I have always wondered this when I see a young child with glasses.
I saw a child this morning that had prescription glasses. They were clearly made especially for him, (poor little guy!) as the lenses were thicker than normal and his eyes were clearly magnified. They reminded me of an older person’s thick glasses.
the child was very small, and in a stroller. I’m guessing 18 months old, if not less.
How do eye doctors figure out the right script to order when they can’t get feedback from a child saying something looks more or less clear to them?
(FTR, I have never worn glasses, so I am only vaguely aware of the process of getting a script. Apologies if I have used the wrong terminology, but my image is of someone sitting in front of one of those large machines that have a doctor turning a dial or changing the lens in front of the patient’s eyes, and the patient saying “this is blurry” or “this is clear” until they hone in on the right thickness for the particular patient).
I’m not an eye doctor, but I’ve worn glasses since 1st grade. There is a machine that you look through and it shows a blurry image of a shape. You hear the machine’s internals moving and it automatically brings the shape to crystal clarity with no input from you or the doctor. I believe this machine measures your eye and determines your needed prescription.
This usually determines a starting point for the doctor to fine tune the prescription from with more tests, but with a young child, he would just go with the results of the automated test.
Our son (3, turns 4 in August), has worn glasses for about 8 months now. The pediatric opthamologist used some sort of instruments he looked through into his eyes, and figured out the prescription like that. It’s called Retinoscopy, I believe.
He also had him sit in a chair and watch a little TV, while he did some other stuff with an eye patch (he has accomodative esotropia).
From what you describe there’s a good chance the glasses were prescribed to correct strabismus - one or both eyes pulling in (toward the nose) or out. Strong plus lenses create a prismatic effect that can pull the pupils back inward or outward as needed.
I am so glad I asked, because I had no idea. I would love to know how a machine can figure this out without patient input, but obviously it can. I am sure it measures the relevant parts of the eye that are required for vision, and does a quick calculation, but that is very cool.
I think it is also amazing that it can work on animals. I have never seen a dog wearing glasses, but if it can see better, (aside from cost), why not?
Is this technology that has been around forever, or is it relatively new?
Optometry is not just for lenses anymore. Might be wise to visit an optometrist, if you haven’t, to catch anything early — wet or dry macula degeneration, glaucoma or whatever else.
Actually, eye exams can even detect many health issues that seem completely unrelated to your eyes/vision. Issues mentioned at the link include:
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[li]Spondyloarthritis (a family of inflammatory rheumatic diseases)[/li][li]Diabetes[/li][li]Hypertension/cardiac disease[/li][li]High cholesterol[/li][li]Sickle Cell Anemia[/li][li]Liver disease[/li][li]Gardner’s Syndrome (featuring colon polyps)[/li][li]Multiple Sclerosis [/li][li]Leukemia[/li][li]Brain tumors[/li][/ul]
My youngest has been wearing glasses since he was eighteen months. The Pediatric Ophthalmologist had him look in a machine that measured the refraction rate of his eyes. It was pretty darned cool.
What was even cooler: Up until the day his glasses came in, Mrs Magill and I were afraid of how he’d react to them. He didn’t much care for these things on his face, until I was changing his diaper, and he spent five minutes being fascinated by the texture on his sock.