Colin got fitted for glasses yesterday :-/
MrsL1022
member
Man have I been on the emotional roller coaster of mom guilt. I finally got him into Dr. Lipsky at Thomas Eye Group. He was wonderful. It was determined that his vision is different between his eyes. He is too far sighted on the one side. He basically has a mild form of what I have had since I was 18 months old. Thankfully he will not need surgery but he will need glasses permanently. I am SO sad for him that he will have vision issues the way that I did/do. I know a lot of kids wear glasses but a lot of that is for something they grow out of. He won't grow out of this. Maybe it's more common now to be a kid with glasses but it stunk when I was growing up and I hated how I looked. I was just really hoping that DH's portion of the gene pool would kick in. Hopefully his genes will prevent braces b/c I had those too. HIs glasses will be in next week. I hope he wears them and I hope they help him. I teared up multiple times yesterday, including when we were trying on glasses. I remember how much I disliked wearing glasses so it makes me sad that he will have to too. I do have to say that the selection is much better now than it was. He will take it in stride. He tried on a black pair and said "look mommy, I'm Mr. Potato head" lol.
Sorry this was long it's hard to be told that there is something 'wrong' with your child, I am glad that this is something very minor that in the grand scheme of things and life is no big deal.
Re: Colin got fitted for glasses yesterday :-/
I went through these exact emotions a few months ago when Carter failed his vision screening. I freaked out. We took him to Dr. Lipsky and he indicated Carter's eyes were not working properly together. He was fitted for glasses (bifocals), and wears a patch over his "strong" eye for 2 hours a day. The weak eye also has a focusing problem, which in turn causes it to cross on occasion. A few weeks ago Lipsky told me that if his eyes don't get significantly better in 3 months, that he will have to have eye surgery. This will only correct the crossing issue, and surgery isn't always effective and he may need multiple surgeries. It's even possible that it won't work at all. And he will still have to wear glasses, as it will do nothing to correct his vision..
On the bright side, he's OK with his glasses. He realizes that he can see "better" with them on, b/c now it's prompting the weak eye to actually work. He had no depth perception, b/c only one eye was being used to see. The glasses corrected that and he's much more confident. His initial vision prior to glasses was 20/125. It's now a 20/30.
The patch has been easy. I explained to him that it's a form of exercise for his weak eye to make it stronger. He is the only child at school with glasses. One child teased him about his glasses, but we nipped it in the bud immediately. Now all of the kids wish they had glasses too, b/c they are so cool. Ava got really upset when Lipsky checked her eyes and said she didn't need glasses.
The only thing I can tell you is to give him as much positive reinforcement as you can. I tell Carter everyday how proud i am of him in wearing his glasses all the time and what a great job he's doing wearing his patch. I know how upsetting it is to hear that something isn't quite right with your child, especially something as important as their eyes, but at least you are catching it early and in a few weeks, Colin probably won't even remember a time when he wasn't wearing glasses. They adapt so quickly and are super resilient. Don't be so hard on yourself mama! Everything will be OK in the end.
Killian got his first pair of glasses right before his 4th birthday. He did very well with wearing them, but he's pretty much blind without them and I think he figured that out quickly. I was expecting him to need them though, the genetics were too stacked against him.
Glasses are much cooler now than when we were kids, so he should be okay.
I had to wear glasses when I was little too. It wasn't much fun. But now the kids at school are totally jealous of those who get to wear glasses. It is kind of refreshing and nice to see instead of kids making fun they want to try on their glasses. I hope Colin adjusts easily.
I'm sorry it was so painful for you, but I just want to say that my niece Gina has been in glasses since she was about 2 and I just always thought she looked SO ADORABLE in her little glasses. Is that wrong? Babies in glasses is just so cute and it never even occurred to me to be sad for them.
Thanks Tiffanie, I have been wearing my glasses the past few days for C's benefit. I have been talking to him about his cool new glasses that are coming from the special Dr that played the fun games with him. I am hoping to get him excited about them. My next door neighbor's son got glasses a few months ago so he knows that his friend W wears cool glasses too. I am hoping all of this will help him to want to wear them. I also think that once he can actually see properly it will help. I hope so b/c he is VERY stubborn and if he thinks I want him to do something he will do the complete opposite.
Thanks for posting! Ashlyn is SO SO cute!!
I'm tired so must be brief....
DJ Lance Rock may be the coolest person for kids ever. And HE wears glasses and makes it cool for kids.
If you want to talk kids and eyes, email/call me. I know every emotion you are going through. If you just want to purge and cry, call me. Get it out. It will be okay but you will have to work through the emotions. Collin will be a rock star. Promise.