If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

I brought DS (3 years old) to a pediatric ophthalmologist (Dr. Levi) because he has been rubbing his eyes like crazy. They did a full eye exam - which was took forever but DS was such a trooper. I was expecting the Dr. to tell me that he has dry eyes or maybe it's an allergy, so when she looked at me and said, "he should be wearing glasses" I was quite stunned. My eyes filled up with tears and I could barely concentrate on what she was saying. What I got out of it was that he has astigmatism in one eye and one of his eyes takes longer to focus than the other. She said he needed glasses so that his vision could develop normally. My husband had a lazy eye that was corrected by surgery when he was on 3rd grade - I told her about this and she explained some more but I was having such a hard time listening and processing. She said that some kids grow out of it and to come back in 4-6 months to see how he's doing with the glasses.

In my rational mind, I know that this is not a big deal by any means. That there are moms with children with serious issues and if this is DSs greatest problem in life then I will be extremely lucky but for some reason I am still sad about it. I feel nervous about what the future holds for his vision and how this will affect him (will it effect him socially? will it effect him playing sports?, etc.). I'm worried about what future problems will come from this - I am unclear if this is what leads to lazy eye and if there is eye surgery in his future. Plus I feel guilty for not finding out sooner and not getting him help that he needed.

This is my oldest DS and I guess the first real issue I've had to deal with with my kids. It's hard to come to the realization that your child is not perfect and will have his/her own struggles. I hope this makes sense.

Anyway, I have a list of questions to ask the doctor since I am still not totally understanding it, but in the mean time I am looking for places to get him glasses.

Can anyone share their experiences with vision problems?

How you approached introducing glasses to your young child?

Optical stores that have a good selection and good service for children's glasses?

Any insight on any of the above topics!

TIA!

If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

I cried when DS needed glasses at age 4. My mom said she cried when my brother needed glasses at age 13. So your feelings are normal.

DS doesn't give us a hard time about wearing glasses because he can see better with them on. He plays soccer and tennis with them on. When he gets older, we may look into sports glasses or goggles.

There was a place called ikids next door to DS' doctor that has a big selection. Now that we have vision coverage, we go to Vision works.

Good luck!

If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

I needed glasses after my kindergarten screening as I had amblyopia. Thank goodness they caught it before more damage was done. I got pink glasses and remember being super excited about them. I also needed to be patched but was embarrassed about that and wouldn't leave the house when I wore it. By third grade I didn't need glasses anymore until I was 16 and starting to drive and my mom insisted and so I got contacts. To this day I only wear one contact in my eye and am doing pretty good. I don't remember being made fun or or anything when I wore glasses.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

I had a very similar experience with my son right before he turned 5; I had no idea anything was wrong until I heard him talking to his little sister about his "blurry eye". He had a very significant amblyopia and wears glasses and an eye patch 1-2 hours a day. My feelings were very, very similar to yours, right down to feeling overwhelmed/not recalling all of the information. We use Dr. Gerontis in Commack since last May, and have seen tremendous improvement. 3 months ago she said that his vision had improved to the point that he would be able to pass a drivers test! A huge relief!

He didn't have any issues wearing the glasses; he knows they are to "help his blurry eye". More issues surrounding his patch, but we have tried several options and finally found one that he likes.

We use Aristocraft Opticians in Hauppague on Nesconset Hwy (I do not have coverage for eye glasses). It's a family-run business, and John is amazing with kids and parents too.

Good luck, it's going to be ok! You're a good mom for getting him to the Dr at such a young age.

If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

My son was born premature and has gone every 3 months for vision exams. He was prescribed glasses at 14 months. At first it was easy the. He started to fight. At 2 he just got a new prescription and new frames. He now fights when we first put them on for the day but then he leaves them on. I wear glasses too and the people around him put their glasses on sometimes if he is fighting it.
Since getting his new glasses I can see him testing how he sees. He wears bifocals so things change based on wear he looks out of the lenses. I think he is starting to understand that he sees better with them on.
I expected he would need glasses. I started telling the dr at 9 months old he needed them. For me it wasn't that big of a deal. My husband was devastated. The place we originally went to is closed for a fire and I would not recommend the 2nd place I went to. But getting a good fit at this age is super important in my opinion so I wouldn't go just anywhere.
We used a strap with his first pair but he still pulled the glasses off and even pulled the strap off the glasses. Now I don't use it at all and he keeps them on by himself.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

My ds failed the peds vision screening at his 2 year we'll visit, we saw dr kronwith, and he's been wearing glasses for almost 2 years now, with one prescription change (one eye got better one eye got worse).


