astigmatism in both eyes

aquariogirl

Hi ladies,

I took my 31 weaker to his 6 month (adj) vision appointment last week. The doctor found that he has level 2 astigmatism in both eyes and explained that level 3 requires glasses.  He'll see him again in a year. I was bummed when he said that and wanted to ask more questions but LO started vomiting a lot, due to reflux, and was a bit of a chaotic moment at the doctors office.

Im still trying to learn and figure out about stigmatism but really want to hear from other preemie moms have a similar experience. Is this something that he could outgrow? is it hard to deal with glasses? 

TIA for your support!

 

 

SweetPeaKate

I just took my 30 weaker to a vision appointment. He is now almost 12 month adj. and found out that he has a level 4 astigmatism in both eyes. On a side note, when his eyes were checked in the NICU, they were perfect, so something happened drastically in the last 12 months. Glad you've gotten a head start.!

 

We ordered my DS glasses on Saturday and they should arrive in the next week. Through my reading and research I've read that glasses are a downright pain until the child gets used to them. Once they realize that the glasses help them to see things correctly, they don't want to take them off! I'm hoping for a quick and smooth adjustment. My son's eye doctor said there is a slim chance of his astigmatism decreasing or outgrowing it being that the glasses will help his eyes to learn how to focus. 

 My plan is to take him somewhere fun and/or new that he will have lots of things to look at to help take the attention off of the glasses on his face, and hopefully put his focus on toys and other things to play with and see.  I would say keep an eye on his fine motor skills (pincer grasp, imitating, clapping, etc) and balance once he gets bigger. Knowing what I know now and looking back at the last few months, those things seem to be a bit off due to his strong astigmatism.  

aquariogirl

Thanks for the replies! When LO was discharged from the Nicu, they emphasized the vision appointments to check mainly ROP. He had two appointments the week after his discharge, which went really well. And then an appointment at 6 months which was a couple of weeks ago when the ophthalmologist found out abou astigmatism. 

True, he is having trouble with his fine motor skills, like picking small items. I'm working hard to help him as much as I can with his development.

Thanks again for the feedback. It is very valuable. BTW, the little girl with glasses is sooo adorable!