Toddler Astigmatism

[karinothing]

Does anyone have any experience with this? DS2 went to the pedi yesterday and they took a picture of his eyes and diagnosed him with an astigmatism (or I guess a possible one). We need to make an appointment with an eye doctor now.

Has anyone been through this? DH has one, but he doesn't do anything for it. He wears glasses sometimes but doesn't say anything about things being blurry or anything when he isn't wearing his glasses. The only thing he says is that it makes things darker (so like he doesn't nee sun glasses outside).

ETA: DS2 is 2.

[looseseal]

My son was diagnosed, but at 5. (H and I both have astigmatism, but are also near-sighted so it's just part of our prescription.) We had no idea, we just took him in for the required eye exam before the end of kindergarten, and he came out of it needing glasses.

He's 7 now and still in glasses. The eye doctor told us sometimes, if caught early, wearing glasses for a year can eliminate the astigmatism. It did for my co-worker's son, but not for mine.

[gummybear]

My daughter was just diagnosed with this (she's 6). We are waiting for the follow-up visit with the Dr. She has 20/32 vision so it's possible it's affecting her vision, but we won't know until the visit. It's also possible she sucks at the vision test and the astigmatism isn't affecting her vision at all.

I have one and it mostly affects night vision, and I tend to favor one eye over the other.

[candreco]

I had pretty significant astigmatism prior to having lasik, and as far as I noticed, it mostly contributed to my nearsightedness, and made my night vision iffy due to haloing around lights. I didn't have anything more than regular glasses.

[melissa]

My son has had it for a few years now. At his six year eye appointment this year they said he will be needed glasses sooner rather than later but that he didn't need them at that point.

[karinothing]

Aug 8, 2017 9:52:37 GMT -5 melissa said:

My son has had it for a few years now. At his six year eye appointment this year they said he will be needed glasses sooner rather than later but that he didn't need them at that point.

Oh this is good. I have no issues with him wearing glasses (I started in elementary too) BUT I would like to wait until he is older because it seems like putting glasses on a 2 year old would be a PITA

[abs]

DD got glasses at 4. She has an astigmatism in both eyes. After wearing glasses for a year her vision improved enough where she doesn't need glasses all the time. She still wears them for school and homework but not for playing or sports. Her vision was 20/80 at 4 and is 20/40 now without glasses, 20/25 with. I expect she will always need glasses.

[fuckyourcouch]

I think it just depends on severity of the astigmatism. My h and I both have severe ones, and are extremely nearsighted. Even if I wasn't so nearsighted though, the haloing from the astigmatism is not tolerable for me without correction, it makes me dizzy. It could be if it's minor and the vision isn't otherwise severely impaired, it won't be bothersome.

[morecoffeeplease]

My son has astigmatism (and a few other eye issues). He has been in glasses since 16 months (he is now almost 5) and will have to have glasses the rest of his life.

The first few days of glasses sucked but now they are like a part of his body.

If your son needs glasses, I suggest Miraflex frames

[bex1973]

Mine has worn glasses since she was about 15 months and while it can be a pain at times we found that making it a part of her routine worked best for us. She also has to patch for about 4 hours per day so we built that in as well. As she has gotten older she'll balk sometimes at wearing them but we just remind her how much better she can see with them!

Because what's cuter than kids in specs?!?! LOL

ETA - aww hell, I don't know why this is so huge and sideways

[franky]

My daughter was diagnosed with astigmatism this year - she's 3. She wears glasses and says she can see better with them on. It has taken 3 pairs of broken glasses before she realized that she has to be gentle with them, but she wears them without a battle.

Her dad has terrible vision, so it wasn't surprising that her vision is bad. I'm not sure that she'll ever get to stop wearing something for vision correction.

[morecoffeeplease]

bex1973

We found out yesterday that my son has to patch for 2 hours a day (he is almost 5). Any tips? How long has your daughter been patching?

[bex1973]

Aug 8, 2017 11:20:24 GMT -5 morecoffeeplease said:

bex1973

We found out yesterday that my son has to patch for 2 hours a day (he is almost 5). Any tips? How long has your daughter been patching?

Routine has been key for us, she's been patching for like 2 years now she was just over 2 and is now 4 and a half.  We do it at school, put it on as soon as we get there and she knows she can take it off right before lunch.  She was little so it took a bit at first but her teachers were amazing with helping with consistency.  Plus there was so much to distract her at school versus home so that helped.  

We use the single use stick on patches because thankfully she's had no skin reactions to them - I get them on Amazon and they have fun patterns.  www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008VG66EY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Personally I would try to avoid the cloth patch that goes over the glasses because most kids learn to just look around the patch but your's is old enough that he may not.

[morecoffeeplease]

Thanks bex1973

I did buy one to go over his glasses that also goes along the side so he can't see that way but we'll see. Thankfully we still have 2 weeks of summer so I can sit with him during the 2 hours and make sure he's doing it correctly. The eye doctor said it would be good to have him play ipad games while patched so I hope it'll help. His right eye is really struggling so I know it won't be easy for him. Has patching helped your daughter?

