Advice for 9-year old newly in glasses.

When my son was 2, he had an eye exam with a pediatric opthamologist
(we thought he had crossed eyes). She said his eyes and vision were
perfectly fine, and that his cross-eyed appearance was due to the way
the eyelids were shaped.

Now my son is 9. For the past 3 years, he's spent an awful lot of
time in front of a computer and his Gameboy, and he spends a lot of
time reading and doing closeup work. I was concerned that he might be
straining his vision, and since it had been 7 years since his last
vision workup, my wife and I scheduled an appointment with an
opthamologist (his new opthamologist is his old opthamologist's
brother).

The doctor performed a bunch of tests, including a "Worth 4 dot" test.
I asked the doc what this tested, and he said it was to determine how
his eyes worked together. I don't recall what my son saw, but it
wasn't the standard, and the doc said "but that's OK, it's not a
problem".

All in all, the doc originally said my son was myopic and would
"probably" require -1.50 lenses. But he decided to dilate his eyes "to
be sure". Once dilated, he changed his recommendation to -1.00 in each
eye, with no astigmatic correction. He had my son try on the test
lenses and my son said he could see at a distance just fine.

The doc said for my son to wear his glasses all the time in the
classroom and at home when watching TV, or riding his bike and other
outdoor activities. He also told me that he could keep them on for
closeup work, but wasn't necessary. He said my son's eyes would focus
accomodate just fine with or without the minus lenses.

I was wondering if we should tell him to take them off when doing
closeup work because that would mean he would need to focus a bit
harder to "counteract" the effects of a minus lens? Or should he
leave them on all the time, which would make him accustomed to wearing
them (and lessen the chance of losing them). The doc never made this
clear.

Thanks,
Ed
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Advice for 9-year old newly in glasses.
    ... I just report the fact that second-opinion PROFESSIONAL optometrists ... have successfuly CLEARED THEIR OWN VISION ... (we thought he had crossed eyes). ... Now my son is 9. ...
    (sci.med.vision)
  • Re: Advice for 9-year old newly in glasses.
    ... I just report the fact that second-opinion PROFESSIONAL optometrists ... have successfuly CLEARED THEIR OWN VISION ... (we thought he had crossed eyes). ... I don't recall what my son saw, ...
    (sci.med.vision)
  • Re: The Idiots and their Peers
    ... The true effect of Raphaelson's story of the "Printer's Son", ... and her vision with and over-prescribed minus lens, ... THE EFFECT OF A NEGATIVE LENS ON THE ... inches from his eyes, in which case the crystalline lens ...
    (sci.med.vision)
  • Re: The Idiots and their Peers
    ... The true effect of Raphaelson's story of the "Printer's Son", ... and her vision with and over-prescribed minus lens, ... THE EFFECT OF A NEGATIVE LENS ON THE ... inches from his eyes, in which case the crystalline lens ...
    (sci.med.vision)
  • A Walk in the Woods
    ... white flesh into flies. ... And my lover's eyes ... "You smile funny," he says, ... my son, stunned by the way ...
    (rec.arts.poems)