Toddler needs glasses :(

km79

2 year old (and 3 months) got his eye exam in public health unit today. Told he needs glasses for a lazy eye and another check up in 2 months. Got a prescription. My question is do I bring this to any optician or is there a health board specific one ? My wife did not get a chance to ask in there as it was very busy

Hannibal Smith

km79 wrote: »

2 year old (and 3 months) got his eye exam in public health unit today. Told he needs glasses for a lazy eye and another check up in 2 months. Got a prescription. My question is do I bring this to any optician or is there a health board specific one ? My wife did not get a chance to ask in there as it was very busy

It depends...you can get a voucher from the hse for 50 euro...you get this at your local medical centre. to get this voucher you need the name of the optician you're going to, so chose glasses first. to apply for this voucher you need to select an optician on the medical centre's list. ring them first to doubt check.

If you're paying for the glasses yourself you can go wherever you like.

Our guy has had glasses from a similar age to yours and I couldn't recommend specsavers highly enough, if you have no one in mind yourself

samina

+1 for specsavers bringing my kids there years.

km79

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

It depends...you can get a voucher from the hse for 50 euro...you get this at your local medical centre. to get this voucher you need the name of the optician you're going to, so chose glasses first. to apply for this voucher you need to select an optician on the medical centre's list. ring them first to doubt check.

If you're paying for the glasses yourself you can go wherever you like.

Our guy has had glasses from a similar age to yours and I couldn't recommend specsavers highly enough, if you have no one in mind yourself

Thanks .
How much are a standard set of glasses ? Not getting fancy ones as I'd imagine they will not last too long !

edellc

Awh they do last OP, you get a little rubber strap that goes around the back of their head and holds the glasses onto their head so they dont pull them off...and its not like the dark ages the band come in bright colours and so do the glasses and some have their favourite characters on them also as it makes them more appealing, and you can get bendy plastic ones

I know we all want our kids to be prefect but glasses are not the end of the world OP if your want your child to embrace them then you need to not be negative about it...as any negativity will rub off and what would you rather, your child going around blind and damaging his sight even more because he senses your negative attitude towards glasses or your child to be able to see the world in all its colour and detail and helping the sight he has with glasses. I know which I would want.

Hannibal Smith

km79 wrote: »

Thanks .
How much are a standard set of glasses ? Not getting fancy ones as I'd imagine they will not last too long !

They start at 50 euro. you've the right idea...dont spend a fortune especially if there's a review in 2 months.

If you don't mind me adding my 2 cents...could I just say don't worry about the style of the glasses. the first pair we got were little gentleman type one...the amount of times we had to get them repaired them was ridiculous. we went for the complete opposite the next time so go for the most flexible bendable elasticated ones you can find...in fact if they're two lenses stuck to elastic bands...take them!

Hannibal Smith

edellc wrote: »

Awh they do last OP, you get a little rubber strap that goes around the back of their head and holds the glasses onto their head so they dont pull them off...and its not like the dark ages the band come in bright colours and so do the glasses and some have their favourite characters on them also as it makes them more appealing

I know we all want our kids to be prefect but glasses are not the end of the world OP if your want your child to embrace them then you need to not be negative about it...as any negativity will rub off and what would you rather, your child going around blind and damaging his sight even more because he senses your negative attitude towards glasses or your child to be able to see the world in all its colour and detail and helping the sight he has with glasses. I know which I would want.

Its not negativity its a kick in the guts to hear your kid needs glasses at such a young age. not the worst illness or affliction by any means...but not pleasant either.

I hate that business of people assuming there will be any negativity passed from parent to child as if the parent is an idiot sour faced at the sight of specs. In most cases the kids have no problems wearing them and in fact welcome them because it improves their vision so much.

edellc

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

Its not negativity its a kick in the guts to hear your kid needs glasses at such a young age. not the worst illness or affliction by any means...but not pleasant either.

