Astigmatism - Uncorrected

[cherrygal]

Please bring any child below 7yo to an eye specialist, not an optometrist. Only the eye specialist can administer the eye drop that dilates the eye for a 99% accurate reading. And please don’t go to any so-called "specialist child optometrist" that charges $100 per consultation. The reading from that optometrist was way off from the reading by the eye specialist. Gave me a heart attack for nothing.


My preschooler has astigmatism but with intervention, the condition stabilised or improved a little over the months. I thought she could do without glasses during our 1-week holiday last year and when she last did a check, there was no improvement and I was forced to patch her eyes to prevent lazy eye and squints. So these kids really need their glasses! Don’t procrastinate.

[J and J]

Imami:

J and J:

Apart from relax the eye muscle, the drug also dilates the pupil as well. The strength depends on the types of drugs they use. For children, they may use the drug with stronger eye muscle relaxation effect, while for the adult, they use the drug with mild eye muscle relaxation but fast acting dilation effect to make the pupil larger for the fundus (internal eye) examination.

j and j, you sound very knowledgeable in this aspect. An you share with us, what/how should we do if we suspect our children are shortsighted or having some sight issue which require glasses?

Hi Imami, I assume you refer to the preschooler. I attach the following US website, it states the sign and symptoms if the child (preschooler 2-5 yo) has vision problems and some advises to parents to follows.
http://www.aoa.org/x9450.xml

[cherrygal]

Doc said all kids have some mild form of astigmatism when born. The condition corrects itself later on. But if more than 100 degrees, it is not that mild any more. I have astig of 125 degrees in one eye and already I see halos and light glare at night. Numbers don't appear clear etc.


If your child seems to lose interest in reading or counting, it could be due to the fact that he/she can't see properly. Some think it is an attention problem but it could actually be due to eyesight.

[J and J]

cherrygal:

Doc said all kids have some mild form of astigmatism when born. The condition corrects itself later on. But if more than 100 degrees, it is not that mild any more. I have astig of 125 degrees in one eye and already I see halos and light glare at night. Numbers don't appear clear etc.

Agreed. all children are born with astigmatism normally more than 200 degrees, and some children will out grow of it when they reach school age but some do not and stay as higher as 200 - 300 degrees or above. With such high degrees, the child is highly possible to develop lazy eye and if this happens only in one eye, it may lead to squint too.

If your child seems to lose interest in reading or counting, it could be due to the fact that he/she can't see properly. Some think it is an attention problem but it is actually due to eyesight.

Yes it may be related to poor eyesight

[cherrygal]

J and J:

Agreed. all children are born with astigmatism normally more than 200 degrees, and some children will out grow of it when they reach school age but some do not and stay as higher as 200 - 300 degrees or above. With such high degrees, the child is highly possible to develop lazy eye and if this happens only in one eye, it may lead to squint too.

J & J, with this possibility of the astig self-correcting, should kids be wearing corrective glasses or not? There was mention by someone earlier that a boy's astig went away by itself at P2 (assuming no glasses were worn at all).

My preschooler is wearing her glasses now but I worry that the astig may never go away totally since her eyes now \"depend\" on the glasses for clearer vision. Advice?

[newuser]

Unfortunately my kid has 350 for both eyes since kindergarten.


Lately, she starts to develop myopia of 100 each.

We are correcting on her reading habit but can’t imagine her eyes deteriorate so fast.

[J and J]

cherrygal:

J and J:

Agreed. all children are born with astigmatism normally more than 200 degrees, and some children will out grow of it when they reach school age but some do not and stay as higher as 200 - 300 degrees or above. With such high degrees, the child is highly possible to develop lazy eye and if this happens only in one eye, it may lead to squint too.

J & J, with this possibility of the astig self-correcting, should kids be wearing corrective glasses or not? There was mention by someone earlier that a boy's astig went away by itself at P2 (assuming no glasses were worn at all).

Cherrygal, prescribing spectacles to veryyoung child (like preschooler) is an intervention mainly to prevent or treat amblyopia( lazy eye- a condition the vision is below standard(6/6) even with spectacles correction or treating a squint (cross eyes)
The lazy eye means even the image in the eye is sharp, but the brain does not recognise it as sharp image so the child still cannot percieve a sharp image. In such a young age, the brain is still learning how to perceive an image from the eyes. If such learning process is disturbed, then there's chance to develop lazy eye which may lead to squint if one eye is more serious than another eyes.
If a child shows sign of having lazy eye and or squint, then spectacles is first line of treatment regardless how much their degrees are.
There's always possibility for a child have their astigmatism subsided when reaching school age, but no one knows who this child will be. So sorry I can't answer you regarding this, eye care professional would able to know which child is at risk to have amblyopia or squint and do the intervention .

My preschooler is wearing her glasses now but I worry that the astig may never go away totally since her eyes now \"depend\" on the glasses for clearer vision. Advice?

How much degree of astigmatism does your child have?Does your child have other refractive errors ( myopia or hyperopia)? The most important is his/her corrected vision ( vision with the spectacles), attain 6/6?
In most of the cases, astigmatism won't increase as drastic as the myopia. It rarely hit 1000 degrees like myopia.
But we still have to watch out for any onset of myopia when the child starts schooling. As myopia has more impact on the eye than the astigmatism.
People are frightened by the degrees only, but I think the most important is how well you can see even spectacles is more important. As there's way to remove the degree, when they reach adulthood, but if your corrected vision is not good, even you remove the degrees, you still can't see well. I do not mean neglecting the increase in degrees but it should come after the vision.
That's only my personal view.

[cherrygal]

Thank you so much for your explanation. I agree being able to see 6/6 with correction is important. She only has astig so far but I suspect she will develop myopia later on coz I am seriously myopic myself.

[kylene]

My p2 DS was recently found to have Astig 75 both side and myopia of 25 on one side. Was told he doesn’t need glasses . May I know if anyone has similar experience ? Should I get a 2nd opinion ? Thanks

[Aloysius Lam]

Hey guys. I am a 15 year old in hci and I recently went to an eye specialist to check my eyes and realused that I have astig 300 on both eyes. The specialist told me that it was completely due to my parents genes and that I could not do anything other than get lasik surgery at age 21. Is there anything you guys can recommend me to do to not worsen the situation or improve it? Any help would be kindly appreciated!