The Rue Family: October 2007

This information I found online is very very important!!!!

Eye Exams for Children

By Michelle Stephenson; additional contributions and review by Dr. Valerie Kattouf
As a parent or caretaker, you may wonder whether your pre-schooler has a vision problem or when it may be appropriate to schedule your child's first eye exam.
You should be aware that eye exams for children are extremely important, because 5%-10% of pre-schoolers and 25% of school-aged children have vision problems.* Early identification of a child's vision problem can be crucial because children often are more responsive to treatment when they are diagnosed early.
According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), infants should have their first comprehensive eye exam at six months of age. Children then should receive additional eye exams at three years of age, and just before they enter kindergarten or the first grade at about age five or six.

Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, affects just two to three percent of the population. But, if left uncorrected, this vision problem can have a very big impact on those affected. Central vision fails to develop properly, usually in one eye, which is called amblyopic. A related condition, strabismus, sometimes causes amblyopia.
Untreated amblyopia may lead to functional blindness in the affected eye. Although the amblyopic eye has the capability to see, the brain "turns off" this eye because vision is very blurred. The brain elects to see only with the stronger eye.

I took Gracie to the eye doctor on Friday, just for a checkup. I had noticed that she was squinting and such, as well as always running into things like door frames or the end of the couch. I thought she was just a clumsy 3 yr. old. NOT SO MUCH! Trampas and I decided to make her an eye appt. just to be sure. Well it turns out that her vision is horrible. She is amblyopic in both eyes (see explanation above). Especially in her left eye. She has huge amounts of astigmatism in both eyes. The dr. said if I had waited until she started school to bring her in, it may have been too late. They still can't correct her vision all the way to 20/20 at once. They have to gradually strenthen her Rx each time we go. So Gracie has to wear glasses full time starting this week. It is so pitiful to know that she hasn't being seeing anything clearly. Everything has been a blur to her. It breaks my heart that I didn't take her sooner. But I am thankful that we caught it and it should be able to be treated, if not completely, still an improvement from what she is used to. They put lenses in front of my eyes to demonstrate what Gracie's vision is like and I just broke down. All this time I thought she could see everything as clearly as I was, but it was just a blur to her! I have a little cousin that has the exact same vision problems and hers wasn't caught soon enough and she is almost completely blind in one eye and it can't be treated w/ glasses. Only surgery one day will help hers. She is only 9. She was 7 when they took her in to be checked the first time. I just wanted to share this with all of you new moms or dads! I was completely in the dark at the age you should take children in! I'm glad we noticed her signs. You think squinting would be obvious, but she makes so many silly faces it's hard to tell. She hardly ever watches TV so we didn't notice it that way. Just please take your kids in, have their eyes checked. My eyes have been bad for a long time. I got glasses in 2nd grade and contacts in 8th grade. But you still take good vision (or well corrected vision) for granted. All the beautiful things we have seen, that I thought we were enjoying together, she was barely even seeing it. It just breaks my heart to think about it. I am so anxious for her to be able to finally see clearly! It will be a task I'm sure to deal w/ a 3 yr. old and glasses. She is a handful herself. I'm hoping that she will take to her glasses pretty quickly since she will be able to notice such a difference. She has to wear these for 1 month then we go back and they will change her Rx again and make it a little stronger, then we will just go from there. I will post more pics of her when her glasses come in, but this one is from trying them on...

I know this blog was long, I just wanted to put all the info out there!! Love you guys!