OT: Does your child wear glasses?

[KerriMc]

Hello

My oldest dd, 5 years, was just tested at the optomotrist's office and it was discovered that she is farsighted and has a lazy eye (left side). We had absolutely no clue there were any problems, but the school did a screening and she was flagged as having a possible problem. Her eye does not noticeably turn in at all. Neither dh nor I wear glasses, and she is learning to read, colours all the time, loves to write and draw pictures ... we had no idea and I am feeling really bad that I didn't discover this earlier.

I know it isn't a big deal that she has to wear glasses, but I am worrying about her. I worry that someone will say something to hurt her or make her feel badly. Right now she is very excited about the pink glasses we picked out. We have been told that she will need to be re-evaluated after three weeks and if we don't see some improvement, she will be patched half of her waking time. After about a month of that, again if no improvement, she would be patched full time. I suppose this is the part that worries me more than the glasses. What if the glasses don't work? How do we handle patching her at this age? She will most definitely not be impressed with that!

Anyways ... what age did your child get their glasses and what is their general reaction to them? Do they wear them all of the time or take them off during activities like gymnastics, dance, soccer, or hockey? Have you had any problems, like kids being cruel? I'm just worrying about this ... maybe too much ... but I just can't help it. I guess it is the mama bear in me, wanting to protect her Any help or suggestion in how to make this transition as easy as possible for her would be REALLY appreciated!!

Thanks so much ...
Kerri

p.s. I was thinking of celebrating on the day she gets her glasses ... would that be too much? Just a little family gathering (me, dh, other dd, my parents). Silly?

 

[DisneyTeacher]

Hugs to you. I was where you are 4 years ago. My son was 3 when he got his glasses. Neither my DH or I wear glasses so it wasn't something we were watching for. One of his eyes started to turn in when he was watching TV so we took him in for an eye exam expecting to hear that he had weak eye muscles in that eye. I was shocked to learn that his vision was really bad. I had no clue, he knew his number, could count to 20+, and seemed to see everything just fine.

Two years after getting his glasses we changed eye doctors and he ended up having eye surgery to correct is alignment. We didn't try the patching due to how much crossing there was in both eyes (we really couldn't see it if he wore his glasses).

The second day he had his glasses he walked up and said, "Daddy, my eyes work better today." That was it, he never took them off again. His vision is so bad that he can't see w/o his glasses so we never have to remind him to put them on, it's the first thing he does when he gets out of bed.

I've asked him if kids ever tease him and he said nope, never. I was also really worried about that but it hasn't happened in 4 years. I think glasses are so much better looking than when I was a kid that other kids don't even notice them.

Make it a big deal and have fun making over her all day, it's not silly at all to celebrate getting glasses.

 

[Eeyore_girl]

Well, I got glasses in 2nd grade and loved them. I was SO excited to pick them up, and I had no rude comments. Maybe jokingly in jr high my guyfriends would call me 4 eyes but all in fun. I started wearing contacts halfway through 7th grade, but trust me, all they were was a hassle after a while.

 

[Eeyore_girl]

Oh, just a little P.S., a party sounds like such a fun idea! Go for it!

 

[RIDisneyFan]

My DD8 has worn glasses since she was 2. We have never had any problem with other kids teasing her, and she is a very sensitive kid, gets her feelings hurt very easily. She has not happy about wearing glasses at first, didn't want to try any of the frames. But once she got them, we had no problem getting her to wear them, she realized she could see much better.

 

[huckleberrykate]

both my girls wear glasses. My youngest got hers at about 13 months and hated them what a challenge. My oldest never complained about her eyes, but we thought with the youngest eyesight so bad it may be a good idea to have her checked. Well her vision is much worse then my youngest which we did not think was possible. My oldest got hers several months before her 5th b-day and loves them. She says all the time how great it is to see little things. My youngest now wears hers all the time it is that me 2 thing. They both picked their frames and I would suggest paying a little extra for a good warrenty that covers frames and lenses, We have had to replace my youngest ones frames 5 times and lenses once and my oldest ones frames 2 times and lenses once all cover by our warrenty thank goodness. My oldest has not had any problems with other children and both get lots of attention on how cute they look in them so be prepared for that. Good luck and I hope all goes well with the glasses, patches can be hard but they make some really cute ones now so she maybe able to get them with a design on them. You will be amased at what she can see that you had no I idea that she counldn't if that makes sense.(at least we were with my oldest). Her reading and writing improved 100 times over.