I was devastate initially, but now it's just part of our normal life.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Posted by Kath14


I had a very similar experience with my son right before he turned 5; I had no idea anything was wrong until I heard him talking to his little sister about his "blurry eye". He had a very significant amblyopia and wears glasses and an eye patch 1-2 hours a day. My feelings were very, very similar to yours, right down to feeling overwhelmed/not recalling all of the information. We use Dr. Gerontis in Commack since last May, and have seen tremendous improvement. 3 months ago she said that his vision had improved to the point that he would be able to pass a drivers test! A huge relief!

He didn't have any issues wearing the glasses; he knows they are to "help his blurry eye". More issues surrounding his patch, but we have tried several options and finally found one that he likes.

We use Aristocraft Opticians in Hauppague on Nesconset Hwy (I do not have coverage for eye glasses). It's a family-run business, and John is amazing with kids and parents too.

Good luck, it's going to be ok! You're a good mom for getting him to the Dr at such a young age.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

I've worn glasses since I'm 2 and my son just started wearing them at 4 this past September. He hated them at first. I started slowly....just an hour, then 2 and so on. Now, he doesn't mind wearing them. he doesn't love it, but he doesn't fight me on it.

I highly recommend Miraflex frames! They're super comfy and durable for the little ones! They come in various shapes and colors. I got my son grey ones in the rectangular shape. I think he looks so cute in them!

Message edited 2/25/2014 7:09:06 AM.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Your son looks adorable with them on!!!

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Thanks guys!!!

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

My son is almost 3.5 years old and has been wearing glasses for almost two years! He is nearsighted in his left eye (his right eye is fine) we also patch his right eye for a few hours a day to strengthen his left eye. We see Dr. Levi as well. She is great IMO. Very thorough and patient with him. We go to Access Optical on Merrick Road in Merrick. They have a good selection for kids and are really nice. Sorry its sideways but here's a recent pic!

Message edited 2/22/2014 9:52:55 PM.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

I don't mean this to be rude but you're making a very big deal out of this and I don't quite understand why. It's glasses, me and my sister have had glasses our whole lives and they never affected us negatively in any way. Both my younger sisters played sports, I didn't because I am a klutz You really have nothing to worry about. Lots of people, kids included, wear glasses.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

We also see dr. Levi - for the same issue.

dd had an issue when she was born, so she was monitored by dr Levi. All children have a degree of astigmatism, however if one eye is much worse than the other,their eyes won't develop right, and that's how you get a lazy eye. So the glasses will prevent yr child from relying on one eye over the other.

Luckily DD never needed glasses.

Good news is that your DC might not need glasses when he is older if his sight is good and it's just an astigmatism.

And all my friends who have children with glasses said that they don't mind wearing them bc they can see with them on.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Thank you, thank you for sharing your experiences and support. I really don't know how moms survived before the internet and support groups! They have helped me through so much.

Feeling much better. I have my list of questions and will be calling Dr. Levi on Monday. Hoping to get the glasses this week. Putting together some glasses rules and ordered some books about getting glasses from amazon. My DS is kinda flighty so I am worried about him breaking, losing, etc. We shall see!

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Posted by wakemeup

I don't mean this to be rude but you're making a very big deal out of this and I don't quite understand why. It's glasses, me and my sister have had glasses our whole lives and they never affected us negatively in any way. Both my younger sisters played sports, I didn't because I am a klutz You really have nothing to worry about. Lots of people, kids included, wear glasses.

Re: If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

"Dr Robert Strome in great neck is considered the best with amblyopia. That's who I saw when I was a child and who I took dd to as a preventative measure. He had me do prisim exercises with my eyes to help strengthen them. Not sure if you do these. But those exercises helped my eyes tremendously."


Thanks so much for this info; we have an appointment this week and I will definitely ask about the exercises.

If you have a child who wore/wears classes at a young age, please come in!

Wanted to add that both boys are just adorable!!!