Today my son went for his general check up and the doc found that he couldn't read 3 letters correctly in 20 /20 line.. he just turned 6 in July, now the doc want to limit the TV and increase the distance plus he says usually we ignore if they miss 2 letters but we will check the vision again in next visit that's one year from now.
I printed a chart at home and asked him to read standing at 20 ft and he could read easily till 20/25 but missed 3 letters in 20/20 line.
i want to ask if i should be worried and take him to the pediatric ophthalmologist? or is this normal with 6 years old vision , would this improve?or will deteriorate without glasses?
if yes any recommendation for pediatric ophthalmologist in lasvegas area?
thanks
i dont think he has any problem with eyes , he could read the 20/20 line last year perfectly
I took my son to a pediatric eye doctor for a general exam at the age of 6. He tested at 20/30 and the doctor said that it was normal for that age bracket and his vision would become better as he grew older. He is 9 now and I have not taken him back for another exam, so I can't prove it right or wrong.
We had this same thing happen during my daughter's kindergarten checkup this summer. I pushed to get a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist, and I'm glad I did. The specialist went through a whole series of tests with her, and discovered that she has an astigmatism. (Basically one of her eyes is being pulled into a football shape by the surrounding muscles, instead of the normal basketball shape.) They said that if it is caught and corrected with glasses at this age, when a child is first learning to read, their eye/brain development will be totally normal. If you wait, the brain will learn to "re-route" information through the good eye only. I know this to be true, because nobody caught my astigmatism until I was in junior high, and I actually cannot read with my left eye. I can see the letters, they just don't make any sense to me. (I know, weird.)
So with my daughter, they prescribed glasses, which she now wears when she reads or does any kind of classroom work. She loves to wear them (maybe the fact that they are Disney Princess glasses has something to do with it, LOL). I was afraid other kids would make fun of her, but they don't.
I would just really recommend that you push for a referral to an ophthalmologist sooner rather than later. Why chance having his eye-brain development not happen correctly because the pedi said the problem may or may not work itself out? Get your son assessed by someone who can figure out what the problem is (if there is one) and correct it. It will benefit his long-term development, and they try to make the visit as fun for kids as they can. My daughter loved her eye doctor and now says that's what she wants to do when she grows up - so it was a positive experience for her!
I had astigmatism as a child and needed glasses. One of the problems with leaving it uncorrected is that your son might not be able to keep up in school, because we won't be able to read what's on the board.
Get a referral!
Good luck!
If it was my child I would take him to the opthalmologist. My eyes are horrible and my dr attributes it partly to my sight not being caught and corrected soon enough. Both my 3 yr old and my 8 yr old go yearly. This year my oldest needed to get glasses.
Edit: if he could read the 20/20 line last year and can't this year that tells me there is a problem
My nephew just had a physical and they determined the same thing 20/25. He did get glasses and thinks he is so cool now which is good. I don't think I would let it go for a year. Interesting that he mentioned tv time. My nephew is a video game junkie or watching tv all the time. I thought it was an old wives tale about sitting too close to the tv, good to know.
