astigmatism in a five year old

Discussion in 'Optometry Archives' started by JW, Oct 29, 2003.

  1. JW

    JW Guest

    Hi group,

    My five year old girl was checked by an optometrist today and found to
    have astigmatism :

    OD -0.75 180
    OS -0.50 180

    We asked if she must wear glasses, since my daughter is very active
    and might
    hurt herself or break a pair every other day. The optometrist said her
    astigmatism is not too severve, and if we want her not to wear glasses
    it is not very likely that it would hurt her eyesight by doing that,
    just that we should come back every six month to have a check up and
    make sure nothing is getting worse.

    I would appreciate if some experts or parents in this group could
    share their knowledge / experience. What is the best for the long term
    eyesight for my girl ? To wear eye glasses now, or not to wear eye
    glasses and try and see if the eyes would correct the refractive
    errors themselves ?
     
    JW, Oct 29, 2003
    #1
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  2. JW

    Dan Abel Guest


    I'm a parent, and I wouldn't put glasses on my kid for that mild of a
    correction until the kid was older and actively wanted them. If your kid
    is typical and lets the glasses get all cruddy, they probably would make
    her vision worse rather than better.


    Although there is a lot of arguing on this group about the effect of
    glasses on kid's vision, I don't think anybody would argue about
    astigmatism. I can't see why there would be any effect of the glasses on
    the progression of the astigmatism.


    I also wouldn't take my kid in every six months. Once a year should be enough.
     
    Dan Abel, Oct 29, 2003
    #2
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  3. JW

    drfrank21 Guest

    That is a pretty minimal astigmatic error and I never prescribe that
    amount to a five year old. Annual exams (ie every 12 months) are
    fine- every 6 months is somewhat of an overkill in this situation.

    The astigmatism may increase later on, may not. Time will tell.
    But at this point I certainly wouldn't be overly concerned or worried
    about your daughters vision.

    frank
     
    drfrank21, Oct 30, 2003
    #3
  4. JW

    JW Guest

    Thank you Dan and Frank for responding to my question. Appreciated. I
    also try to put off the idea of having eyeglasses made for my
    daughter. But since she has only been checked by one optometrist, it
    might be a good idea to get a second opinion. My other question is :
    does it make any difference if the exam is done by a MD opthalmologist
    or an optometrist ? Do they all get training in how to check out young
    children or I should go to some kind of a specialist ?
     
    JW, Oct 30, 2003
    #4
  5. JW

    drfrank21 Guest

    In routine, uncomplicated cases, any optometrist should be able to
    do a good job on a child and there's no need to seek out any secondary
    level care. It might be different if there was any significant ocular
    or visual problems such as strabismus (eyes misaligned) where surgical
    intervention might be indicated for instance.

    frank
     
    drfrank21, Oct 31, 2003
    #5
  6. JW

    JW Guest

    My daughter's case I think is pretty straight forward. We brought her
    in for an eye exam because we discovered that sometimes she tilt her
    head a little bit when she sit down and watch tv. The optometrist said
    it was because of the astigmatism that she has. And she does not has
    lazy eye or other problem.
     
    JW, Oct 31, 2003
    #6
  7. JW

    drfrank21 Guest

    Good point Mike but I assume that the optometrist would have uncovered
    a strabismic posture (vertical deviation) during the exam.

    frank
     
    drfrank21, Nov 1, 2003
    #7
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