

Now its confusing as heck what my sons real prescription is . because I simply want him to start wearing glasses now I guess . also the first doc told something about atropine eye drops , and said lack of sunlight during lockdown did it , which so many here said sounds BS . She's a paediatric opthalmologist and reportedly she's a gold medalist in her degree.

The second doc we visited yesterday didn't talk of atropine eye drops, but said we might need patching in future to avoid lazy eye (amblyopia) issue .

Now which one sounds more credible and which one to stick to in long term.

Second one sounds fine and reasonable. Agree that the best thing is just to get started on treatment. There seems to be a general consensus on what the prescription. Is.

@sarahhoping Why are so frequently frightened of your child's short sight?

A quick google backs up the lack of daylight and myopia link, so while it may or may not be the reason, it’s not BS.

The myopia in itself really isn’t a big issue. There is so much they can do to help slow progression these days so it’s good it’s been flagged early.

I admit that the testing does seem odd. I’m quite surprised they used a traditional snellen test, even if he is reliable with his letters. I took DS recently (3y 3m) and they used pictures as it made it a game for DS and he was more motivated. He’s usually super shy but he was shouting them out as soon as it changed. I would seek out some recommendations in your local area and retest if you’re not confident it’s right.

I have no idea about the lack of daylight and effect on sight, however my DS is a lockdown baby and I think he got more daylight than he otherwise would have got. Pretty much the only thing we could do was go for walks!

They probably got a more accurate reading the second time. Same happened to my son. Did they do dilating drops and a refraction test? Are you in the UK?

Hi , no we're in india .
The dilating drop was done by first doctor. She also did IOL master which measures length of eyeball which is correlated to myopia

Stop catastrophising, you'll worry yourself sensless.

He's short sighted. That's all myopia is. You have an optometrist upthread giving excellent, calm advice.

Get your little boy outside to play and stop tormenting yourself with disaster scenarios. Being short sighted is not a drama.

Not at all sure what advise or support you're looking for at this point. Several optometrists have told you there's nothing to panic about, get him glasses and get regular checks so that's what you need to do.

What's your alternative option to consider?

Wow, so many people on here giving out totally incorrect information with zero knowledge about the subject. Myopia IS a worrying issue and CAN be extremely serious. High myopia (prescription of -5 or above) in pre-school children is extremely rare and almost always linked to an underlying genetic issue. I would advise the OP to speak to her paediatric ophthalmologist who will be very knowledgeable on the subject. I say this as a doctor and the Mum of a child with high myopia.

@KLM2023 neither me nor my spouse have any serious eye issues, so how could my kid have genetic eye issues ?

I wouldn’t worry. Xxxx

I've never heard of short sightedness risking other diseases.

But I have keratoconus which is a completely odd eye shape and the corneas thin. I've been lucky to never have needed permanent lenses or my cornea splitting. Just got more and more short sighted through astigmatism each year.

Glasses on. Life's fine.

Of all the health problems you can have being short sighted is not one I'd spend my time worrying about.

@sarahhoping genetic not hereditary. Often a genetic mutation causing high myopia. My understanding, from the geneticist that we saw was that this is usually for high myopia, so a prescription of -5 or worse. So possibly not an issue for your child. The point I was trying to make was for all those dismissing anyone with myopia as just being ‘a bit shortsighted’. This is incorrect. Progressive childhood myopia can have life altering consequences. As I said, this may not be the case for your child, but the best person to get that information from is a paediatric ophthalmologist, not the masses of mumsnet armchair medics.