eye tests and drops from hospital for 5 year old DD?

atwitsend_2

A bit of a strange one this, but I was born not being able to see out of my right eye. It wasn't discovered until I was 12. I had gone undetected at school sight tests, and my mum had never bothered taking me to the opticians. It was only in a discussion in the car one day my parents were talking about their sight, my mum asked me if I could read a number plate out of each eye, when I went to use my right eye I announced 'I can't, its my bad eye' :rotfl: I honestly thought everyone had a good eye and a bad eye, I had never been told different

A trip to the opticians and hospital confirmed that at birth my brain didn't register my eye so there is nothing they can do, there is just isn't the ability to focus at all even with glasses. I have lived a normal life and my good eye is brilliant, I get regular eye checks to ensure so, cos if I lose the sight in that one I am gonna be really blind!

When I had my first son, he was checked at birth and again at 8 weeks and again at 6 months by hospital to ensure he was ok, all was found to be ok! He is now 7 and having visited the opticians, everything is ok with his eyes :j
But my DD who is 5 was also checked at birth and 8 weeks and all was found ok......

she started school last september and had a visit from the school nurse for the general assesment (height, weight, hearing, sight) and the school nurse rang me to say that DD appears to be blind in one eye :eek: its her left eye.
We were reffered through to hospital to see a Orthoptist.

They checked her eyes and said that she can't see hardly anything out her left eye also! But they hope that as they have caught it while she is still young, then they may be able to kick some life into it, they think its a lazy eye.
I have got to take her to another hospital to see another Orthoptist but this time they are going to put drops on her eyes and do some more tests before prescribing her glasses that she will have to wear all the time and some patches to cover her good eye and help the bad eye work better.

Has anyone had any experience of this with their child? Is the drops easy to do? Also once they do the prescription for her glasses, can I get help with the costs of glasses on the nhs? is there a maximum number of pairs she is allowed?
I would love to hear a success story if someone has had this done and worked! I hate to think of my DD having the same problem as me and not being able to see out of one eye for the rest of her life

jaspercat2002

My son had his eyes tested early as I have one very bad eye. He has been for the drops several times and although he doesn't like it the nurses that do it are great, very used to kids and generally get them in with no fuss.
You will get a voucher for childrens glasses and most opticians have a range that is totally covered by the voucher value. You can pay extra for branded ones etc but there is a good range that are free. I pay £15 extra for lighter, thinner lenses but this is totally optional. If you ask when you are given a prescription at the hospital they may give you a prescription for 2 pairs so you can have a spare. Repairs and replacements for broken glasses are free too for children though.
I have a lazy eye and had patches etc as a child. I can now see ok through my weak eye if my strong eye is closed but have no binocular vision. It doesn't bother me at all though as my brain has developed other strategies for judging distances etc. I just can't see magic eye pictures!
Hope the test goes well
Zoe

atwitsend_2

jaspercat2002 wrote: »

My son had his eyes tested early as I have one very bad eye. He has been for the drops several times and although he doesn't like it the nurses that do it are great, very used to kids and generally get them in with no fuss.
You will get a voucher for childrens glasses and most opticians have a range that is totally covered by the voucher value. You can pay extra for branded ones etc but there is a good range that are free. I pay £15 extra for lighter, thinner lenses but this is totally optional. If you ask when you are given a prescription at the hospital they may give you a prescription for 2 pairs so you can have a spare. Repairs and replacements for broken glasses are free too for children though.
I have a lazy eye and had patches etc as a child. I can now see ok through my weak eye if my strong eye is closed but have no binocular vision. It doesn't bother me at all though as my brain has developed other strategies for judging distances etc. I just can't see magic eye pictures!
Hope the test goes well
Zoe

:T many thanks! thats reassuring that the nurses are good-i just hope the hospital we go to are as good! I don't mind paying something for DD's glasses. Can I ask, are kids glasses quite robust?

dollydoodah

My daughter has worn glasses since she was 12mths old (she is now 5) as she is severely longsighted and is a regular at having the eye drops put in. Although it is not very pleasant for her afterwards - they dilate the pupils so looking at light (and things like the TV) can be painful for a couple of hours afterwards - the orthoptist is very good and quick at doing it. They usually have my DD sat on a chair with her head tilted slightly back and drop them in very easily.

As for the glasses, if you do get a prescription, ask for it to be for 2 pairs. Some will give you 2 automatically but occasionally mine forgets and we always need a spare pair. There are some really cool glasses around at the moment which will cost you nothing - I must admit that we do pay a bit extra (£25) to have the more expensive frames in one of the pairs but that is only through choice.

We have patched but not for that long a time - these are provided and you stick it over their eye with the glasses over the top. To be honest, DD was not a fan of this - although she was only just 4 when she had to have it done - and she would probably be more tolerant of it now.

One thing I would say is please find a good, small opticians. They are worth their weight in gold as they will get to know your DD and build up a relationship with her over time. I once went to one of the high street retailers - never again. Her glasses didn't fit right and every time there was a problem they tried to charge us. We now use the same, independent opticians and they are fantastic; I can call in any time, they know my DD and make sure everything is perfect for her.

