During our last trip to the ophthalmologist, we were told that getting glasses for Elli at this point would be beneficial. She is far sighted and apparently has an astigmatism. Apparently it's quite normal for a small child to be far-sighted, and typically they don't correct for it. However, he said that we aren't making slower progress with patching her left eye than he'd like, and sometimes the amblyopic (lazy) eye (her right eye) makes better progress with glasses, since it can focus in more while the other eye is patched.
Now I know some of you are wondering, "Does this mean that Elli's vision is corrected and she can see like the rest of us now?" Unfortunately, no...barring new surgeries and procedures that aren't currently known, her vision will never be 20/20, even with glasses. Her main visual impairment comes from an undeveloped retina, which essentially means that she doesn't have the receptors to send detailed images to the brain. As such, it doesn't matter how much you correct her sight, if the receptors aren't there, the brain won't receive that image. However, the glasses do help her vision, and the goal is to give her the best possible vision that she can have!
I was amazed at the number of decision that went into buying glasses for her. Transition lenses? Or a separate pair of prescription sunglasses? Should the glasses have an extra tint to help cut down on indoor glare? Should they be held on by a strap, a frame that wraps around her ears, or just like regular glasses? Should I use a special soft frame meant for kids, or will regular frames work? Do I spend the extra money on a scratch-resistant coating, knowing that these will be well-loved, despite the probability that she'll need new lenses again in 3-6 months anyway because her prescription will change? What a bunch of decisions to make!
We decided as follows after getting input from many of our aniridia friends.
1) No transition lenses, because they don't get dark enough, they don't turn dark enough on cloudy days or in the car, or in the shade, or...well, anywhere. (I believe the exact words from one of the adults was "I HATE transition lenses...)
2) A separate pair of prescription lenses was then necessary. I want to put Rx lenses in her Julbo frames (since she loves her "pink suns" and "purple suns" soooo much), but am having a harder time finding someone to do that than I expected. I called Julbo's partner who does prescription lenses in Julbo frames, and they said they can do it, but since they're such simple frames to work with, they recommended that I just go to any optician. Of course, our local people say "We don't think we can do it...". Finally I found one today that's going to send them in and at least give it a try!
3) No extra tint for now. An extra tint is actually highly recommended by multiple people...however, the exact color of tint that helps each person apparently varies widely. Some people find that a grey tint cuts down on glare without impeding vision, some find that a plum tint helps, others like orange, etc. And if you have a tint that you don't like, it can actually make it harder to see well, especially in a house like ours. So, we didn't want to guess and end up with something that made her vision worse, not better. There is a low vision clinic that Ms. April will get Elli into where she can try out all kinds of different low vision tools and discover what works best for her, but we're not sure at what age they will start working with her. So until that happens, we decided to hold off.
4) No strap (both Elli and I hated the straps on her Julbos!), but we decided to go with the wrap-around the ear style. Not sure that was the best choice. They help hold the glasses on really well, so that part is nice. But they make it much harder for Elli to put the glasses on "self" (her favorite word right now), and they don't keep her from taking them off. So, the jury is still out on that decision.
5) I decided on regular metal frames, instead of a soft frame. I probably would have made a different decision if she was more of a rough-and-tumble kid, but she's done so well with her Julbos, I thought she'd probably be OK about not destroying these. There have been a few close calls so far, but I think it will work out OK.
6) I decided against the scratch-resistant coating on the indoor glasses and for the coating on the sunglasses. Why? I'm not exactly sure. :-) Perhaps because I'm guessing the sunglasses will receive more abuse from playing outside? We'll see if I regret that decision. :-)
She's done quite well with them so far - she'll keep them on for a couple of hours at a time with no problem. Sometimes I have to, um, convince her to put them at first, but that's more because she's a 2-year-old exerting her will than because she doesn't like them. Once they're on, she generally leaves them on with no problem, unless she's eating or getting her diaper changed. (My theory is that's when she's bored or having all control removed from herself, so she takes control over the one things she can to get my goat...her glasses. LOL)
And yes, I realize they're blue and she's a girl...and yes, I've already gotten comments from people about what a cute "little boy" she is. (Seriously, people, you didn't notice the bright pink shirt or the ruffle butt on the shorts or the bright pink sandals, but you noticed the glasses?) :-) But the pink and bronze were backordered, and this was the only pair that fit well, so she's wearing blue. :-)
Now I know some of you are wondering, "Does this mean that Elli's vision is corrected and she can see like the rest of us now?" Unfortunately, no...barring new surgeries and procedures that aren't currently known, her vision will never be 20/20, even with glasses. Her main visual impairment comes from an undeveloped retina, which essentially means that she doesn't have the receptors to send detailed images to the brain. As such, it doesn't matter how much you correct her sight, if the receptors aren't there, the brain won't receive that image. However, the glasses do help her vision, and the goal is to give her the best possible vision that she can have!
