Kids Eye Test Explaination?

Question

I have just found out my little boy needs to wear glasses - his prescription is R = Sph +1.00, Cyl -2.00 and Axis 5 .. L = sph +1.00, Cyl -2.00 and Axis 175 Can anyone explain what this means and if this can be corrected if he wears his glasses as recommended?

Answer 1

Your child is far-sighted in the horizontal meridian and near-sighted in the vertical meridian.  This results from the eye not being perfectly round.  It's more like an egg or football shape.  He could outgrow the far-sighted portion and even convert to near-sightedness in that meridian, but the near-sighted portion is likely to continue to worsen as he grows.  People rarely outgrow astigmatism of this degree.  He has a moderately high amount of astigmatism.  While he wears his glasses, he will see better, but when he removes them, the problem will remain.  I think it's great you took him and found this out so early.  Many children go undetected for years because they have no idea that they don't have ideal vision.  Good luck.

Answer 2

The +1.00 sph in either eye is measured in a unit called Diopters. Your boy probably has more trouble seeing up close, as indicated by the (+) sign. This is called hyperopia, or farsightedness. +1.00 is not a high farsightedness.

The -2.00cyl is an additional power added into each lens for astigmatism. Astigmatism is fairly common, and it usually affects near and far sight. It is usually the result of a cornea (front of the eye) that is not perfectly round. This may make it a bit more difficult for your son to see well.

The axis tells the optical how much to rotate each lens before placing them in the glasses frames.

How old is your son? Sometimes, small children can grow out of it. If he is near adolescence, he will probably have to wear glasses or contact lenses through his life.

Answer 3

Hi, my daughter is 21 months and wears glasses due to being farsighted (as others have mentioned, the + in front of the 1.00 means he's farsighted).  For my daughter, the biggest concern was that she was crossing her eyes when not wearing glasses to compensate for the farsightedness.  Crossing her eyes meant that she was seeing double, so her brain would tune out input from one of her eyes putting her at risk for developing lazy eye.  In her case, wearing glasses corrects her crossed-eyes quite well.  Really, catching eye problems like this early, and treating them will help prevent more problems later on, since they're still developing their vision.  Many young kids are slightly farsighted, and will grow out of it, but I don't believe that astigmatism corrects with age the same way.

Good luck with your little boy and glasses.  If you have any questions or problems with the glasses, feel free to stop by my blog about kids and glasses: http://toddlerglasses.wordpress.com