 

[swillis]

My son is 10 years old. He has been wearing glasses since he was 7. He has to wear them for protection not for vision improvement. He has very limited vision in his right eye due to a severe mastoid infection that caused a blockage in his head, and crushed his optical nerve in his right eye.

Anyway...because of that his opthalmologist has insisted that he wear glasses at all times. If he were to get an injury to his left eye, he may never be able to do normal things like drive a car, play sports etc.

He did resist at first, but he generally is used to it at this point. He has always been allowed to pick out his own frames (within reason of course) and because he HAS to wear them during active periods (recess, gym class etc) we always buy 2 pair at the same time. We also buy a product called "Flexon" or "Flex Kids" these are bendable, flexible frames that have a 1 year warranty. SOOOO worth it. We have used the warranty a few times.

My son plays football, basketball, hockey...you name it! The only time he doesn't wear his glasses is swimming and sleeping.

He does get a little whiny about having to wear them, but I just remind him that he can't play football for the New England Patriots with 2 vision impaired eyes.

I hope this helps. I think if you can try to be rather nonchalant about the whole thing it will be easier on your daughter. At 5 years old the kids aren't quite so cruel yet. If having to wear glasses is going to be a long term thing, it will be something that will get easier as she gets older, because people will be used to her in glasses.

 

[kellyg403]

Youngest ds has had glasses since he was 7. He was an honor roll student and did great at sports. He also was flagged at a vision screening at school. When we went to the eye doctor he said "Wow..his vision is TERRIBLE" and after fitting him with glasses said "he should be a straight A student in no time" I said well, he already is. Eye doctor said "well, he must be a really good listener then because he couldn't see anything" I have never been as embarrased as that day and so ashamed that I DIDN'T notice. I worried about him being teased and the from the first made a big deal at how handsome he looked. Noone so far has made fun of him and even he will tell you now that he really does see much better! Because it helped his vision so much we never had a problem with his wearing his glasses. Quite the opposite. I often have to go in his room at night and remove his glasses while he is sleeping. He seems to think he will be able to see his dreams much better too!

Kelly

 

[crjack]

Honestly, braces and glasses are both so common these days it's hard to find a child in our school yard that doesnt have one or the other or both. I wouldnt worry about teasing.

My son was diagnosed with the same issue several years ago but he was late being picked up with his lazy eye. We worried as well but it really turned out fine. We decided to go with eye drops vs. patching, mostly for the convenience but also for better compliance.

Our eye dr. suggested atropine drops, which we put in at night, that basically impairs the "good eye" and forces the weaker eye to work harder. My son is pretty good with following instructions but with the drop there was no chance of the patch coming off or being taken off when he was in school. The success rate is very good because compliance is easy but check with your own doctor to make sure it's appropriate treatment.

My son is fair with blue eyes and we used the drops every other night since fair eyes are more sensitive to them. After one full year of treatment his vision improved so much he has not needed it since but we still have him use his glasses.

We also celebrated DS new braces with a "last meal" the night before and he has fun changing the colors of his elastics. Enjoy it and your daughter will as well!

 

[Pixiedust34]

My ds is 9 and started wearing glasses about a year ago. He likes his glasses! He has a muscle weakness in his left eye and the glasses do make an improvement in his vision.

He does Tae Kwon Do and wears his glasses for his lessons. He puts a safety strap on the back of them. He also wore the safety strap at WDW and tightened it on fast rides.

