Severe longsightedness in daughter

BrassicWoman

I wore contacts from the age of about 8

Rubik

Both of us have shed a few tears and my partner has had a panic attack after reading online that those numbers mean 'severely long sighted', and may not improve at all. I guess it just hurts that your child had something wrong with her.

Your child is not "faulty" or imperfect. By reacting in this way it is extreme and should your daughter pick up on, potentially harming to her.

Many children need to wear glasses - it is not a rarity. My younger daughter is extremely short sighted - I will NEVER forget her joy and excitement after getting her first pair of glasses, which allowed her to see properly for the first time (she was 5). I've always made sure she has frames she likes, and when she was old enough (about 17) she switched to contacts. I've never thought as my daughter having "something wrong" with her because of her eyesight.

I am extremely long-sighted and have worn glasses since I was 11. I wasn't bullied for wearing glasses (despite my first 2 pairs being those dreadful pink NHS frames). Nowadays, so many children wear glasses, they are almost a fashion accessory with so many lovely frames to choose from. Specsavers even have a Spectacle Wearer of the Year now.

I appreciate that this is a bit of a shock to you and your wife, but seriously, stop over reacting. Your beautiful little girl can see properly now - such a gift denied to so many.

onomatopoeia99

MrBrindle wrote: »

Has anyone had any experience of this? Did the eyes improve at all? I don't know if it's a bit OTT, but we're both feeling extremely down, and very guilty that neither of us noticed anything wrong with her.

I had trouble seeing the board at infants school and eventually said so - it crept up gradually so it was a while before I noticed that something was wrong. My parents got my eyes tested and by age seven I was wearing specs as I was (and am) short sighted, so I have experience from the other side. I don't recall my parents having panic attacks about it.

It got worse into my teens and since then my eyesight requires about -7 correction in both eyes, so I am very short sighted - I can only focus about 10cm in front of my nose, beyond that everything is a blur. Before the days of high refractive index glass being commonplace, I had thick lenses in my 'lovely' brown NHS horn-rim frames. It doesn't get better, absent laser correction, spectacles (or contacts if she's vain) will be a permanent feature of your daughter's life.

Really, really don't take them away from her at certain times, with the level of correction her sight requires forcing her to go back to uncorrected vision would be cruel and pointless. It certainly wouldn't do her any good.

The thing I can't understand is why you are crying and having panic attacks over a problem that is easily corrected. Can you explain?

Davesnave

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

The thing I can't understand is why you are crying and having panic attacks over a problem that is easily corrected. Can you explain?

If you look back over the OP's posts, you'll see he suffers from axxiety and OCD. Now his partner seems to have succumbed too.


I had irrational parents, so I've a feeling that as time goes by, the specs are going to be the least of the child's worries.

olgadapolga

I'm sorry to say that I think you are over-reaacting somewhat. None of us are perfect and an eyesight problem such as your daughter has isn't the end of the world.

Your daughter probably didn't say anything because she didn't realise. If her sight had always been a problem then she was just used to it and probably thought that was how everyone saw things.

My brother was very long-sighted as a child and had extremely thick lenses. His sight did not improve but now uses contact lenses.

My son is short-sighted enough to need glasses. He didn't say a word about not being able to see properly so I didn't know. I felt a bit guilty when I was told by the optician that he needed glasses but how was I to know? He's chilled out about it and uses them when needed.

My other son had to have a cancerous growth removed. Compared to this, the fact that his brother had (correctable) short sight was a tiny issue in terms of his health and well-being.

It's about perspective. Having an eye-sight problem isn't that big a deal. Your daughter is better off with glasses than falling behind in her educational progress because she cannot see the board.

System

I had great vision until I was 18 - then it went down steadily and still is (I'm nearly 40 now). Started with glasses and now contact lenses. It's so much a part of me I don't even think about it. Just have to be careful when I stay over anywhere that I've got my glasses and solution. I'm between 3 and 4 in each eye. Count yourself lucky...my mum and my grandma had glucoma

lisyloo

I'm 50 so maybe I have a different view (as there are some others who've died younger than me) but I am always thankful when something wrong with me can be fixed, especially when it can be fixed to be fully functioning.


There are options for her later in life for example laser surgery.

charlotte1994

Don't fret, glasses are the way to go. Plus with technology and medicine changing all the time you never know what treatments will be available by the time she's and adult! I have worn glasses since my early teens. I think once she gets glasses you will probably see a positive change in her (:

charlotte1994

Rubik wrote: »

I am extremely long-sighted and have worn glasses since I was 11. I wasn't bullied for wearing glasses (despite my first 2 pairs being those dreadful pink NHS frames)

My mum had those NHS glasses and she vowed that her kids would never wear them, she would always buy them! She stuck to her word as both my sister and I have needed glasses since a young age

Rubik

charlotte1994 wrote: »

My mum had those NHS glasses and she vowed that her kids would never wear them, she would always buy them! She stuck to her word as both my sister and I have needed glasses since a young age

I said exactly the same thing!

And in case anyone isn't old enough to know what the frames looked like: