Worried after opticians visit

[Blueseudeshoes]

Hi everyone i’m just looking for some advice/reassurance please and just wanted to note I do suffer with slight health anxiety so could be fully over reacting to this!

my daughter (3) had an eye test yesterday and we were referred to our local ophthalmology for further testing as she has quite a large prescription showing
they tried there best to to the tests (she was very tired & fidgety)
prescription is -5.75 in left eye -5.50 in right eye.
after googling as I was panicking (bad idea i know) i’ve ended up worried all night and awfully panicked.

has anyone had similar experiences and it turned out okay? I’d usually go to my mum for this kind of thing but she passed a few years back and i’m now just stuck in my own mind as DH is a “everything works out fine” kind of guy haha

thanks for reading & any help

My dd was found to be long sighted at 18 months old and was under hospital orthoptist care until the age of 7/8ish. It's pretty normal to be under hospital care if they have long/short sight at an early age. My dd still has glasses and is 21 now.

Has she been prescribed glasses yet? My dd also had a squint and had to do patching treatment too.

You said they struggled to get a proper assessment so it’s hard to know anything at this point. She might see totally fine or be slightly shortsighted, or she might have quite significant loss of vision. The most important thing is that she’s being assessed by specialists and if she needs glasses to see properly, it’s good that this is picked up before school. To be honest, I’d think that you’d have noticed if she was that shortsighted - this would affect ball games, playground behaviour, looking at books with you etc

thank you for your fast reply! Yes her glasses arrive next week I’m an awful worrier i’m in therapy for it and trying to manage it, but things like this really throw me off

thanks again for answering xx

it really hasn’t, at most she’d squint watchinf TV occasionally but not all the time. She’s fine with books/playing ect so i’m shocked by it

thank you for your reply it’s appreciated

Short sight means they have good close vision but poorer longer range vision. Children's eyes are good at accommodating so you often wouldn't notice an issue.

Was it just a routine eye test or did you have a reason to take her for one?

Just a routine we missed the nurse in school a while back so I took her.
I’m probably just over thinking it all she’s just my whole world so I worry😂

thanks for your reply @dementedpixie

What are you panicking about? DD has glasses at 18m. I was sad, but there's nothing to actually panic about.

Just with the prescription being so large at her age really and the eye hospital referral its just made me worry but i’ve got a tendency to panic about nothing at all haha

thanks for your reply!

There's nothing to panic about. It's standard to be under hospital care for that age group. You've found out early which is good too as she'll get glasses to improve her sight

Thanks so much everybody you really have helped put my mind at ease

Just follow up and see how things go. I very much doubt you’d notice any signs of vision issues (unless really significant) at only 3. She isn’t properly reading yet and she’s not doing loads of computer work. My dd was long sighted (significantly so) but we didn’t notice until 7 when COVID hit and she was suddenly staring at a laptop screen a good chunk of the day doing online schooling. She started to complain of headaches.

Fwiw, children’s vision changes significantly as they grow and the shape of their eyeballs change. She was more than a 3 in both eyes at 7. She’s 12 now and just had her eye exam and her vision is entirely normal and she doesn’t need glasses anymore. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much for this it really eased my mind, so glad to hear your daughters sight improved