 

[TDS373X]

dd6 has had glasses since she was 2. I worried that she wouldn't wear her glasses but her vision was is so bad she really can't see much of anything without them so once she got them I didn't have to remind her to wear them because she could see!!! We do have to have the occasional reminder about where a safe place to put them is. No one has ever made fun of her. The only thing we've had a problem with is the school sending home a paper saying she was screened and she might have a vision problem apparently she wasn't the only one obviously the screener missed the glasses she was wearing She plays soccer in spring and fall and wears them with the exception of swimming she doesn't take them off sometimes not even to sleep. Have fun with it

 

[calie_j]

My DD has has glasses since she was 14 months old; what a challenge those years were getting her to keep them on (we had to practically duct tape them on) and all the times she'd grab them and break off the ear piece (not sure what that's called but once I just got them fixed and drove 15 minutes to her appt and she'd ripped it off again). We noticed her eye turning out right around her 1st b-day and it's pretty noticable, she had surgery last yr when she was 7 and that helped alot.

She also used the patches, usually a few hours a day so never in school and she still hates them. Glasses are pretty common nowadays so there isn't much teasing. The patches may be a problem; you can get the ones that stick on the eye like a bandaid which work best, the cute designs that go over the glasses, or I'd suggest asking your Dr. for the eyedrops if it's decided to patch full time. The eyedrops will blur her vision in one eye forcing her to use the other eye, same effect as a patch. For the poster using these how long do they last? I'm going to ask about them at our appt in June since it's such a hassle to get her to wear a patch.

You should also check into vision therapy. There are many reports of this fairly new technique making drastic improvements. Do a search for it and find a DR who does this in your area. I tried this but my DD wasn't a candidate for it, however I thought that DR did a much more thorough exam then my regular pediatric opthamologist.

DD wears her glasses all the time except in gymnastics or dance recitals, times when there's increased risk of breaking them and for special events for fashion reasons.

Calie

 

[Mom to Jordan]

DS has had glasses since he was 7 months old. He really did not wear them well until about 18months. He has done really well ever since then. Choosing a pair that she likes is a great idea. Another good idea is to establish a rule about where the glasses will be if she is not wearing them. I can not tell you how many hours we have spent hunting the glasses when he was little. I bought a really cute glasses holder shaped like a dog and that did help. Never any issues with teasing even though DS's glasses were very thick. We used to get a lot of remarks from older men about his glasses for some reason. Because there is more screening now, more children wear glasses so that makes it easier.

Patching is another issue.
We did off and on patching when DS was a infant and toddler. It was pure HE.. He would not leave it on. We switched doctors about the time he turned three and we tried a year of full time patching. It did wonders but was really tough. After a year we cut back on the patch time. I did not patch when he was in school but we got a early start and were able to get away with this. I do think patching during school would be very tough and I would try to avoid this if any way possible. It is not only a social issue but she will not be able to do her work nearly as well. The drops did not work for my DS but for some kids that would be an option. The older the child is, the more important it is to do agressive patching because as they get older, the patching has less effect.
We broke all the parenting rules and bribed, begged and rewarded to the max to get him to keep that patch on. We got a 20/500 eye to 20/100 and corrected dural vision to 20/40. We went to contacts at age 10 becasue his glasses were so thick. He LOVES them.

Hope that something in there helps. PM me if I can help any other way.

Jordan's mom
BTW he was a 24 weeker that we were told would be blind so glasses and 20/40 is a ture miracle for us!!!!!

 

[DVCLiz]

Also remember kids are getting contacts pretty early these days, too. Some in DD's grade got them and were able to take care of them in 4th grade. So you may not have such a long haul with the glasses.

 

[soccerfreak_08]

My sis who is 8 got glasses a few years ago. She didn't like to read and was having problems until they found out she needed glasses. Now she loves to read and hasn't had any problems with the kids at school. She too got a pink pair and loved them! I wear glasses also and play sports alot. There isn't a real problem wearing them while playing sports after you get use the glasses.

 

[taximomfor4]

3 of my kids wear glasses. DD7 is slightly farsighted, with astigmatism and a blind spot through one eye. She got glasses at age 2. DS6 got glasses after his preschool vision screening -- he was 3. He is extremely farsighted. DD3 got glasses at age 2 when she suddenly got a lazy eye. She is only slightly farsighted. Most kids are until age 7 or so...it is part of the normal eye growth. But when lazy eye occurs, it is treated sometimes. We patched her good eye so the lazy one would get stronger, for several hours per day. But now her good eye is lazy...badly so. As soon as her glasses come off at night, her formerly good eye crosses and stays there. VERY disturbing.

