My son, 5 years old, just had an eye exam and I was told that he has Astigmatism in both eyes and is farsighted. He was given this prescription
OD +6.25 -3.50 10'
OS +6.25 -3.50 170'
Is there any chance that his eyes are going to correct themself over time. His glasses are made of polycarbon and they are still very thick. When I look through them I can not even imagine how bad his sight must have been over the last 5 years. My son is upset about having to wear them because he gets teased in school. His apperance has really changed because his eyes are so magnified when you look at him with his glasses on.

No one knows what his vision will be in the future. How well can he see from far without glasses? Maybe he can take them off except to read or something?

>No one knows what his vision will
>be in the future. How well
>can he see from far without
>glasses? Maybe he can take them
>off except to read or something?
>

The Doctor told us he needs to keep them on all the time, however we do not enforce that rule just because he is a typical 5 year old boy that likes to wrestle and play. He can make out shapes and colors and does not complain about it. I think it is actually harder on my wife and I because of the social issues he is faced with in school. Will wearing your glasses all the time give you a better chance of having your eyes correct themself?

You said he can make out shapes and colors. How well on the snellen chart can he see without glasses? Tell him to stand strong and ignore the teasing, those who do are just immature! Many of those might need glasses down the road, I got my first glasses when I was 12 and I ignored any teasing. I guess its not so common to get glasses at 5. As for better vision, theres the Bates method and its followers. Much more is mentioned about improving myopia than hypermetropia. Not everyone believes in that method though. If he can see ok from far, he doesnt need glasses every hour he is awake. I am a myope so I take my glasses off to read and eat since I see clear from near

First - I want to apologize that a doctor did not answer your question yet. I got a little behind in answering all of the questions.

Your child has hyperopia plus astigmatism - and you should follow your doctor's directions carefully. Your child will see very poorly without glasses, due to the severe hyperopia plus the severe astigmatism. Without wearing glasses, the optical system may not develop properly, and your child could end up with a lazy eye (called amblyopia).

So again - please work with your own pediatric ophthalmologist - as this is a serious condition. As well, we do not have any specialists on this website for this area, so please again talk with your own doctor.

As a note - the danger of asking questions on a website that is answered by non-doctors is that you can get the wrong advice - which is exactly what happenned here!!! The person "ACE" mentioned that your child can just take off your glasses and read - but that is 100% wrong - as your child is far-sighted (according to the prescription you provided).

I hope this helps

Bill Trattler, MD
Miami, FL

This is what I said:

If he can see ok from far, he doesnt need glasses every hour he is awake. I am a myope so I take my glasses off to read and eat since I see clear from near

see the word "IF" I didnt say could or couldnt, just asked "IF" because I am not the kid and I do not know exactly how he sees. Of course if he cant see then of course keep the glasses on. Me being nearsighted, I see just fine from near without glasses so I remove them for near seeing. I actually see much better from near without glasses than with glasses. My example does NOT relate to him as his pescription is different but just stating that I sometimes take of my glasses

Thank you for everyone's advise. We are going to listen to our Doctor and make our son wear his glasses all the time and hope that his eye sight improves over time. He does not complain about his sight when his glasses are off so we are very confussed about how bad his sight must be when I look through his lenses. I would think that he would want to wear them more if they correct his vision and he can see a new world for the first time.

Michael,
Your son's prescription is a little stronger than mine was at his age and I can completely empathize with what he is facing and will have to deal with. Hopefully the glasses give him 20/20 corrected vision and he will find he will want to wear them all the time to be able to read and function well in school. He's able to accomodate out some of the refractive error now, but trust me, he doesn't see well enough without the glasses to do everthing he needs to do when he's in school. Yes he'll be teased a lot and will no doubt acquire nicknames like 4 eyes and other even more insulting ones. But just tell him to be strong and ignore them or tell those who taunt him that nobody's body is perfect. Everyone has physical imperfections. God just happened to give him flatter corneas than most folks. Some people have flat noses, pointed ears, fat chins, etc. etc. When he gets older, contact lenses may work OK for him so he'll be able to ditch the thick glasses and be more *appealing* to the gals, probably when he's a teenager. But if he's wise, he'll realize that a sparkling personality and good heart will be his most appealing characteristics, no matter what thick glasses do to his looks. By the time he's over 18, technology will most likely have much better RS solutions than lasik to reshape his corneas to perfect uncorrected vision. I had conventional lasik for high hyperopia with astigmatism 6 years ago and got 20/25 uncorrected, 20/20 corrected. He's luckier he was born 50 years later than I was.

Hi,
I have a four year old daughter and I can understand how you must feel. Dr Tattler is absolutely right, the one way in which you can help your son is to make him understand that wearing glasses will help him, more importantly not let the numbers increase. That may be some incentive. He may be not telling you the truth when he is off glasses, afraid that you may force him to wear it, and that may confuse you. The key is communication. Maybe you can make a big deal and get him fancy frames or something. Also speak to a pediatric ophthalmologist who would be a specialist in such cases. Now the age of children wearing contact lenses is also lesser than before, and safely, but best to check with your eye surgeon.
Hope he gets confident soon, all the best
Safala