I too have worn glasses since I was about 2. I am also long sighted. Both of my eyes turned in and they had to do an op. The left eye was fixed but my right eye still turns in when I am not wearing my specs.
It is good they have gotten to it so early. Like lime slice said, by the time they are 10 the eyes are kind of "set"
They grind down the specs now so you cannot even tell what strength they are.
Its hard not to fret but glasses are so common in school these days.
And it is good they are working on fixing his sight now rather than later.
like LS i've had glasses since i was months old. long sighted, astigmatisms - and optic nerve that points the wrong way (should look like a donut facing forward to front of eye - mine lays flat). by the time i hit school, i was so used to having glasses that i apparently come home from school the first time i was called four eyes and asked my mum what it meant! the teasing is nothing unless your child has self esteem issues, which you can help with at home from the outset.
don't let your own perception of how hard it will be for your child cloud your judgement. the headaches from crappy eyes are horrific and debilitating - and catching problems early means they can be treated and even potentially corrected. from a teasing standpoint, it's more likely if you leave things til later - DH has a great niece whose parents put their own thoughts on glasses over the recommendations of specialists. his niece didn't get glasses until she was in about grade 4 when things had gotten quite bad with the turn in her eye. she was supposed to wear them for reading only, to help strengthen her eye, and wear a patch for some time everyday - she didn't want to "look like a dork" so she didn't do it. she had to have surgery on her eyes this year for something that could have baan corrected at a young age
my DD is 13weeks old and has a turn in her eye and will go cross eyed looking at objects up close to her, so will be getting referred to an opthamologist in a few weeks. family history makes the GP more wary of leaving it unchecked. if she has to have glasses, i won't be surprised at all (both DH and I wear them all the time) - it's better to get them younger and get used to it, then to leave it to a point where your child's vanity wins out
A grind lense doesn't mean that it is going to be thick. It basically means that they have to grind the lense to make that script. Stock lenses (so ones they can just grab off the shelf) only go up to a certain script. By grinding the lens they can try and make it thinner anyway. (I hope that makes sense)
My eldest has glasses as he is about as far long sighted as a person can be LOL. His prescription was +5.50 for his right eye and +7.0 for his left (The turned one) so in theory they literally should have been as thick as coke bottle ROFL, but they were really good, very thin so they didn't look geeky at all. It is a bit weaker now that his eyesight has improved because of the continual wearing of them - all day every day - and the eye patching. Your little fella doesn't have a script near as strong as my DS, so his eyesight isn't that bad at all. It is possible that he may need the glasses full time for the rest of his life - long vision isn't usually something that 'corrects' itself and goes away after a few years. My DS will have to wear them till he's old enough for contacts, then corrective laser surgery.
And yeah, it can be upsetting at first to know that they have to wear them all the time and how that will affect them from doing things, but you get over it pretty quickly when you see just how much they improve from having them. Lindsay even plays football now (without his glasses). It is really great that you got onto the problem so early becuase Lindsay had a turned eye from about 10mths, but we didn't get his eyes checked till he was 5.5yrs as he was doing fine, no headaches or anything but he'd started school and we thought we'd do the right thing and see how he was coping with it and found out he needed glasses and went from there. He hasn't had an issue with teasing because apart from the initial jokes which were actually all from girls he doesn't get teased at all. Ironicially three of the girls in his class who did tease him now all wear glasses themselves, so I guess karma bit back. And neither DH or I have eyesight problems either - though DH's parents, brother and sister all have atrocious eyesight themselves.
ooh, just thought i'd mention - my eyesight has completely changed as i've "grown up" - i was long sighted (similar to Trill's son) severely in both eyes - by the time i was about 15, my glasses were half the strength they were when i got my very first glasses - and now, i'm long sighted in one eye still, but short sighted in the other... long/short sightedness will change as your kidlet ages - so regular checks are important.
i can't wear contacts unless i spend over $500 a set due to the severity of my astigmatisms - and laser surgery won't correct the issues i have. but that's cos of the compound impacts of all those things wrong - if it's a singular issue, there is a good chance that, when they are older, the laser surgery can correct the issue
Yep, Linsday's has changed a lot too in the short time he's had glasses - he's nearly at 20:20 vision now with his glasses on. And BG's right - you will need loads of follow up appointments - we did 3monthly ones at first with his Opthamologist and now we're down to 6 monthly.
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