I was amazed at the number of decision that went into buying glasses for her. Transition lenses? Or a separate pair of prescription sunglasses? Should the glasses have an extra tint to help cut down on indoor glare? Should they be held on by a strap, a frame that wraps around her ears, or just like regular glasses? Should I use a special soft frame meant for kids, or will regular frames work? Do I spend the extra money on a scratch-resistant coating, knowing that these will be well-loved, despite the probability that she'll need new lenses again in 3-6 months anyway because her prescription will change? What a bunch of decisions to make!
We decided as follows after getting input from many of our aniridia friends.
1) No transition lenses, because they don't get dark enough, they don't turn dark enough on cloudy days or in the car, or in the shade, or...well, anywhere. (I believe the exact words from one of the adults was "I HATE transition lenses...)
2) A separate pair of prescription lenses was then necessary. I want to put Rx lenses in her Julbo frames (since she loves her "pink suns" and "purple suns" soooo much), but am having a harder time finding someone to do that than I expected. I called Julbo's partner who does prescription lenses in Julbo frames, and they said they can do it, but since they're such simple frames to work with, they recommended that I just go to any optician. Of course, our local people say "We don't think we can do it...". Finally I found one today that's going to send them in and at least give it a try!
3) No extra tint for now. An extra tint is actually highly recommended by multiple people...however, the exact color of tint that helps each person apparently varies widely. Some people find that a grey tint cuts down on glare without impeding vision, some find that a plum tint helps, others like orange, etc. And if you have a tint that you don't like, it can actually make it harder to see well, especially in a house like ours. So, we didn't want to guess and end up with something that made her vision worse, not better. There is a low vision clinic that Ms. April will get Elli into where she can try out all kinds of different low vision tools and discover what works best for her, but we're not sure at what age they will start working with her. So until that happens, we decided to hold off.
4) No strap (both Elli and I hated the straps on her Julbos!), but we decided to go with the wrap-around the ear style. Not sure that was the best choice. They help hold the glasses on really well, so that part is nice. But they make it much harder for Elli to put the glasses on "self" (her favorite word right now), and they don't keep her from taking them off. So, the jury is still out on that decision.
5) I decided on regular metal frames, instead of a soft frame. I probably would have made a different decision if she was more of a rough-and-tumble kid, but she's done so well with her Julbos, I thought she'd probably be OK about not destroying these. There have been a few close calls so far, but I think it will work out OK.
6) I decided against the scratch-resistant coating on the indoor glasses and for the coating on the sunglasses. Why? I'm not exactly sure. :-) Perhaps because I'm guessing the sunglasses will receive more abuse from playing outside? We'll see if I regret that decision. :-)
She's done quite well with them so far - she'll keep them on for a couple of hours at a time with no problem. Sometimes I have to, um, convince her to put them at first, but that's more because she's a 2-year-old exerting her will than because she doesn't like them. Once they're on, she generally leaves them on with no problem, unless she's eating or getting her diaper changed. (My theory is that's when she's bored or having all control removed from herself, so she takes control over the one things she can to get my goat...her glasses. LOL)
And yes, I realize they're blue and she's a girl...and yes, I've already gotten comments from people about what a cute "little boy" she is. (Seriously, people, you didn't notice the bright pink shirt or the ruffle butt on the shorts or the bright pink sandals, but you noticed the glasses?) :-) But the pink and bronze were backordered, and this was the only pair that fit well, so she's wearing blue. :-)
3 comments:
I like the blue!
Nothing wrong with blue on a little girl. She looks so cute! I'm shocked there is any confusion.
I'm with Missy...how could anybody mistake that sweet pea for a boy?! (And I'm laughing out loud right now just picturing you saying the "seriously, people!!" sentence!!!) :)
We watched the video my dad made of the boys when they were little the other day. Jon got his first pair of glasses when he was about 2, and we started calling him "the little professor" because he always looked over them. Not sure how much they helped him see, but they did wonders for his poor neck flexion at the time! :)
Elli's cute no matter what kind of glasses she's wearin'!
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