Need Help - Desperate to Help 8 year old with myopia

Hello Everbody!

First let me say Thank you in advance for your advice. You have no idea
how much I appreciate it. I AM SO CONFUSED and don't know what to do..


Here is the story..Flash back to two years ago..
My daughter was 6 at the time and the school nurse called to say she
failed the vision screening at school and referred her for further
testing at an eye doctor. I panicked and immmediately made an
appointment. She was diagnosed with mild myopia and a mild astigmatism
(20/30 - 20/40 using both eyes). She had never ever complained about
her eyes, doesn't sit close, etc. etc. None of the signs were there.
The doctor assured me that the eyes were working together. The doctor
said to come back in 6 months and have her fitted for glasses as she
would be older and more cooperative (she wasn't really doing what he
was asking of her and was growing impatient). I went home and scoured
the internet for myopia advice and basically decided that glasses were
not needed at this time. One Year later - Nurse called again - still
failed but at the same level as the year before, she advised I take her
to the eye doctor. I decided against it since her eyes hadn't gotten
worse.. Now we are in present day.

The nurse called again, Caroline really failed this time. She was 20/50
in one eye and she couldn't get her to cooperate for the other eye (
she guessed it was probably around 20/70 for that eye). She stated
that she only had a simple machine to check and further evaluation was
needed. when I picked Caroline up at school her eyes looked watery (she
is bothered by allergies) and I don't know if it was allergies that
bothered her or the nurses persistent tests. I brought her home and
gave her my own test using a printed snellen test at 10 feet. She read
the 20/40 line with both eyes together. The 20/40 line with right eye
and the 20/60 line with her left eye. She did not like covering her
right eye, her left eye began to water and she said it was blurry. I
checked her for nearness - she read really tiny print at normal reading
level with both eyes open and with both eyes individually. My daughter
has never complained about not being able to see. She reads fine and
her classroom is small so the board isn't far away, etc. etc. She
doesn't squint, or tilt her head, or anything like that. Sometimes it
is obvious that she can't see as far away as the rest of us, but that
is okay. She isn't driving yet, so what is the big deal. I mentioned
what was happening with my daughter's eyes to a friend who is an
opthamologist. She immediately said that not having glasses prescribed
is robbing her of corrected vision and the damage will be permanent, If
I don't do something now then her attemtps at correction will be lost
forever and they will never be able to correct to 20/20.

I do not know what to do. My child is very active and glasses would be
really difficult. She does gymnastics, dancing, karate, etc. etc. It
would be a real problem for her. She is not complaining about her eye
sight. I don't want her astigmatism and myopia to progress because I
didn't get her glasses. If this was your child what would you do?? I
want to do everything I can to help her get the best vision possible.
Should I accept the minus lenses that I am sure the doctor will
prescribe when she is seen on tuesday? Please help me make the best
informed deccision possible.
My biggest concern that if I don't get her glasses now that her brain
won't grow will never be able to see clearly.. could that happen? Am I
ruining her eyesight forever by not putting her in minus glasses right
away? I am concerned that when she covers her right eye, she says her
left eye is a little blurry for things like the eye chart and she
doesn't like it when that eye is covered, not the same when she covers
the left. I have charted her at 20/40 indoors with both eyes, and
20/70 in her left eye and she says it's blurry but she can read the
20/70 line with her left. Her right eye she can read the 20/40 to
20/50 line.


thank you soooo much,

allyson

 

Vision is very complex. I am only assuming that your daughter has
myopia, which is evidently progressing asymmetrically, as one eye is
now worse than the other. Furthermore, her vision appears to be at the
level beyond what I would consider "borderline." With uncorrected
myopia, I am also concerned with the development of convergence
insufficiency which can lead the child to bring the book close to her
face in order to "crowd out" binocularity. This leads to reading with
one eye only.

If this were my child, I would take her to someone who comes highly
recommended, and trust their recommendations. If glasses are advised,
I would accept them. I would also be very careful about what I said in
front of my child about wearing vision correction. Chances are she may
have already picked up some negative "messages" -- subliminal and
overt, about wearing eyeglasses. Also, it is perfectly OK not to wear
glasses for physical activity. If it does become necessary to do so,
there are many types of safety eyewear from which to choose, and then
eventually contact lenses. As a child, I had to wear eyeglasses, and
quickly learned how to avoid being hit in the face.

DrG

 

Thank you so much for your time. My biggest fear is that I accept the
glasses with the notion that she wears them for seeing far away - not
at school or at sports or close work but that she grows so dependent on
them that she can't see without them at all and then sports will be
difficult for her (it is so much her life that it would be devastating
for her) She is highly functioning now with 20/40 vision using both
eyes. If her eyes get worse while wearing the glasses, then she won't
be able to go without them at all. She would be a good candidate for
contacts due to her sports and level of actviity (this is a child that
never is still and always doing something active), but I think she is
too young (although she is a very mature 8 year old). She does not
bring her close work to her and reads at what looks like a normal
distance, she watches tv at a normal distance. There is no signs that
her vision is poor other than failing a vision test. My concern is
that one eye is a little worse and I don't want any permanent harm
done. If I do nothing at this time and wait it out, will be vision
decrease so that it won't be able to be correced with glasses. I am so
confused and only want what is best for my child but I don't feel like
I can make the best decsion without thoroughly educating myself.
please help if you can...

 

Thank you so much for your time. My biggest fear is that I accept the
glasses with the notion that she wears them for seeing far away - not
at school or at sports or close work but that she grows so dependent on
them that she can't see without them at all and then sports will be
difficult for her (it is so much her life that it would be devastating
for her) She is highly functioning now with 20/40 vision using both
eyes. If her eyes get worse while wearing the glasses, then she won't
be able to go without them at all. She would be a good candidate for
contacts due to her sports and level of actviity (this is a child that
never is still and always doing something active), but I think she is
too young (although she is a very mature 8 year old). She does not
bring her close work to her and reads at what looks like a normal
distance, she watches tv at a normal distance. There is no signs that
her vision is poor other than failing a vision test. My concern is
that one eye is a little worse and I don't want any permanent harm
done. If I do nothing at this time and wait it out, will be vision
decrease so that it won't be able to be correced with glasses. I am so
confused and only want what is best for my child but I don't feel like
I can make the best decsion without thoroughly educating myself.
please help if you can...

 

<snip>

As a parent, I know what I'd do. I'd get the glasses so that she can
see what good vision is like and then let her choose to wear them or
not. There might be some activities where she would like to see
better and then there might be others where it doesn't concern her.
If you try to force her to wear them, you will both be miserable.

Ann

 

My question is this - If she chooses to only wear them for movies and
tv watcing, will she be harming her eyes by not wearing them full
time?? thank you soooo much for your time. In other words, by wearing
the glasses for very limited amount - will it be harming her either way?

 

With regard to the message posted by "ally down" <>

My rant, as follows:

It continues to be a huge mystery why there is so little interest
in understanding the causes of myopia.

When I was a kid, developing myopia at a somewhat later age than
the mentioned 8-yr. old, I thought I should have some eyeglasses for
reading that set my eyes to see my book at infinity, with prisms and
positive spherical surfaces. (I did not know about astigmatism then,
but probably did not have much of that to start.) That, I thought,
would avoid eyestrain when reading. Reading was uncomfortable
and I hypothesized that my eyestrain was hurting my eyes.

But the OP describes an outdoorsy child, prior to the age of immersing
the nose in books.

I had one kid who became severely myopic, asymmetrically. My theory
for the reading glasses was resisted by all. The kid got into a profession
where a lot of reading and close work was required, and had to drop out
before it was time for her career to end. (Fortunately, marriage was a
possibility.)

Looking down the road, it is hard to get the right eyeglasses (if there should
be such) for severely myopic persons, particularly if their eyes do not want
to do the binocular thing. One does not see nearly as comfortably through
thick lenses as thin or none. Or well. And in many cases, the lenses continually
need to get thicker and more complicated. The making of complicated lenses
is getting to be a lost art, but frames are getting ever fancier.

Dentists today can advise us on avoiding tooth decay (but you may die like
a rat, of course). It is a shame that our eye doctors can only help sell us
eyeglasses, at least when it comes to myopia and progressive myopia.

There are some who believe that reading through the kinds of eyeglasses
prescribed for myopics to correct their distance vision, encourage the
further development of myopia. But you will definitely not hear about
that possibility from the eyeglasses (contact lens, etc.) industry.

 

(Yawn)

Google around a bit and learn about people like Adrian Glasser,
Christine Wildsoet, and academic institutions all over the world who
are studying just that.

It's not being ignored. It's not outweighed by the vast eye doc
conspiracy. It's just a complicated issue that doesn't lend itself to
any quick and easy fixes.

My $0.02 ... per usual.

 

Vision screening in the schools is not usually very good. If my child
failed an eye screening, I'd have her in to the OD every year.

People who have some vision problems can still drive. I think it is
very important for people who do some kinds of sports to have good
vision.

The permanent damage is going to be that she won't learn as well at
school and she won't be as good at sports. Unless there is something
missing here, there won't be any other permanent damage.

