Just don’t call him four eyes.

It’s terribly sad, but I don’t remember when Jett got his glasses.  Definitely sometime this summer.  Here’s the lowdown.

At Jett’s last eye visit he wasn’t scheduled to go back until December but I was concerned about Jett’s strabismus.  With his nystagmus much improved I have been seeing his left eye turn in and I called the doctor concerned.  If patching was going to be necessary I wanted to get started right away, I don’t want to risk another surgery.  We went in and the doctor said, very nicely and reassuringly, that I was making much ado about nothing.  That every once in a while an eye would turn inward but that the surgery was still an overwhelming success.  I was feeling rather silly for over-reacting and getting a sitter for Michael for what ended up being such a short appointment when the doctor asked if I wanted to go ahead and dilate Jett’s eyes, we could wait until December or do it now.  I was secretly hoping he would say this and save me the second trip.  I checked to make sure another hour would be okay with said sitter and we were set.

According to our ophthalmologist, Jett is near sighted with a significant astigmatism that makes him functionally far-sighted.  Clear as mud, right?  I was a health major in college, a science teacher post college, and consider myself somewhat educated on the human body, but how the eyes work have always eluded me.  I know near-sighted and far-sighted refers to where the image focuses on the eye, either before or after the retina and an astigmatism means your cornea or lens is likely misshapen.  And that’s all I got.

At the end of the appointment the doctor stated that without correction Jett is seeing around 20/150 in both eyes which is very good and of course at our next visit we will be able to ascertain a visual acuity with and without glasses, pending the cooperation of a certain 3 year old with the attention span of about 3 seconds.  Anyways, he said Jett’s need for glasses was significant but not severe and that if I wanted to wait another 6 months to put Jett in glasses I could, but why wait.  The vision center of Jett’s brain is still developing and it is best that all children with vision issues have their vision corrected as early as possible to stimulate optimum development so that they will learn to use their vision at the highest level.  It’s very interesting, but you have to learn to see and by helping Jett see we are allowing his brain to do just that, hopefully a little better than it otherwise would.

So, we got a prescription and the research began as to where to buy Jett his glasses.  We settled on Walmart.  Not because we’re cheap, although we are, but because if you are going to be buying glasses for a 3 year old it would be nice to be able to afford to replace them.  Also, for Jett’s first pair of glasses if we are going to have buyers remorse it again would be nice to spend $80 and not $180.  Oh my gosh, I have so many thoughts, where to begin.  For the sake of not boring anyone who is reading this I will try to summarize our experience.

The doctor has led me astray only once, and that was with the recommendation of transition lenses.  These frustrated me endlessly and were a waste of my money.  Transition lenses only work with direct UV exposure.  So when we’re driving in the car the lenses were still clear.  When Jett is inside a brightly lit room the lenses were still clear.  When Jett was outside playing in the shade the lenses were still clear.  Even when Jett was in the sun, he was wearing a brimmed hat, shading his face and the lenses were clear.  Even when I pulled out the glasses and held them in the sun they were a relatively light tint, nothing that was help my extremely photophobic child.  The doctor does not recommend tinted glasses at this time because Jett also needs light to see and he worried that the tint would inhibit his vision more than help it.  So, we returned the first glasses with the transition lenses and ordered a completely new pair (we didn’t like the first frames anyway) and got a new pair with regular lenses and a pair of prescription sunglasses.  Let me interject here and tell you why I love Walmart.  They have great hours, they are open everyday of the week usually until 8 pm and where are you ever going to be that doesn’t have a Walmart?  They will fix or replace the glasses for free, even if we run over them with our car.  Plus, they have a great return policy.  We decided we didn’t like the way 2nd pair looked either and exchanged them again for a 3rd pair, which was cheaper than the 2nd pair so they refunded us the $30 difference.  We got two pairs of glasses for around $160 and I feel we get great service to go with it.  And Jett’s glasses are so cute!  He has such a little nose it is nearly impossible to get them to stay put and not slide so on our once a week shopping trip we just pop into the vision center and they readjust his glasses – so convenient!

Jett was already used to wearing sunglasses and transitioned to his “regular” glasses with no problems.  The doctor told me ideally Jett would be wearing his glasses full time within a month, it took Jett two days.  I’ve heard several people suggest that it seems obvious to them that the glasses must be helping or he wouldn’t wear them.  I wasn’t convinced so easily.  It’s been probably a little over two months and I am more certain now that the glasses do improve his vision.  And it’s more evident with how he looks at things without them than how he acts with them.  Here is a picture of Jett looking at birthday cards without his glasses.

I was surprised at how close he had to get to the card to see it, without his glasses he would usually distance himself a few more inches away from what he needed to see.  So it’s moments like this that lead me to believe that his glasses help.  Also when he watches tv he no longer parks himself a few feet from the screen but will sit back with us on the couch and still comment on what is happening.  We do have really big tv’s though.

Jett’s null point is a the top of his eyes, so he frequently tilts his head down and looks out above his glasses which is frustrating that his best view of the world isn’t at a position that allows him to look through his lenses, but his vision teacher tells me his null point can change throughout his life.

So my next appointment for Jett is in January and we will see what the doctor thinks then.   It’s so funny how I feel as if I’ve joined a little elite group of Mom’s of children with glasses.  We see each other in public and share smiles of camaraderie, it’s kind of fun!  When the doctor first told me that Jett would need glasses I really was very sad.  Jett was so adorable exactly the way he was I didn’t want to change a thing.  I was unreasonably upset and I allowed myself to wallow in it.  Surprisingly it took me only about a week before I would look at Jett and think that without his glasses something was missing.  And I am thankful for anything that helps improve Jett’s quality of life, it’s nice when its something affordable and that he looks pretty cute in too.

Since we’ve gone through 3 different frames this is the only picture I have of Jett in his current, and hopefully permanent, glasses.  I’ll work on getting a better picture.  But until then,

Advertisement

2 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI