DD5 needs glasses--but for how long?

[Bibbidi]

My dd5 had her annual eye exam this morning - she has not needed glasses previously. This morning however the eye doctor was concerned because her farsightedness was different enough in each eye that he felt she needed some correction to prevent lazy eye from occurring. My question is (which I forgot to ask him) was will she now be a lifelong glass wearer, or once she wears glasses for a while and her brain refocuses more attention to the "lazy eye" (which is not even noticeable at this point), will she not have to have glasses anymore? Anyone have experience with this or know the answer? I realize everyone's eyes are different and hers are still growing with her, but I just wasn't sure if this was the beginning of lifelong eyeglass wearing. This is budget related because new glasses every year will definitely affect my budget

 

[roadtripper]

I don't know much about lazy eye, and I am NOT an optician, but I have been happy with www.zennioptical.com. I have ordered glasses for everyone in my family from them, and none were more than 15.00. If her prescription is mild, it might be worth a shot. The reason I ordered from them was that DD 14 wanted 300.00 frames for her mild prescription. I got her cute blue frames that she loves for 12.95.

Also, DS 12 has worn glasses since he was very young due to multiple vision issues, and his eyesight has gotten better. She may only need them for a short period of time. Good Luck!

 

[Longsx3]

DD (12) did not start wearing glasses until she was 7, every year since her eyes have gotten worse, this year was the smallest change, which they say is normal. I buy new glasses every year, next year we will buy online. It is not something I budget for but I guess that is a wise idea.

When she is old enough we will pay for Lasik, I should probably start budgeting for that.

 

[bumbershoot]

Seems odd to me the OD wouldn't prescribe for her farsightedness to begin with.


Longsx3, remember she will need to wait for a long period of time of stability with her eyesight. And also review the nasty side-effects that surgery can have. I thought "it will be perfect or I will be blind" and that's it, but I've had all the low-level, add-up-to-be-awful side effects out there, and it's a rotten way to live. Seriously. For people that have it go perfectly it's nearly miraculous, but you don't know until you're one of the miserable ones with nothing to be done...

 

[disneyorvegas]

My DD, now 7, started wearing glasses when she was 5 for the same reason as yours. Even the glasses didn't strengthen her eye enough, and she ended up having to wear a patch to make the lazy (or weak) eye stronger. If that is the only problem, your child might not need glasses beyond that; however, my daughter also has an astigmatism (her eye is not perfectly round), so she will always need to wear glasses. This is not a surprise since both of her parents have it!

One word of advice - get cheap clip-on sunglasses, since she/he can no longer wear sunglasses.

Good luck! I'm actually making the decision to buy rec specs for her now since she has bent hers twice in karate in the past couple of months!

 

[Bibbidi]

My DD, now 7, started wearing glasses when she was 5 for the same reason as yours. Even the glasses didn't strengthen her eye enough, and she ended up having to wear a patch to make the lazy (or weak) eye stronger. If that is the only problem, your child might not need glasses beyond that; however, my daughter also has an astigmatism (her eye is not perfectly round), so she will always need to wear glasses. This is not a surprise since both of her parents have it!

One word of advice - get cheap clip-on sunglasses, since she/he can no longer wear sunglasses.

Good luck! I'm actually making the decision to buy rec specs for her now since she has bent hers twice in karate in the past couple of months!

Thanks for the tips on sunglasses, I hadn't thought of that yet. Thanks to the other posted too about Zenni--I have progressive bifocals myself so Zenni wasn't that much cheaper than my optometrist with my insurance benefits. However, for my daughter, it would probably be worth having a spare, I will look into that. I suspect that my daughter will probably need glasses for another reason later on just because DH has such poor eyesight. At least we caught this early on--it wasn't detected in last year's exam so I don't feel like we've lost any time at least.

 

[zoemurr]

and a friend both got glasses around 5. DD is nearsighted, her friend farsighted. We were told my DDs are for life (she inherited very bad genes for eyes) but her friend should grow out of it. Now, telling you this.. they are both about to be 10 and friend still has the specs.

