Please help!! Can my son have laser eye surgery?

Question

Hi. I have an 8 year old son who is getting really anxious about wearing his glasses. He is getting very badly bullied about them. He gets called 'specky four eyes' and other horrible names like 'freak' and last night on his way home from the school bus stop he was chased home my lads trying to beat him up. He daren't play out on our street and is getting very isolated. He also has ADHD which makes it hard for him to make friends and the glasses thing is making him worse! I just want to know if kids can get laser eye surgery at the age of 8? I know it sounds a little drastic but it is really getting him down to the point he is breaking them on purpose. He is a different boy when he isn't wearing them and keeps begging me to get him the eye surgery he sees on the tv adverts. I wouldn't be able to afford it anyway but would something be possible on the NHS? Please help as I am at the end of my tether with it all. I don't want him to go so low that he harms himself. Thank you all x*x

Answer 1

could contacts be a solution? if not right now at least in the not so distant future.

Answer 2

Unfortunately there is no way that your son could have laser eye surgery.  Eye surgery is only suitable once your eyesight has stabilised and this often doesn't happen until at least middle age.  I enquired about it but because my eyesight is still changing - at the age of 38! - no reputable surgeon will perform laser eye surgery on someone whose prescription is not absolutely stable.  Your son's eyesight may get worse or better over the years but it will not stabilise for a good many years.

With regards to contact lenses, this is something that you will need to speak to your son's optician about.  

It sounds as if there is a bigger picture here, i.e. the bullying, the ADHD, the problem making friends etc.  If you think your son is depressed then you must seek advice from your GP in the first instance, plus perhaps a charity like Parentline (http://www.parentlineplus.org.uk/).  Not wearing his glasses probably won't help because that will lead to other problems.

Believe me, there are decent looking frames etc. out there but it sounds as if there are more issues going on here which you need to seek advice on.  

Are the bullies from your son's school, by the way?  Because you also need to make an appointment with your son's school if you haven't already.

I'm sorry if all this seems obvious but sometimes we can't see the wood for the trees and you need to know that (a) laser surgery is not the answer and (b) there are places you can go to for help.

I would make an appointment to see your optician, GP and school, and give someone like Parentline a ring.  Once you have started to make enquiries about changing things, you will feel better.

Answer 3

Wait until he's 18 when his eyes stabilise, hes too young and his eyes are still growing. You can try contacts.

Answer 4

He is too young for surgery but even if he wasn't it is quite expensive and is something that needs to be done again every so often, I don't think you can have it done on the NHS anyway.  The main reason he can't have surgery is because his eyes are still developing and changing.  

You could get a consultation at the opticians and ask about the possibility of wearing contacts or at least getting a trial.  But I think he may be a little young for these too as it involves messing about with your eyes so you would probably have to help him put them in and take them out, it is worth finding out anyway.  I used to have a kid in my class when I was younger who wore glasses and when he got to about 11, that's when he had contacts.  I'm surprised that no other children have glasses in the school as most people have to wear glasses for one thing or another now days, you could try building up his confidence or maybe getting him a new pair of glasses that he can feel better wearing.  If he does wear contacts he will have to have a day where he wears his glasses to give his eyes a rest.

Unfortunately kids will pick on anything, like your weight, glasses etc but you should definitely report the bullying, it can make a child's life h**l and could affect him later on in life with regards to his confidence especially as he has ADHD.  Besides, they will only pick on something else when the glasses issue is sorted.  Can the school not do anything about this?

Good luck in the future x

Answer 5

You need to deal with the bullies they are the cause of your problem and your sons behaviour towards his glasses is the reaction.  If you don't deal with the bullies they will continue to bully your son, they will find other issues to use against him.

As for the eye treatment he is far too young and also think what kind of message you are giving him about other glasses wearers.

Contact the school and dont stop make yourself a nusiance till it is dealt with

Answer 6

I'm sorry but he is too young..............his eyes are still developing and they wouldn't do it..............he would need to be at least 18.............. check this out.............

http://www.privatehealth.co.uk/hospitalt...

EDIT...................You should report the bullies to the school and get them to keep an eye out for this behaviour.

Does he need his glasses all the time ??? If not then try letting him take them off when he's out playing.

Answer 7

he sound a bit young for eye surger it not far  he is beeing bulled. if it the same bullers maybe talk to the school about this it not far he cannot play outside with others his age.

take care good luck

Answer 8

I feel for you, i really do. The surgery isn't going to happen, noone would do that on one so young because of hisbody still growing. My daughter is 5 and is supposed to wear glasses but she wont, i've left her to it, i cant physically force her and as the optometrists have told me, there will come a time when she will want to wear them because she'll need to. I'll allow her contact lenses when she starts secondary school if that's what she wants but untill then, it's glasses or nothing!

As for these bullies.... Evidently the mother has no control over her son. I, as i'm sure you are, am a decent law abiding citizen, i live in a lovely area and am not remotely 'rough'! However, if some kid wrapped a bar around one of my little ones legs, i would put the serious frighteners on the little s**t that did it. I would, as you did, speak to the parents but if the mother had said what that woman said i'd have told her in no uncertain terms that not only was i going to tell her kid off as she had instructed but i was also going to give him a bloody good hiding as perhaps she should have done a few years ago. Hmmm i wonder if she'd have remained so unbothered then? I'm not, of course, suggesting you hurt this kid, the law would be down on you like a ton of bricks but ruffle him up, or get your partner to,tell him your son is 8 yrs old and only a sad wimp would bully a little child like that, the kid's only 12, he should get the hint.

Good luck and i hope your little chap finds a happy place with him and his glasses! x