None of my kids have ever been made fun of for their glasses. They all 3 wear their glasses every waking minute except when bathing or swimming. That was the recommendation of the pediatric opthalmologist.

 

[Becky2005]

My DD started wearing glasses in 3rd grade. We knew she would need them though around 2nd grade. She had gone in June for a check-up and was basically told she could pass the driver's license test to not need glasses but just barely. So, by the end of 2nd grade she was having a hard time. We had to wait until June though because of insurance.

For her, I don't think it was that big of a deal because I wear glasses and have since 2nd grade. If anything, it was the opposite way, she was excited to be able to get glasses.

I don't remember anyone saying anything to her - even if they did, she is quite skilled at coming back with a zing right back on it. The only bad thing I can think of is someone possibly calling her "four-eyes" - I don't think that is a prevelent as it was in the past though...DD just uses the "yep...four-eyes sees better than two" (kind of a take on 2 heads are better than 1 saying). However, as I said our situation is different as DD is around people who wear glasses all the time.

She did not have to wear them to read (she is near sighted) though at first, so if she wanted to take them off she could. I think she pretty much wears them all the time now.

She wears her glasses for all sports. She's a gymnast on team level and has never had a problem with her glasses even with doing flips. The only thing you really need to take your glasses off for is swimming and sleeping. Otherwise, DD wears them all the time (and of course, if she is going on a roller coaster of any sort, I make her take them off - even if it may not be necessary I do it anyway - don't want to take the chance of losing glasses when it's just as easy to put them away ahead of time.)

I have the opposite problem of my current 3rd grade boy being upset because he WANTS glasses. *sigh* You can't win.

 

[Becky2005]

The only thing we've had a problem with is the school sending home a paper saying she was screened and she might have a vision problem apparently she wasn't the only one obviously the screener missed the glasses she was wearing

That's funny! My DD tells me if you have glasses, they look at them ?? and ask something about when was your last exam or something like that and then basically go "NEXT".

I remember in school, I STILL had to take those vision tests just got to wear my glasses on while I did it. I was so surprised when DD told me she didn't have to take those tests because she was wearing glasses.

 

[carone0318]

My dd(9) got glass when she was 4 right before going into Kindergarten. The kids at pre-school were really interested in her glasses and she has never had a bad comment about them. As she got older (1st/2nd grade and older)we would talk and I'd tell her that every child gets picked on for something in school and if the worst she gets is either her glasses or her petite body, then that's not too bad, it could be worse.

As others have said, if your child truly needs them, they will wear them because they can see. Dd is far sighted and has an astigmatism in both eyes. We were told that she needed glasses since shortly after she was born. Neither dh or I wear them and it is all new to us.

Dd does play competitive soccer and is also a competitive gymnast. She has had contacts since she was 8. I really don't want her wearing glasses on the field or in the gym for safety reasons, and the doctors want her to see so she has contacts since August 05. I wasn't about to play for regular glasses, sport glasses for soccer and contacts for the gym, so she just wears contacts for all sports. I have to say that my dd took a pretty bad fall of the the uneven bars and landed on her shoulder/head and if she had her glasses on I could only wonder what damage that would of done to her face. She is really good with the contacts now. I can tell you though the days that she doesn't have to go to the gym after school she still prefers her glasses (she rather sleep the extra 5 minutes that it takes her to put them in.)

I think that dd truly likes her glasses and there are several children in her school that are just getting glasses in 2nd - 4th grade, at least she came into the school with them.

Good luck with the patch, I hope all works out for you!

 

[Tissa]

Both my ds's started wearing contacts at 8 weeks old and then glasses at 15 months. They hated wearing glasses until about age 3 when they realized that they see better with them than without them. The lenses are really thick I have also found that the only people who comment on them are adults. We had a cm last year keep asking my ds why his glasses were so thick? I told her that he doesn't see well but she kept going on about it

Just go on about how pretty your daughter looks in them and tell her not to worry about what other people think.