Anyone have a child with glasses?

IamAli

I'm starting to think DS1 (he's 6.5) needs glasses, even just reading glasses.  I've gotten him an appt with an eye doctor, but an wondering what to expect.

How many pairs of glasses does your child have?

Any trouble with them forgetting/breaking them?  How do you manage this?

 

TIA!

Sammysu

DD#2 has glasses. She has had them since she was 2. She is constantly getting them bent a little to where they dont fit right around her nose or ears but that is just an easy adjustment that the eye doc does for free. It takes less than 3 minutes. I originally got her 2 pairs, one for school which was a bendy type material and then a really nice pair to where when we go out. When she first got them, she used to hide them under the sand at her daycare so that she didnt have to wear them. She doesnt do that anymore and we have no issues about her wearing them so we just stick to one pair.

The eye doc appointment is most likely going to consist of them dialating his eyes with some eye drops and doing the norm eye tests and a consult.

In the beginning its hard to get them used to wearing their glasses but after that they actually look for them to wear because they can see soo much better. Good luck

samp42

DS 1, hes 9 years old now has them.  He got them when he was 5 years old.  He does have an eye condition called Duane's Syndrom though.  He had to have eye surgery to rearrange his muscles in his eyes when he was about 2 years old.  His right eye will go in towards his nose to compensate for his left eye which doesn't move correctly.  He then needed the glasses as well because he was a little far sighted. 

He only has one pair of glasses that pretty much last us a full year.  He knows he has to be responsible with them and my brother got him a cool tiger eye glass holder thing that he has in his bathroom so anytime he takes them off he knows where they go.  He also knows that he needs to take them off if he is going to be playing rough.  He has broken a pair before and they get tweaked and need to be adjusted frequently, but most places do this for free. 

Last time I took him for his eye exam the Dr. told me that when kids go through big growth spurts their vision can also change.  They said if he has a sudden growth spurt to bring him in to have his vision checked and if it changed they would replace his lenses for free.

howleyshell

Jace has had his since his 2nd birthday.

His optho's suggestions for the transition period (about a week until he was used to them):

Put him in situations where the glasses HELP.  For us Jace needs them to see far away so he was motivated to keep them on when at the park, watching a DVD, etc.  We avoided things where he'd be looking close up because that's when there wasn't a benefit with the glasses and he'd be more prone to want to remove them.

Distraction.  Try to plan things that are special and fun.  For us it was DVD's.  He'd leave them on for a whole movie no problem because a movie is a treat at our house.

 

We only have 1 pair.  They were crazy expensive so we just got 1 nice pair.  They have a warranty for the first year and I HIGHLY recommend finding someone who does that for you.  He's a little boy.  We've replaced scratched lenses 3 times in less than a year and replaced the entire frames once.

I can't speak to forgetting them because my guy needs to wear them all the time.  Hence... he takes them off only at nap and bed time.  It took a while to teach him to not grab them by the glass and to use 2 hands (one handed removal = bending frames = trip back to the clinic for a readjustment).

Chances are that your guy will need to wear them all the time too.  Forgetting won't be as big an issue.  After a short period of time he won't look right to you (or himself) without them on so you'll both remember them in the AM. 

 

Ditto PP that the first exam will be LONG because they'll need to dilate his eyes.  We were told to prepare for 2 hours.  That's a LONG time at a doc's office.  Thankfully they had a movie playing in all rooms and waiting room.  We took snacks and toys and it was a life saver to distract (but my guys are younger).

GL!!