[bex1973]

Aug 8, 2017 11:39:28 GMT -5 morecoffeeplease said:

Thanks bex1973

I did buy one to go over his glasses that also goes along the side so he can't see that way but we'll see. Thankfully we still have 2 weeks of summer so I can sit with him during the 2 hours and make sure he's doing it correctly. The eye doctor said it would be good to have him play ipad games while patched so I hope it'll help. His right eye is really struggling so I know it won't be easy for him. Has patching helped your daughter?

It actually has (of course combined with the glasses) - most are surprised she's been patching for so long but we're working towards avoiding surgery!

[morecoffeeplease]

Aug 8, 2017 11:43:15 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Aug 8, 2017 11:39:28 GMT -5 morecoffeeplease said:

Thanks bex1973

I did buy one to go over his glasses that also goes along the side so he can't see that way but we'll see. Thankfully we still have 2 weeks of summer so I can sit with him during the 2 hours and make sure he's doing it correctly. The eye doctor said it would be good to have him play ipad games while patched so I hope it'll help. His right eye is really struggling so I know it won't be easy for him. Has patching helped your daughter?

It actually has (of course combined with the glasses) - most are surprised she's been patching for so long but we're working towards avoiding surgery!

Thank you for the info :-)

[kkfeb04]

DS was diagnosed with astigmatism 3 years ago but hasn't had his vision affected enough to need glasses. The pedi ophthalmologist said that he didn't want glasses yet since his eyes can correct themselves.

I dunno. I also have it and went from occasional use to constant in 10 years. One eye is corrected 10 times more than the other and I get new lenses (and scripts) yearly. I can't see a thing without them, colors but no shapes and definitely no detail.

[AJL]

I was diagnosed at 5 years old with astigmatism and have been wearing corrective lenses (glasses, then contacts) for nearly 35 years. Mine is very severe and I can't see anything clearly past about six inches from my face.

My advice: have him evaluated by a pedi ophthalmologist and go from there.

[textbookcase]

I have astigmatism and so does my middle daughter (10). She was diagnosed when she was 2 and has worn glasses ever since. She is SUPER nearsighted. I agree with the rec to see a pediatric ophthalmologist. 2 of my girls wear glasses/have eye issues so we have been seeing the pedi ophthalmologist since they were toddlers.

[teacherjulie]

My son was diagnosed at 3.5 every 6 months we have gone back to have it monitored. As of now it is not effecting his overall vision.

[lo]

My daughter went through this last summer when she was 2. Pedi used an iPhone looking thing that made noises to take a pic of her eye and then said she needed to be checked out at the eye doctor. The eye doctor said she was fine and had no vision problems or issues. He said they see a lot of these "false positives" with the new testing technology and it's usually nothing wrong.

[fivechickens]

Two of my kids wear glasses one for near sightedness and one for far sightedness. One of then has astigmatism but I can't remember which one (MOTY right here). I also have it and wear glasses for near sightedness. The only issue was that when I was younger I couldn't have Lasik done because of it but now you can.

[karinothing]

Aug 8, 2017 22:20:39 GMT -5 lo said:

My daughter went through this last summer when she was 2. Pedi used an iPhone looking thing that made noises to take a pic of her eye and then said she needed to be checked out at the eye doctor. The eye doctor said she was fine and had no vision problems or issues. He said they see a lot of these "false positives" with the new testing technology and it's usually nothing wrong.

Oh interesting, they used "iscreen" I wonder if it is the same thing. I wouldn't be surprised if DS2 has one, since DH does and apparently it is more common in Hispanics, which DS2 is.

How do they check vision for a 2 year old? Can you describe the appointment a bit to me?

[lo]

Aug 10, 2017 13:19:16 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Aug 8, 2017 22:20:39 GMT -5 lo said:

My daughter went through this last summer when she was 2. Pedi used an iPhone looking thing that made noises to take a pic of her eye and then said she needed to be checked out at the eye doctor. The eye doctor said she was fine and had no vision problems or issues. He said they see a lot of these "false positives" with the new testing technology and it's usually nothing wrong.

Oh interesting, they used "iscreen" I wonder if it is the same thing. I wouldn't be surprised if DS2 has one, since DH does and apparently it is more common in Hispanics, which DS2 is.

How do they check vision for a 2 year old? Can you describe the appointment a bit to me?

Yeah, I was kind of surprised she "failed" the screening since neither I or her father have glasses. They took the picture (or whatever it is) a few times because if the angle is off it can bring up a false positive, too.

The appointment was long since she had to get the eye dilation drops and then wait around for like 45 mins. We went to a pediatric office, so they had a pretty stocked waiting area for the kids. They did the drops and I was expecting that to be a nightmare since you kind of hold the kid on your lap and bend them backwards when the drops go in, but my daughter was totally fine with it and it was super quick. I think the PA also briefly examined her eyes at this point. There were like some screens on the wall with different clips playing, so the PA would say, "look at the dog! Now look at the fish!" and he was able to see what he needed to see. After the drops we went back to waiting room for I think 45 mins, and then we saw the doctor. He also used the clips playing on the wall to get my daughter to look where he needed her to look. I recall this part of the exam very quick and he told us her vision was fine and then how it's really easy to get a false positive. All in all it was an easy appointment, just long! Good luck!!

[karinothing]

Thanks lo, that is helpful