Both also wore a patch for a time. Friend's worked, DD needed surgery 2x to correct the "lazy eye" which also was never visiable to us, except for while he was testing her.

My DD has expensive glasses from the eye dr's office (they are vera bradley and adorable but we got her perscription sunglasses from zenni for $17. Office said they are identical to her "every day" glasses.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Can you call back or stop in now, and ask the eye doctor these questions? While anecdotal advice is good and can be encouraging, each case is different.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Lazy Eye (& astigmatisim)... thats me! Frist they tried the patch when I was young.. that did not work. Then they went to the glasses when I was 11. I wore them all thru school and into college. I stopped wearing them when I was not "reading books" as much. So basically when I was no longer attending schools. I did not need them again until I hit the over 40 vision. So for about 20 years, I was free from glasses. I now have astigmatisim in both eyes (when I was younger, only had it in one), had double cateract surgery last year (at the age of 51) and cannot see (to read) to save my life without my glasses. My distance vision is 20/25 that is pretty darn good... but the reading portion of my glasses are a 225 and from what the docs have told me, that is strong for an over 40 vision. So I am not sure if my "Lazy Eye" playes a part in my vision. I also have developed Druson (not sure of spelling) in my right eye. My mom had cateract surgery when she was in her early 50's as well & developed Macular Degeneration. I have a feeling I am following her path. She never needed glasses as a child, nor did my father.

My sister's DS had the Lazy Eye (& astigmitisim) and wore the glasses for about 6 years.. he out grew his before finishing school. He will be 21 next week and doesn't wear glasses. My DS developed astigmatism & out grew it (no lazy eye), but still needs glasses for distance and this past week, we found out that my youngest DD does as well (distance). She has no lazy eye nor astigmitism. My DH has been wearing glasses for distance since he was a child.. but for not Lazy Eye or astigmitism...

I hope I haven't confused you much.... bottom line, every child will be different. Your doc cannot tell you how long your child will need glasses. Only time will tell.

 

[A Mickeyfan]

I don't know much about lazy eye, and I am NOT an optician, but I have been happy with www.zennioptical.com. I have ordered glasses for everyone in my family from them, and none were more than 15.00. If her prescription is mild, it might be worth a shot. The reason I ordered from them was that DD 14 wanted 300.00 frames for her mild prescription. I got her cute blue frames that she loves for 12.95.

Also, DS 12 has worn glasses since he was very young due to multiple vision issues, and his eyesight has gotten better. She may only need them for a short period of time. Good Luck!

While Zeni has some great prices, for a 5 year old, I think I would go with someone local. At 5 sometimes they cannot tell you if they really can see out of the glasses that good. I don't think I would chance Zenni. They have to be fitted perfectly to get the full use especially since this is a Lazy Eye deal. You have to get the muscles to work properly and the only way they will is if both eyes are seeing the same, equally..

 

[asoko]

My DD4 was diagnosed with anisometropia (different vision in each eye) when she was about 1. She is far sighted, one eye is over a 4 and the other is about 2.5. She has had glasses since 14 mos. If she had been the same in each eye and not too far sighted, she wouldn't have gotten glasses so early. She has been patched to try to prevent Amblyopia (lazy eye), right now we are off the patch but the dr. will reevaluate when she goes back in a couple months. Our dr. has said that it is possible that she could eventually not need the glasses, but I am doubting it. I'm also sure she will need to be patched again. I know a few adults who do not use one of their eyes. I don't want my DD to go through what they go through, so I am doing everything I can to give her the best chance of making sure her brain remembers she has two eyes and to use them.

I have a friend who's DS failed a vision test at preschool and needed glasses and a patch also. She noticed her DD3 squinting and took her to the dr. She is super farsighted (same in both eyes). My friend was teary eyed when after DD put on her glasses she said "momma, you have eyes" She had never seen that detail. Be happy you got her when she is young. My bet is that you will see her noticing things she has never seen clearly before. That is the greatest feeling, knowing she doesn't have to see life through a blur.

