Any optimitrists or professional able to explain a childs glasses prescription?

[Edellondon]

DD had their eyes tested, got the prescription back and told she needs glasses, can anyone explain the prescription, she seems very young for glasses and says she can see everything

Not an optometrist but your dd is very long sighted. The positive signs means long sighted and 7 and 4 is quite a high number.
The cyl and axis number means that your dd has astigmatism. Her eyes are rugby ball shaped so needs her prescription tweaked to take that into account.

There are babies who wear glasses so there’s no such thing as too young.

https://www.specsavers.co.uk/help-and-faqs/what-does-sphere-mean-on-my-prescription

That looks similar to my DS when he was 3. He had patching on his worse eye to bring the prescription strength down as his stronger eye was doing all the work.

Fwiw, he also until has about 10 years old would have told you he could see fine with out his glasses.

Thanks, they didnt mention patching but a referral to the hospital to check muscles. Does you DS still wear glasses, they said after a few years she may no longer need them.

@Edellondon the hospital referral will probably end up with patching. I think we went to hospital with DS, he wore the patch for only half a day at most for about 18 months and the difference was incredible.

My DS does still wear glasses and is 16 now. I was told it may change and he wouldn't need them, but no the case for him. However his glasses are part of him. He hates photos where he isn't wearing them.

Children don’t always know if they can’t see because they don’t know any different. I’m short-sighted but I had no idea until I got my glasses that you can see birds in the sky and individual leaves on trees

She is longsighted and has anisometropia (significantly different prescriptions in each eye). Her right vision is probably reduced as it has been blurred all her life. When you are long sighted you need to do extra focussing to see clearly. She is young so can do the extra focussing which is why she says she can see fine. However, her right vision will still be blurred so probably hasn't developed like it should. She needs to wear the glasses full time even if she doesn't feel they make any difference. This is the only way her vision will improve in the right eye, and it can take many months. I'm glad you've been referred to the orthoptic clinic, they will test her vision and may offer patching treatment if needed. It's likely she will always need glasses with this prescription. How old is your daughter btw?

Young children can't reliably tell you about their vision as they don't know any different.
I know a child who had never seen the cows in the field opposite their house until they got their glasses.

Your child definitely needs glasses with that prescription - I have a +6 lens and everything is blurred without them.

My sister didn't know you were meant to be able read other people's number plates until she got glasses at 21. Slightly scary she managed to pass her driving test!

I didn't know until I had my eyes tested at 10 that you weren't meant to see double of things when they were close.

When things are your normal they just feel normal

She is 4, it was strange as in the exam she was able to see nearly all the numbers the optometrist put up, i think there was only one set she said was blurry so im not sure why the numbers are so bad. I was hoping after a few years she wouldn't need them anymore, do eyes become reliant on glasses if used to early? Id read eyes keep adjusting up until 5

If by “put up” you mean in the chart, she could see those letters because she is long sighted, not short sighted. Her distance vision is fine.

She will have had trouble seeing things put close to her face. Can you remember how that was tested?

Did she have drops in her eyes during the test?
With that level of prescription she will likely always need glasses. The numbers may go down but I doubt she will get to the stage of not needing corrective glasses/contacts, etc

My dd got glasses at 18 months and was +6.25 and +4. She still has glasses age 20 but has improved to +5 and +3 ish.

The '+' means she is long sighted so her long distance vision will be good. This also means she needs the glasses to help to focus on close work like reading and writing as she will be less able to see the words without help.

My ds was prescribed glasses at 4.5 after an eye check at school. I was totally unaware. Like others have said he just thought it was normal - with his glasses he saw for the first time leaves on trees!

I don't remember her testing anything up close, just put up different sized numbers and had her read them off the screen

It's good that the optician didn't find any significant reduced vision in the right eye but she is at risk so it's good you have been referred to specialists. Long sighted children can sometimes see fine in the distance and up close if they are able to focus enough. However this puts a strain on the eyes and can lead to a squint. Sometimes they can't focus enough so get blurred vision for near and distance.
The main thing is that it has been picked up at a good age. Old enough that she can do an accurate vision test and young enough that her vision can improve (if it's reduced) and it won't hold her back in school. Does she wear them op?

She hasn't got them yet, waiting for the glasses to be made, just surprised as she has no issues with reading or writing in school and never said about things being blurry. During the test she was able to read most numbers etc i suppose i just worry by getting glasses so early her eyes will never correct and she will always be reliant on them.

If she doesn't get glasses then she could end up with a squint through trying to focus. My dd had a squint and that's how we found out she was long sighted. Your dd won't know any different to the sight she has. Glasses will take strain off her eyes and allow her to see properly.

You are putting her at a disadvantage if you don't get her to wear her glasses. Why this fear of becoming reliant on them? If she needs them, she needs them!

You are doing the right thing for her op, and as pp said, she won't be reliant on them, but they will allow her eyes to relax.
This is how long sight works: if you don't need glasses, you don't focus at all on things far away but for close up objects (eg at 33cm away) you focus 3 units. If you are long sighted you have to focus extra hard even in the distance. Your DD is +4.25 in her left eye so when she looks far away this means she has to focus 4.25 units (dioptres). For close up she has to focus the usual 3 plus the 4.25 so a total of 7.25. As you can see she has to focus more than most people and although she can probably do it when she needs to (she's young with strong focussing muscles) she will struggle to focus that much all day every day. Glasses will reset her back to the usual situation if not focussing in the distance and focussing 3 for near like everyone else. Sometimes children really like their glasses and don't want to go without them. It's not because they are reliant, it's because they like having relaxed eyes that can see clearly. There is no benefit to her straining her eyes all day every day.
Good luck with the glasses, but also be aware that she may find them a bit blurry at first and could take a few months to get used to them. This is because she is used to doing so much focussing that it can take a while to adapt and let the eyes relax and let the glasses do their job. She may, of course, take to them fairly quickly, but don't give up of she doesn't. Best of luck🤞

I was told I needed prisms at 10 but I couldn't have them as my eyes would be reliant on them. At 21 I got them and by 30 I didn't need them any more.

The stress of my eyes trying to work against how they wanted to work was worse for my eyes than the treatment.

I now uses my glasses once a month or so. If I am extra heavy on screen time or overtired I can feel my eyes straining but most of the time I don't need them at all

That's interesting, do you feel if you had them at 10 you wouldn't have needed them by 20? I suppose our eyes are so complex its hard to know

Its hard to tell as it was about a year after I left education. I had just finished my PhD and combined with my undergraduate degree I had spent 9 years using a computer from 8 am until 11pm under high stress. I would have definitely had fewer headaches the eye pain through out my GCSEs-a levels and early years off my degree put down to stress but I know now its the signs my eyes are struggling to converge. I kept getting fobbed off with exercise. I am still a headachy/migraine person but these now are mostly weather related. Any unseasonably weather and I get a run of migraines.

My dad in his 60s was at the opticians this week. He was patched as a 3 and 4 year old and ended up having an operation on his eyes. He was born at 28weeks prenicus and had measles. The optician was amazed at how good his vision is in his weaker eye given his history. They said he must have had exceptional treatment as a young child in particular the op but the eye treatment as a whole. Even though my dad tried his best to break the glasses....1960s milk bottle glasses and a patch and tiny were magnets for bullies. Thankfully these days are pretty much over