Good luck.

dollydoodah

atwitsend wrote: »

:T many thanks! thats reassuring that the nurses are good-i just hope the hospital we go to are as good! I don't mind paying something for DD's glasses. Can I ask, are kids glasses quite robust?

We must have posted near enough at the same time.

To be honest, I find that the glasses vary in how tough they are. Some we have had have fallen apart at the slightest knock (the screws or lens drops out), others have survived everything! I think it is often a case of try it and see - if they break, you are entitled to another free pair anyway.

atwitsend_2

dollydoodah wrote: »

We must have posted near enough at the same time.

To be honest, I find that the glasses vary in how tough they are. Some we have had have fallen apart at the slightest knock (the screws or lens drops out), others have survived everything! I think it is often a case of try it and see - if they break, you are entitled to another free pair anyway.

Many thanks. loads of good advice there! :T
I am not a fan of specsavers and places like that, I take DS to an independant and they have been wonderful, so I will definatly be going there for her glasses :j last time we was there for DS eye test, she saw the bratz glasses and was fasinated with them, so it may well make her day knowing she will have some of her own :rotfl: although I am sure the novelty soon wears off

Indie_Kid

I don't remember having drops in that young. However, I do remember having them in when I was slightly older and crying because I didn't like them. I am now 20 and still don't like them. (they sting and give me blurry vision)

Js_Other_Half

dollydoodah wrote: »

One thing I would say is please find a good, small opticians. They are worth their weight in gold as they will get to know your DD and build up a relationship with her over time. I once went to one of the high street retailers - never again. Her glasses didn't fit right and every time there was a problem they tried to charge us. We now use the same, independent opticians and they are fantastic; I can call in any time, they know my DD and make sure everything is perfect for her.

Good luck.

I agree with this wholeheartedly.

DS has just turned 3, and has worn glasses for 9 months. He also wears a patch for 30 mins a day - it was 2 hours initially. He is very longsighted, but his left eye was much different to his right, causing the start of a squint.
We too have 2 pairs of glasses on prescription. The most recent ones cost us £35 extra each. They are designed for toddlers - with a built up silicon bridge, comfy ear pieces, and rubber protectors for the hinges. He can get them off and on by himself, but once on they don't move, so he doesn't keep fiddling with them. They are not competely covered by the NHS prescription.
As he gets older we might be able to get him ones within the NHS price range.

As for the drops, that was a two parent job holding him a few weeks ago! The othoptist hadn't managed it at a previous visit so had sent the drops home for us to do before the next one.
However, after we got there, one of the staff there said we can do it in his sleep, as long as the appt is within 3 hours or so, so that's definitely worth knowing.

Good luck with it all!

mhagster

My DD has attended the eye clinic since she was 7 weeks old ,when my GP thought she had detected a problem at her 6 week check. The problem wasn't there but they could tell by the shape of her lense that she would be long sighted and was seen every 6 months. She has worn glasses since she was 3 years old and is now almost 10. She has never been patched.

She has had some lovely glasses, with really modern frames. Her lenses are thinned at no charge to us and she has had many pairs replaced over the years.

She is sometimes teased for wearing specs but I think that's kids just being kids! We tell her just to ignore daft comments like that!

When she gets drops in ( not liked at all) she has hugely dilated pupils which let in much more light than normal and this effect can last a few hours........cue bumping into wing mirrors as we cross the car park at hospital). The orthoptists at our eye clinic are lovely and are very used to working with children of all ages.


I hope that helps and that your daughter gets a lovely pair of glasses that help her eyesight!

amandada

I'd second what people are saying about using an independent optician. My dd (now 12) is extremely short sighted and has worn glasses since she was 4. We've never had any problems with glasses getting damaged-and that's with her wearing them every waking moment!
We've always made sure she has a say in which frame she gets, and have always been willing to pay the extra for thinner lenses, as this widens the choice of frame she can have-she didn't ask to be so short sighted!
She's now graduated onto contact lenses but obviously has glasses as back up too.

She's never ever been teased about wearing her glasses (other than by a stupid teacher but that's another story!) and has always been complimented on her glasses.

The drops your dd will get at the hospital dilate the pupil so make it more light sensitive, which can be uncomfortable for her, so it's worthwhile to take sunglasses with you to make it a bit easier for her till her pupils go back to normal.

jackomdj

Both my children wear glasses. Our youngest (age 2) had a virus & overnight her eye went from looking normal to turning under her nose all the time. If anything good can come out of it we went to the hospital & they picked up that she has bad eyesight (perscriptions are +3.75 & +4.5 but it is even more than that). Also due to her eyes being bad we took the eldest to the opticians (then 4) & she needs glasses too although hers are -2 for both eyes.

We have to put our own drops in for the drop test about 30 mins prior to appointments. They are easy to put in, although I always worry I have not put enough in until they start dilating.

I can not praise our hospital enough. They are always very helpful & happy to spend time explaining things thoroughly. They asked me to arrange for the eldest to get referred when I said we had taken her to the optician.

As everyone has said there is a wide choice of glasses around & although we don't need them I think the patches can be quite funky these days, not like the cotton wool pad my old neighbour had when I was growing up. We go to our local Asda opticians, just because it is only 5 mins down the road so easy to get to if any adjustments are needed. We paid extra for perscription sunglasses for them both for on holiday.

HTH
Nicky