Lots of people do sports with glasses. Some sports don't require them,
and then maybe you have the hassle of holding her glasses for her.
Although she is young, there are kids who wear contacts at that age.
This might be a big hassle for all of you, but it is something you
should think about. I don't know about kids, but there are contacts
that can be left in for long periods of time. Contacts are wonderful
for sports.

I would get her glasses or contacts and deal with it. If they don't
work, it's not like you have ruined anything.

I'm no doctor, but I don't think that you can ruin her eyes by not
getting correction. Hampering her education and her sports, maybe.

I don't like bribing kids to do what they ought to do. However,
sometimes that's what parents need to do. I think that this is worth a
very serious short time bribe. Maybe not a pony, but riding lessons?
(Little girls almost always want to ride horses.) Find out what she
really wants, and offer a deal. If the glasses or contacts work, she'll
soon not need a bribe to use them. If it doesn't work, you haven't lost
a lot.

Be sure to share all this with the eye doctor. There are many
solutions. Some glasses are designed specifically for sports. I
predict that suitable glasses will help her sports a whole lot, not hurt
her.

 

**** myopia!

I was severely myopic. There are glasses, contacts and surgery. Take
your pick. My aunt had colon cancer. They removed it. How's that for
fun? Then she had heart attacks. She's dead.

Too many people die from medical problems.

Not as many go blind, but it's a major problem.

People with myopia can fix it fairly easily, and myopia by itself is
completely and easily correctable. Certainly we want to find out why
and find better cures, but it's not time to call out the National Guard.

And what about people with hyperopia? Don't they have even worse vision
problems? Shouldn't we tackle that first?

Some people are too short. Shouldn't we fix that first?

Some women have breasts that they think are too small. Shouldn't we fix
that?

 

It's not at all certain to me from what you wrote that she is myopic,
but it is very likely that she is anisometropic, and your "near test"
certainly did not rule out astigmatism, or even hyperopia. Please post
the suggested spectacle Rx. That will help a lot and will enable us to
say with more certainty what danger, if any, there is in not wearing
glasses.

w.stacy, o.d.

 

Wearing properly prescribed eyeglasses has not been shown to be
harmful.

DrG

 

What I meant to say was that if she chose to wear the glasses only part
time would it be worse for her than full-time wear..

allyson

 

She had a very thorough eye exam about 18 months ago and nothing
mentioned about her being anisometropic. What was mentioned was that
she had a very mild astigmatism and that she couldn't see as well far
away as normal. The doctor was the one that said "her world is very
close up and she isn't driving,etc.etc, so to come back in 6 months to
a year". It is obvious that her vision has gotten a little worse in a
year, but more so in her left eye than her right. Her eye appt is
tomorrow but I will not be filling her prescription tomorrow because we
have vision coverage on our insurance but you need a voucher before the
prescription is filled and I have not recieved it in the mail yet. I
will post the RX and ask you very kind generous people for more
advice..

Thanks,

ally

 

A child has certain rights. For example, they have the right to see
like you and me. Based upon the results of the eye examination, you
should discuss your concerns with her eye doctor -- again, based on the
findings.

DrG

 

What are the causes of progressive myopia?

 

Dear Dick,

The correct answer is:

1. A confined environment -- confirmed with primate eyes.

2. An over-prescribed minus.

That is my $ 0.02 worth.

That is also the "second-opinion".

Best,

Otis

www.chinamyopia.org

 

Also, I should add. She came home from school today and I retested her
on the snellen eye chart I have. She read to thru the 20/40 line with
both eyes very easily, she struggled with the 20/30 and got 2 of the
letters right. I had her cover her left eye first - she read the 20/40
line, then she covered her right eye - she read to the 20/50 line no
problem and then proclaimed - "Jeez - my eyes aren't blurry today -
that's weird" and then walked away.

How can that be? Are eyes better on some days then next? Could the
eye tests at school have been when her eyes were tired? She had been
recovering from a cold on that day... hmmm.. I don't get it...

 

Also, I should add. She came home from school today and I retested her
on the snellen eye chart I have. She read to thru the 20/40 line with
both eyes very easily, she struggled with the 20/30 and got 2 of the
letters right. I had her cover her left eye first - she read the 20/40
line, then she covered her right eye - she read to the 20/50 line no
problem and then proclaimed - "Jeez - my eyes aren't blurry today -
that's weird" and then walked away.

How can that be? Are eyes better on some days then next? Could the
eye tests at school have been when her eyes were tired? She had been
recovering from a cold on that day... hmmm.. I don't get it...

 

wrong. never been proven. in fact Goss et al. shows that
overprescribing minus DOES NOT cause myopia progression using human
children. you know that!

go away otis. things were quiet while you were gone.

what's your address? pennsylvania's not that far from me.