Zoe’s prescription increased pretty dramatically recently (her astigmatism jumped from +0.75 to +1.75). It really surprised me, since previous big prescription changes were usually preceded by her eyes crossing more, or Zoe not wanting to wear her glasses any more. This time, she had neither of those symptoms. But looking back, I guess there were a few clues. Most notably, she had been looking at things through the outside edge of her glasses rather than straight on. Turns out, she gets a stronger magnification looking through the edges of the lenses. I hadn’t noticed so much, but her teacher had noticed it at school.
Since getting her new glasses, she’s been looking at everyone and everything straight on again, and her teacher mentioned that she has just recently (again, since the new prescription) been able to catch a ball that is thrown or bounced to her, and accurately kick a ball about 4 feet towards a person. We’re thrilled with that!
So for us, signs that we might be looking at a prescription change include:
- eyes crossing
- eyes drifting apart (when she needed her prescription reduced)
- not wanting to wear her glasses
- not looking at things straight on, rather, looking out the side of her lenses
What other clues have you noticed that indicate your child’s prescription has changed?
For Little Eyes 
Hi there i am new to this, my daughter who is almost 3, has been diagnosed as farsighted, we got prescription glasses for her at +2, the problem is when we put them on, she only keep them on for 30secs, and takes them off because she says she can’t see? is this normal, does it take time for them to adjust to seeing through the glasses?
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It can take a while to adjust to glasses, especially for a farsighted child. Basically, your daughter can compensate for her farsightedness using her accommodative reflex, it’s what we use to focus on items that are up close. The problem is that constantly compensating leads to eyestrain and sometimes to the eyes going out of alignment. But it also means that with glasses, if she won’t relax her eyes, she won’t see clearly with them. I would keep trying, especially trying with activities that you know she loves to see if she can be distracted enough to wear them. And I would expect it to take a couple weeks even. If it’s still not working, you can ask your doctor about getting atropine drops. These are the drops that they use for dilating eyes, they make it so you can’t use your accommodative reflex (that’s why when you get your eyes dilated, you can’t read any small text until it wears off). The idea is that if you use the drops and put the glasses on her, she’ll then see clearly with the glasses. I think most doctors and parents would prefer not to use that – who wants to be putting eye drops in, and she’ll be very sensitive to light, which is no fun in the summer, but it is an option if she really won’t wear her glasses.
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I am in a somewhat similar situation regarding wondering about my son’s prescription. My son, who is 7 ,has just been diagnosed as farsighted. As a result of his farsightedness he has a slightly “lazy” eye. He just got his glass(right eye+1.5 and left eye+2.0). He has been told he has to wear them all the time. The hope is that when the the glasses are on the eyes will straighten. The problem is his ability to see distance with them on is terrible. He is constantly looking over his glasses in order to see. He likes them for reading, writing, etc. , but cannot stand wearing them for any other time. Will his eyes adjust and will he be able to see “distance” clearly with these glasses? He has had them for about 3 weeks. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Hi Sue, with farsightedness, it can take a while for a child to learn to let their glasses do the focusing for them, since they’re so used to focusing with their accommodative reflex. I’d give it another week or so – do you have a follow up scheduled?
I do know that for some kids, bifocals are the way to go. That way they have one prescription for reading up close, and another for distance vision
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I have 2 questions. Our Anabel just got her first prescription change and we picked up the glasses today. Her first lenses were a +1 in the right and a +4 & +1.25 for astigmatism in the left. The new prescription is a +3 in the right and a +6 (+1.75) in the left. She’s complaining everything is blurry. Is that normal at first? How long does that typically last when adjusting to new glasses? I’m also wondering about the jump from a +1 to +3 in her “good” eye (the visual acuity in her right eye is 20/30). Is that typical? I don’t wear glasses so all of this is completely new to me. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! =)
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