Eye Testing

[~clover~]

Thanks BG. Thats kinda better than any explanation I've found so far. Though I haven't had much time to have a good read yet. And even though I thought he was a great optometrist, (excellent with kids, tested DS for colours etc), he didn't go much further into detail than oval shaped.

All I had to go on is that she could read the bigger letters of the test easily, but the smaller ones she maybe got 2 out of 5 or 6 right. She was close (H/N, C/O), but not good enough for me to not worry about her school work.

[briggsy's girl]

Thanks BG. Thats kinda better than any explanation I've found so far. Though I haven't had much time to have a good read yet. And even though I thought he was a great optometrist, (excellent with kids, tested DS for colours etc), he didn't go much further into detail than oval shaped.

All I had to go on is that she could read the bigger letters of the test easily, but the smaller ones she maybe got 2 out of 5 or 6 right. She was close (H/N, C/O), but not good enough for me to not worry about her school work.

most google-able stuff about astigmatisms goes into a lot of detail in really technical speak about changes to the shape of the lens, the way the fibres run through the lens, angles of refraction and blah blah blah - it can be very confusing and overwhelming! i remember being in my early teens - always had glasses, always. never really knew why, except that my eyes are dodgy. so i asked for an explanation, and that's how the opto dumbed it down for me. it helped heaps to get it so simply delivered.

obviously the severity of the astigmatism will determine the shape and things. saying your DD has said oval shaped makes me think it's not severe. mine are like american footballs - almost at a point at each end, so very severe. it is definitely managable, and you may find as she grows up, the shape changes and corrects itself. i have better than 20/20 with glasses - and i have long sightedness AND short sightedness to overcome, as well as optic nerves that point the wrong way lol - without corrective lenses though, i can't read a thing on the screen of my laptop, which is only at arms length from my face!

[~clover~]

Yeah, hers isn't severe. He did say it could get better. He also said she could get by without glasses, so definetely at the better end of the scale. But, as I said, I'm worried about her learning & hoping it will make it easier for her with them. I will try anything if it helps them learn better

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

Girls are booked for next thurs at our local.

[briggsy's girl]

i woudl do the same for DD too hun - hence her being under the care of an opthamologist for the first 2.5 years of her life - just in case... i wanted to get on top of anything early seeing both DH and I have vision issues, as do both my parents and most of their generation... she was tested for eye probs within hours of her birth cos of a congenital problem dad was born with...

[leesha]

2 years In between testing isn't a long time according to our opthamolagist. As dh has such poor eyesight and i don't it means our children need monitoring but every 2 yrs is fine

[feeb]

DS1 didn't pass his test at MCHN so was suggested we take him to an optomotrist. I took him and she thought he was ok but as he was not 100% co operative she suggested going back in a year. I will take him back sooner than that probably 6 months to know for sure but will go somewhere diff that was reccomended for me as great with kids.

[briggsy's girl]

2 years In between testing isn't a long time according to our opthamolagist. As dh has such poor eyesight and i don't it means our children need monitoring but every 2 yrs is fine

DD doesn't have bad eyes, but her paed opthamologist said 12 months as the longest break between visits. My opto has always said 12 months between check ups. a lot of growing and changing can happen in a year.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

The girls had their eyes tested this morning - neither of them need glasses and he went as far as saying DD1 basically has 20/20 vision right down which is great for her age.
He said DD2 has great sight for her age and very good comprehension of the questions he asked but her test was shorter so he suggested coming back this time next year as she will be more responsive but he was very impressed with just how much she did know and said she passed the hard test ??? lol.

DD1 however has to see a Paed Opthamologist as the optometrist believes she has something called Horners Syndrome - never heard of it and he says it's generally nothing to worry about, something she was probably born with but he wants a proper diagnosis and just to be safe.
Basically 1 pupil is smaller than the other and one eye actually looks smaller (now that he's mentioned it i notice it but hadn't previously) - also the eye that is smaller she gets larger patches of eczema on which is also a sign - off to google a little more about it.

She has that appt in Feb but they have put us on a cancellation list.

[Chocaholic]

2 years In between testing isn't a long time according to our opthamolagist.

My DS1's opthamologist said no more than 12 months for children as they are growing and developing so fast, they need to be evaluated regularly if they already have issues. If no issues are detected, the 2 years should be OK apparently.

My DS1 has congenital nystagmus and was evaluated every 6 months from the time he was 1. At his 6 month check, I was informed that he was potentially blind and possibly part-albino. It took 6 months to get into a paed opthamologist who advised that he had borderline vision for his age (oh and he wasn't part albino, he was just very, very white with white hair).

At 4 years old, the opthamologist advised that he could be seen annually but should also be reviewed by an optometrist prior to starting school to check out whether he required glasses even though his sight appeared to be comparable to his peers. We did this and they found that his eyesight was acceptable for his age. Within 6 months, DS1 was complaining about not being able to see the whiteboard at school when he was in the middle of the room. I took him back to the optometrist who advised he now needed glasses as there had been a marked deterioration in that 6 months but I need to take him back again for a follow-up to see how his eyesight is now.

DS1 also had a classmate who had an eye test after it was recommended in the Prep nurse review. He now has to wear glasses all the time and the optometrist was amazed that his eye hadn't turned in with all of the effort he was putting in just to look at something. His mum had to get the lenses ground down as she said they would have been almost 1cm thick. According to his mum, the turnaround in his reading and writing is outstanding. He went from struggling to read basic words to reading full sentences in less than 3 weeks. She is also feeling incredibly guilty that she didn't pick it up earlier but her son displayed no obvious signs.

I would definitely recommend eye tests prior to school and do them annually. Learning can be difficult enough without additional problems impacting as well.

Oh and I was worried about the potential for bullying in class for DS1. Well, the opposite happened. It is apparently really cool to have glasses and the kids frames are better looking than the adults IMO.

[Beatrix]

My eldest two need glasses and got them at the age of 5.
They now have yearly tests as their sight changed so quickly at this age.

I did have a slight shock at my middle child's first eye app we found out she has a optic pit I think it's called. It where the optic nerve doesn't form 100% when its developing and she has a blind spot. We have no idea to what extent though as she isn't old enough yet to do the test which will tell us and since she doesn't know any difference as its been there since birth she can't tell us.
I doubt it very big as she had never had problems walking into things etc we should find out by the time she is 10 how big/bad it is.