 

[asoko]

Oh yeah, budget and glasses. DD4 got new glasses in Sept, broke the frames, got another new pair, those frames broke right before Disney, got new frames the day we were leaving. Now I think they are too small for her. Make sure and get the insurance for about $10 from the frame place to replace the frames if they break. They will break. Her first pair I think we had to replace 2 times also.

 

[ladulce]

My son will soon need glasses, also. He has had 3 optical surgeries, and, they have allowed him to see (YAY), but, not very well. I have had great success with the following site: zennioptical.com. I am wearing the coolest bright green funky glasses ever right now ($8) and have awesome sunglasses with diamonds on them ($12). They are prescription, and, I have had them over a year and lOVE LOVE LOVE them. Good luck, and, at this age, I would buy 5 of the $8 pairs and not have to worry so much about her breaking them!

 

[polkadotminnie]

DD12 was diagnosed with farsightedness, astigamatism, and amblyopia when she was 5. The doctor didn't think he could get her better than 60 in her left eye. She started at 25/100. We patched her eye and did eye exercises nightly. We were able to get her to 25/40 in glasses. She wanted contacts when she was 7. We told her that if she could take them in and out by herself she could have them. She is 20/25 in contacts and has worn them since she was 7. Considering where she started, we are so thankful! Her eyes were a little better this past visit so there is always hope.

 

[wendygrace]

DS has this same problem but we go to a practice that believes in vision therapy. He will get vision therapy and a special type of patching for at least the next 8 months at which point we'll evaluate. They do not recommend glasses at this time. He may or may not need them later.

 

[disneymom2003]

Call the doctor back and ask him.

 

[Bibbidi]

Can you call back or stop in now, and ask the eye doctor these questions? While anecdotal advice is good and can be encouraging, each case is different.

Thank you for your comment. I will see him again when we pick up her eyeglasses and ask him then. I just was wondering in the meantime what others' experiences were with glasses for their kids. I was just caught so offguard by the discovery of the lazy eye situation that I didn't have time to think of the questions I wanted to ask. I also know to an extent that I'll get an answer like, "well it's hard to tell, every child is different, we'll keep an eye on it and make sure we address it appropriately" - so that is why I was wondering what other people have experienced with their own children.

 

[Bibbidi]

While Zeni has some great prices, for a 5 year old, I think I would go with someone local. At 5 sometimes they cannot tell you if they really can see out of the glasses that good. I don't think I would chance Zenni. They have to be fitted perfectly to get the full use especially since this is a Lazy Eye deal. You have to get the muscles to work properly and the only way they will is if both eyes are seeing the same, equally..

I ordered her glasses through the eye doctor yesterday - I really want her everyday pair to be from his office. That is what she'll wear most of the time--I think I might order a pair of sunglasses for her through Zenni though and have the eye doctor check them for me to be sure they're ok.

 

[disneyoverload]

I had lazy eye from when I was 3 until now. I got glasses at 3, eye patch at 4 and surgery and then eye patches again, wore glasses until I was 12, then switched to contacts until now (16). I know my vision has improved, but along the way it went up and down and didn't really stabilize until around being 13. It's not significantly improving, but my doctor says that eventually I will probably not need glasses/contacts anymore.

 

[rantnnravin]

DS has this same problem but we go to a practice that believes in vision therapy. He will get vision therapy and a special type of patching for at least the next 8 months at which point we'll evaluate. They do not recommend glasses at this time. He may or may not need them later.

I just have to second this. You may want to look into vision therapy for her. I had reaaallly bad eyesight (nearly blind), and astigmatism and had tracking problems when I was a kid. I went to VT for several months to correct the lazy eye issues and strengthen the muscles in my eyes and my vision improved. I still wear contacts but, as my VT doctor said years ago, my vision is still improving.
So if the issue is the concern about the lazy eye, i would definitely look further into VT for your DD.