Eye See .... or not!

[bodie]

Tried to get the urchin's sight tested several times.  he gave the opticians hell!  They even came round the school but he wouldn't co operate!   Finally managed it the other day.  Found a really nice optician and she let him play with the up and down chair etc.

Anyway,  the result  -  he needs glasses.  I was a bit shocked and didn't really absorb what she said about it.

Does anyone know what this means,  it is his prescription.  I gather things are blurry,  but how blurry?

[Al Swearegen]

The "sph" box means sphere which represents the amount of long or short sight that is present.  The larger the number the stronger the lens required, and therefore the thicker the spectacle lens will be.  Plus lenses are used to correct long sight and minus lenses are used to correct short sight.

The "cyl" box for cylinder represents the amount of astigmatism that is present.  Astigmatism is caused when the eye is not completely spherical (like a football), its shaped more like a rugby ball.  This causes the vision to be distorted for both distance and near objects.  The cylinder may be plus or minus regardless of whether the sphere is positive or negative.

The "axis" box represents the orientation of the cylinder (from 0-180 degrees) and is the angle at which the lens is set into the frame.

Found this. Will see what else i can find

[Al Swearegen]

Did they mention Astigmatism? My ex has that. I do not want to be presumptuous and presuppose this is the case.

Probably likely to be this or long or short eyesight





Astigmatism

Last reviewed: July 28, 2010.


Astigmatism is a type of refractive error of the eye. Refractive errors cause blurred vision and are the most common reason why a person goes to see an eye professional.

Other types of refractive errors are:
•
Farsightedness

•
Nearsightedness



Causes, incidence, and risk factors

People are able to see because the front part of the eye is able to bend (refract) light and point it to the back surface of the eye, called the retina.

Changes in the length of the eye, or the shape of either the lens or the cornea make it more difficult for the eyes to focus light. If the light rays are not clearly focused on the retina, the images you see may be blurry.

With astigmatism, the cornea (the clear tissue covering the front of the eye) is abnormally curved, causing vision to be out of focus.

The cause of astigmatism is unknown. It is usually present from birth, and often occurs together with nearsightedness or farsightedness.

Astigmatism is very common. It sometimes occurs after certain types of eye surgery, such as cataract surgery.


Symptoms

Astigmatism makes it difficult to see fine details, either close up or from a distance.


Signs and tests

Astigmatism is easily diagnosed by a standard eye exam with refraction test. Special tests are not usually required.

Children or others who cannot respond to a normal refraction test can have their refraction measured by a test that uses reflected light (retinoscopy).


Treatment

Mild astigmatism may not need to be corrected.

Glasses or contact lenses will correct astigmatism.

Laser surgery can help change the shape of the cornea surface to correct astigmatism, along with nearsightedness or farsightedness.


Expectations (prognosis)

The right glasses or contact lenses, or laser vision correction can usually correct vision to normal.


Complications

Uncorrected astigmatism in only one eye may cause amblyopia.


Calling your health care provider

Call for an appointment with your health care provider or ophthalmologist if vision problems worsen, or do not improve with glasses or contact lenses.

[bodie]

Yes she did say astigmatism!  She said he is not long or short sighted.

Thank you

[Al Swearegen]

Yes she did say astigmatism!  She said he is not long or short sighted.

Thank you

My pleasure. I am not surprised you were not really taking it in. Must have been a bit of a shock. Glad i could help.

[bodie]

He has never given me any cause to suspect his vision was not right. 

He sometimes tilts his head to look at things.  I just didn't really think anything of that before.

Could this be why he is struggling with writing?  maybe he can't see where his pen touches the paper?

[Al Swearegen]

He has never given me any cause to suspect his vision was not right. 

He sometimes tilts his head to look at things.  I just didn't really think anything of that before.

Could this be why he is struggling with writing?  maybe he can't see where his pen touches the paper?

You know i dunno. I do know that the images he will see are slightly distorted. Like this



How this translates to writing? I dunno. I would imagine that the words in the middle that he is reading and writing soon distort and that there is only a small area in the middle of what he is viewing that will be clear and undistorted...but now his Mum is getting him glasses and that will stop that.

[bodie]

Oh i feel a terrible mum now.   I should have gotten him through this test sooner.  I tried several times but i know i could have tried harder.   Of course he wouldn't know to tell someone if it has always been like that.  I should have been more vigilant and made sure it was done before he started school.

I really need to do better.   His glasses should arrive about Tuesday,  and he chose his frames and he is quite chuffed.  I just hope he gets a eureeka moment when he puts them on and wants to wear them more and more.

[Al Swearegen]

Oh i feel a terrible mum now.   I should have gotten him through this test sooner.  I tried several times but i know i could have tried harder.   Of course he wouldn't know to tell someone if it has always been like that.  I should have been more vigilant and made sure it was done before he started school.

I really need to do better.   His glasses should arrive about Tuesday,  and he chose his frames and he is quite chuffed.  I just hope he gets a eureeka moment when he puts them on and wants to wear them more and more.

You are doing fine mate. How many of us here were diagnosed with their ASD as young as your boy was diagnosed with his eyesight problem? I was diagnosed at 31. You can't tell me that had no impact on school.

[Peter]

Tried to get the urchin's sight tested several times.  he gave the opticians hell!  They even came round the school but he wouldn't co operate!   Finally managed it the other day.  Found a really nice optician and she let him play with the up and down chair etc.

Anyway,  the result  -  he needs glasses.  I was a bit shocked and didn't really absorb what she said about it.

Does anyone know what this means,  it is his prescription.  I gather things are blurry,  but how blurry?

I have an astigmatism, and things are pretty blurry without my glasses; I find it difficult to read and I can't make out road signs or the numbers on buses until they're almost on top of me when I don't have them, although I can squint and basically use my eye muscles to squeeze my eyeballs into the right shape temporarily in a pinch.

My prescription is:

Left eye:     sph 0.50, Cyl 1.00, Axis 160
Right eye:   sph 0.75, Cyl 1.00, Axis 45

(Whatever that means.)

The upside of astigmatism is that one pair of glasses does me for all situations, and I just wear them constantly except for when I'm in the shower or sleeping or something; I don't have to put them on and take them off depending on what I'm looking at.  My mum is long sighted, so she only needs glasses to read or look at things up close, but that means she has to go and fetch them or exhume them from her handbag when she needs them.  The downside is that I always need to wear my glasses.

[Peter]

Oh i feel a terrible mum now.   I should have gotten him through this test sooner.  I tried several times but i know i could have tried harder.   Of course he wouldn't know to tell someone if it has always been like that.  I should have been more vigilant and made sure it was done before he started school.

I really need to do better.   His glasses should arrive about Tuesday,  and he chose his frames and he is quite chuffed.  I just hope he gets a eureeka moment when he puts them on and wants to wear them more and more.

My prescription had changed quite a bit between my last eye test and the one before it, and it made a huge difference when I got a new pair of glasses.  It's an amazing feeling to go from seeing everything as blurry to being able to make out every tiny twig on distant trees.  I'm looking forward to my next appointment with the optician; things are starting to get a little blurry again, and these glasses are also falling apart and covered in little scratches (I only get a free eye test and glasses once every 2 years).

[bodie]

Oh i feel a terrible mum now.   I should have gotten him through this test sooner.  I tried several times but i know i could have tried harder.   Of course he wouldn't know to tell someone if it has always been like that.  I should have been more vigilant and made sure it was done before he started school.

I really need to do better.   His glasses should arrive about Tuesday,  and he chose his frames and he is quite chuffed.  I just hope he gets a eureeka moment when he puts them on and wants to wear them more and more.

You are doing fine mate. How many of us here were diagnosed with their ASD as young as your boy was diagnosed with his eyesight problem? I was diagnosed at 31. You can't tell me that had no impact on school.

Yes i see what you mean.  Ironically he was diagnosed with ASD at just 2 years old.  Excuse the pun - but maybe my focus was wrong

@Peter
On his prescription it says 4.00 where yours says 1.00 i know that relates to the severity of it.  Yours suggests mildness compared to his,  so i guess his vision is very blurred.

Have you considered laser surgery?  I looked it up and it is one of the things that can be corrected now.

[Callaway]

My daughter has glasses that were prescribed to her but she refuses to wear them because she says that she can see as well without them as she can with them.  I took her back to the eye doctor to make sure that the prescription is still right for her eyes and it is. 

Another eye doctor told me that the reason for this is because she's young, her eyes can still accomodate well and that's why she can see without them.  I can't remember her prescription, but I think that the Urchin's is stronger than hers, so maybe you won't have that problem with him not wanting to wear them if they make such a big difference for him.

["couldbecousin"]

Oh i feel a terrible mum now.   I should have gotten him through this test sooner.  I tried several times but i know i could have tried harder.   Of course he wouldn't know to tell someone if it has always been like that.  I should have been more vigilant and made sure it was done before he started school.

I really need to do better.   His glasses should arrive about Tuesday,  and he chose his frames and he is quite chuffed.  I just hope he gets a eureeka moment when he puts them on and wants to wear them more and more.

 Don't be too hard on yourself, my mother was a nurse and took us for eye exams every
 18 months but I don't think we went at ages 4 or 5.  I am very nearsighted but didn't get
 my first pair of glasses till I was 6 or 7.  I hope the urchin enjoys his improved vision. 

[Icequeen]

astigmatism, more so in the left.

Here this will explain it:

http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/how-read-eye-glass-prescription


Do NOT beat yourself up about this Bodie, it's hard to tell with kids and it can change quickly, my vision was fairly bad before they caught it in 1st grade, and I never said anything, because I never noticed. It's normally a gradual thing so you sometimes don't.