I hate that business of people assuming there will be any negativity passed from parent to child as if the parent is an idiot sour faced at the sight of specs. In most cases the kids have no problems wearing them and in fact welcome them because it improves their vision so much.

Don't attack me , yes its a kick in the guts but read the op posts the negativity oozes out of them, and yes most parents put on a happy face but a lot don't and kids pick up on this and body language...I wasn't attacking the op nor judging just offering advice, so less if the attitude

km79

Thanks guys for the help. There are very personal reasons for my sadness at today's news that I'd rather keep to myself.
It is of course not the end of the world and he will adjust as many other kids have done.
Appreciate the advice

Hannibal Smith

edellc wrote: »

Don't attack me , yes its a kick in the guts but read the op posts the negativity oozes out of them, and yes most parents put on a happy face but a lot don't and kids pick up on this and body language...I wasn't attacking the op nor judging just offering advice, so less if the attitude

Negativity by asking what opticians you go to and how much glasses are? you must have a whole load of subtext coming up on your screen. they put a sad face in the thread title and that was it. hardly warranted the tangent you went on.

You've no need to explain yourself op...all you did was ask 2 questions...best of luck with the glasses and hope the vision sorts itself quickly.

Mech1

dont do anything without a second opinion!

MurdyWurdy

Did they discuss correcting the lazy eye at all with you? Did they give you the reason for it? I had one when I was younger (it wasn't discovered until I was about 6 or 7 though) due to some muscles around my eye not functioning correctly. It's possible early to consider that given your childs age but I was just wondering if the glasses were a temporary fix or they think that will fix it permanently.

With me, they tried a few things (I recall a time when I wore an eyepatch like a pirate to train the eye, and there were maybe glasses too). In the end I had surgery and that's 20 years ago now and I've had no further problems - my eye is completely normal. I do wear glasses because one eye (the non-lazy one ) is a bit weak after compensating for the bad eye but I only need them occassionally.

Was talking to an ex-manager in her fifties one day about it and turns out she had one too and had surgery to correct it in her twenties. I think it's more common than people think.

intothewest

We suspected our lil lad had a lazy eye at 16mths. Had him assessed and he did/does, and we had to get him patched and glasses. A lazy eye can be for one of two reasons, due to vision or muscles. Basically, if the vision or eye muscles are weaker than than the other eye, the brain stops listening to the messages from the eye and so it becomes lazy. A specialist will try and determine if the laziness is due to the vision or muscles. In our case, his vision was a bit low in both eyes, so they prescribed glasses and patching. The patching was easier to implement than the glasses but we got there...and OP, you're kid is a bit older so won't be as difficult I'd imagine. The priority for the specialists is the maximising/saving the vision as much as poss, because they have only a short window to work on this, and if after they've exhausted that avenue and the eye is still lazy, they then consider surgery. I'd imagine patching works for a lot of cases. At the moment we've been told to stop the patching, but now his 'good' eye is gone lazy. We've another appt in two weeks so we'll see what the update is then. But persevere with the glasses if your bubs is resisting them. Don't expect them to wear them all day from day one, introduce them for as long as they'll tolerate them at first and build it up gradually. Be sure you're the one that takes them off, not them, so they realise it's on your terms not theirs...just my two cents..

km79

I may have been incorrect in using the term "lazy eye".
I talked to the optician about his prescription . She said both eyes are still very long sighted (+4 in both ). Both eyes are of equal strength which is good news and why patching is not being considered.
The problem is focussing. Both eyes turn in at different times.
So hopefully the glasses correct this and surgery won't be needed.
The glasses have been ordered and are coming this week. Interestingly she would not give is a band/strap as they are now considers a choking hazard !!!
For anyone starting off like me and wondering about the cost here goes.
The HSE prescription covers the lenses AND selected frames. It's also covers all replacements of these lenses and frames.
You have the option of buying other frames and just getting the lenses free but all breakages Etc of frames will be covered by you.
As its his first pair we are going for the free ones.
Thanks for all the help