astigmatism?

[5lilfish]

My 11 yr old was just diagnosed with an astigmatism. She also tested slightly nearsighter. She is getting glasses. The doctor said she wouldn't need to wear them for softball. I'm reading some sites that contradict that. The sites say that this astigmatism can affect her vision during sports. With travel softball (esp hitting) requiring her to be able to see clearly, will I do her any harm by having her wear her glasses (with some sort of protection)? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks...
Jess

 

[Ceila]

Like nearsightedness, astigmatism varies in degree of severity. Once she has her new glasses, you will be able to tell whether she feels she needs them during posrts. You can get a second pair of glasses specifically made for kids to wear while playing sports if she does need them.

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I have it in both eyes. I did get glasses but found they affected my depth perception and I was fine without them, so I stopped wearing them. My balance was thrown off when I wore them.

 

[sunshine girl]

I have astigmatism. I am nearsighted. I have glasses but usually I wear contacts... special contacts for people with astigmatism. I wouldn't go anywhere without my corrective lenses (one or the other, contacts or glasses) in place!

I am not qualified to give medical advice, but I can't imagine skipping the corrective lenses once one has been diagnosed with a vision problem. Maybe your daughter's case is incredibly mild, but I always thought eyesight would only get worse at a faster rate if left untreated...? Hm.

I've been wearing contacts since I was 11 or 12-ish, I think. One of the sports I played as a kid was soccer ... definitely needed my contacts for that!! Hopefully you find a good solution for your daughter.

 

[Nette]

My (moderate-severe) astigmatism only really bothers me at night when I'm looking at bright lights. They tend to have a halo around them. Other times, in normal light, it really doesn't affect me at all.

 

[SandrA9810]

My vision is bad enough that I need them all the time. And the eye with the astigmatism is worse than the eye without.

They make plenty of glasses for kids that play sports. And most the time you're gonna get the poly carbonate lenses anyways (it's only 20$ more for me with insurance). Just don't forget the scratch resistance too.

One thing I did learn with the last pair that got made. The astigmatism changed just a bit, but when they came in, I had the hardest time with the depth perception. I have to wear glasses for everything, reading a book to reading a road sign. So it's highly important that I can look up from the dash to the road without getting a headache.
So the eye doctor remade the glasses with my old prescription. That got rid of some of the depth perception problems. One easy way to tell if it's off, is to close the ok eye, and tilt your head to the side. If things look clear with correct depth, then the prescription is off. They still had to remake the lenses because the base curve of the lens was causing me issues. So that can play an effect too. I think they were cut on a base 4 or 5 and remade into a base 2. Each number represents the amount of curve in the lenses. If you have horrible vision like me, the less of the curve the better. And you cant have astigmatism if you want a high curve lens (like wrap-around oakley sunglasses).

When I was in the colorguard, my instructor suggested getting contact lenses for it. I did it, but I really wasn't comfortable in them. And I haven't worn them since high school.

 

[disneymarie]

My (moderate-severe) astigmatism only really bothers me at night when I'm looking at bright lights. They tend to have a halo around them. Other times, in normal light, it really doesn't affect me at all.

Thank you for sharing that. My dd 14 has terrible astigmatism and near sightedness. She ask me about the halo affect all the time and I did not understand it.

Sometimes she will look at something like her brothers arm and see a white spot on it. She has anxiety and panic worrying she will lose her sight.

 

[mickeyboat]

I have a mile astigmatism in my left eye and I am near-sighted. I correct for the astigmatism in my glasses, but not my contacts because I haven't found a really comfortable contact that corrects it, and they are a lot more expensive.

I don't really notice a difference.

I would have her try with and without and see how she does.

 

[taximomfor4]

If you trust your eye professional enough to get the prescription from him/her, you can also probably trust him/her to let you know when your child needs to wear the glasses and not. As a teen, my prescription wasn't strong. I was told to only wear the glasses when I had to see things far away (movie, chalkboard, etc) so that I didn't become "dependent" on the glasses. In my 20's, my eyes got worse -- astigmatism (mild) and way stronger prescription. I was told about 5 yrs ago to go to full-time glasses use.

DD16 started needing glasses just to see far away (part time use) 2yrs ago. Last month, I took her in for an eye exam. Her vision as she grew got way worse, and now she was told full-time glasses, too.

So often, it is based on the prescription.

If your child does fine in sports without the glasses, I would do that as long as you can. Your eye dr. will let you know when it's time to switch.

ABout astigmatism + contacts: My glasses correct astigmatism (mild), my contacts don't. The eye dr. explained something about since contacts fit your eye, they sort of automatically adjust like .25 of an astigmatism (there was some # thrown in there, lol). So I don't need special contacts yet.

 

[Magpie]

You mean not everyone sees the halos around light???

I always thought that was the best part of Christmas lights - all the pretty fuzz everywhere.

My whole family has terrible eyes. My doctor says it's all about eye shape - so whether you wear your glasses or not is pretty irrelevant. Your eyes will do what they will do, regardless. However, you CAN strengthen them by doing a lot of long-distance sports-type activity. If you only use your eyes for close-up work (like reading or computers), then they get used to just focussing at that one distance.

If your doctor says your dd doesn't need them for sports, and if your dd is fine with it too, then she doesn't need them for sports.

Lots of people have glasses just for reading and schoolwork. Your dd is lucky she has such a mild prescription!

 

[Imzadi]

OP, I really wouldn't get hung up on the word, "astigmatism." It's just a form of nearsightedness. In the end, nearsightedness is nearsightedness, and DD will see to the degree she does. If that makes sense.

The times "astigmatism" counts is when you have to pay for more expensive glasses & contacts because of it. Ouch! None of those cheap ads at Sears & Lenscrafters for $20 glasses. Although you CAN go to zennioptical.com and get an $8 pr of glassess, and they are great!

I have a mile astigmatism in my left eye and I am near-sighted. I correct for the astigmatism in my glasses, but not my contacts because I haven't found a really comfortable contact that corrects it, and they are a lot more expensive.

I don't really notice a difference.

Have you tried the toric lenses? Yes, they are much more expensive and somewhat better.

It's funny, my eyesight was so bad with contacts, when I would wear them, I would have to explain to people who were used to me wearing glasses, that I couldn't see.

If you trust your eye professional enough to get the prescription from him/her, you can also probably trust him/her to let you know when your child needs to wear the glasses and not. As a teen, my prescription wasn't strong. I was told to only wear the glasses when I had to see things far away (movie, chalkboard, etc) so that I didn't become "dependent" on the glasses.

Yes, that is true also for switching to bifocals. Once a person does, his eyes become dependant on the bifocals. My brother is an optometrist. He always said to avoid getting bifocals, but switch to different level of reading glasses if we need them, as we age.

I was at the top limit of age in getting Lasik surgery done for my eyes. And I had really bad nearsightedness/astigmatism. I did have problems after getting Lasik. Much of it due to aging and the eye muscles just not being as flexible with age. If I had had bifocals, I probably wouldn't have been able to get the Lasik done.

 

[taximomfor4]

Yes, that is true also for switching to bifocals. Once a person does, his eyes become dependant on the bifocals. My brother is an optometrist. He always said to avoid getting bifocals, but switch to different level of reading glasses if we need them, as we age.

I was at the top limit of age in getting Lasik surgery done for my eyes. And I had really bad nearsightedness/astigmatism. I did have problems after getting Lasik. Much of it due to aging and the eye muscles just not being as flexible with age. If I had had bifocals, I probably wouldn't have been able to get the Lasik done.

youngest dd has bifocals now, to re-train her eyes (or something like that). She will start getting weaned off of them in a few months, I think. Basically, the opthalmologist will have to prescribe slightly weaker ones every 6 mos or so (I THINK that's the time frame) until no more bifocals.

For myself, my nearsightedness is so bad that the dr. wrote me a half prescription for reading (it corrects the astigmatism and some of the vision). My normal prescription makes the words kind of overly sharp or something. Mostly, though, I read by looking under my regular glasses, lol.

 

[mickeyboat]

Have you tried the toric lenses? Yes, they are much more expensive and somewhat better.

Yes, I have tried the toric lenses. They were not very comfortable to me because they were too dry and they seemed to never spin to where they needed to be. Plus they are too expensive for the little benefit I get. I wouldn't be surprised if they have been improved upon since I last tried them, so I may try again someday.