Dara just posted this question in the comments, and I thought I’d pose it here:
My daughter was just diagnosed with amblyopia in her left eye. Glasses and patching for 2 hours a day is the plan… her left eye is +4.50 , her right eye just says PL.
My huge concern is that one eye is going to look magnified and one eye isn’t. That she will look funny or weird since they don’t match. Can anyone calm my fears? PICTURES would be great!! : )
If any of you have a child with a large difference in prescription between his or her eyes, would you be willing to share a picture? You can send it to ann @ shinypebble.com. Thanks!
For Little Eyes 
Hi Ann, you can use pictures of Nolan. He has a 2.75 OD difference between his eyes, so not quite as much as Dara’s daughter, but definitely a difference. You can’t tell most of the time – though it does sometimes show up in pictures (you can see how his left eye looks bigger in this one – http://saywhatmunchkins.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-eyes.html). It isn’t obvious in “real life,” though, and most of the time doesn’t even show up in pictures.
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My little one has pretty much the same script as your little one except she is plano in one eye and -4 in the other. you cant tell at all and that is quite a high script. however I think it is essential you get the thinner lense on the side that has the script it makes a huge difference 🙂
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My daughter gets her glasses in about a week and she is +5 right eye Plano left eye. I will post pics ASAP. We went with high index (1.67 I think, but will confirm).
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I am amazed just how many kids actually have a difference in refraction between the eyes. It really is not all that uncommon. Lindsay does your daughter have any strabismus?
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Yes she does, although it is intermittent (there might be slight all the time but it is unrecognizeable to me so it would be very slight if at all. Come to think of it I need to confirm this with the doctor just so I’m completely on the same page with her diagnosis) Her hyperopic eye is the one with the most often eye turn although her perfect eye will turn every once in a while too (the doc thinks the turning of the good eye is solely due to the farsightedness in the other eye and won’t be an issue once glasses help correct the one eye. The way her eye turns is inside when trying to look peripherally to the opposite side of her face: so when looking left over her shoulder her right eye turns in and can even nearly disappear. It’s more constant and noticeable when she is sick or overly tired.
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Thanks for that info. Paris also has intermittent strabismus. Becasue she is short sighted though her drift is outwards not inwards towards her nose. It is almost perfect all the time with her glasses on but it does appear more often with her glasses off. I think hers is also directly related to the difference in refraction, she favours the perfect eye when the glasses are off. However, we are so lucky that with patching she is now 20/20 in her myopic eye with glasses on. I am keen on moving her to contacts so that is the next step. Have the doctors mentioned a contact lense to you?
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It’s funny, (and I’m fortunate to have not been surprised since this seems common in any medical situation we’ve had experience with so I just take it with a grain of salt..) Her Opthomologist is totally anti contacts for right now unless she ends up totally rejecting her glasses (which I guess can be more common due to image size difference between each eye) but her optho is totally for them. Luckily (to avoid doctor conflict) Elise’s eye is too small to fit one in due to small eyelid openings and ridiculously long lashes so I don’t even have to make the choice yet but the instant her eyes can fit one in I will be switching even if the opthomologist isn’t on board.. I just don’t like the idea of forcing children to “adapt” to image size differences when there is a way to avoid it: which is contacts since it sits on the eye. I really want to give her binocular vision the best possible chance of correction and I think a single contact is such an awesome step toward that goal.
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I think exactly the same Lindsey! I am not heading for contacts for a cosmetic reason (although I am sure she may want to go that way when she is older) I love her glasses however I think the contact would be so much better for her vision. Having said that, she hates having the drops put in her eyes with a passion and I have mentioned a contact to her and she is not keen! I think it is more of a fear thing which is understandable but I think once she realised that it was not painful and she could do it herself she would be fine and like your daughter she only has to put one in! When we take that next step I will let you know how we go!
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I forgot to ask how old your daughter is Lindsey?
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She is 2 1/2 so we have a while probably before we will attempt the contact 😉 but I do look forward to it! How old is your daughter Ingrid? Also, since we are brand new to this whole thing: did your daughters glasses have a different material used for the plano lense or did they use the same? I’m thinking it might be different since our daughter is +5 instead of a – script so the center of the lense will be thicker than the plano but I was just curious…or does anyone else have this issue with such a large +lense difference and have a “best recommendation” for glasses setup based on experience or trial and error with different types of lenses and frames?
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My daughter is four Lindsey. Has been wearing her glasses since she was one. yes, you are right, the edges of the glasses are thicker when you are short sighted (-lense) and thicker in the middle for plus. I think they use the same material but they grind it down, that is where the cost jumps as it is more labour intensive I believe. I bet you wont see a difference at all given that you have gone for the thinner lense, if you didn’t you would see a difference. I figure it is well worth the extra money to have the glasses looking as cosmetically pleasing as possible.
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Wow…we JUST got Elise’s glasses and couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome. Again for quick reference: Elise is +5 right eye, Plano (nothing) left eye. What a fantastic job…her glasses frames are “VeggieTales by Eyes of Faith Optical: 3011 in lavender” and we went with a high index (1.67) to help keep the lenses as thin as possible with an anti-reflective coating.
Glasses have come off a couple times but so far it’s been treated like she’s worn them her whole life! I did get her very used to wearing sunglasses when the mention of possibly needing glasses came up so that might have a lot to do with it. But this has been an awesome first day and I’m so impressed with her adaptability.
Let me know if this link doesn’t work. I’m solely working off of my blackberry and kindle fire (compute blew a fuse;) ) so having to figure out workarounds for things I never thought would be an issue and photo loading/linking was 1 of them 😉
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Hi Dara,
Here is a picture of Elise in her new glasses (+5O.D. PlanoO.S.) Lenses are high index (1.67) and frames are VeggieTales in lavender. I absolutely love them!!!
I posted earlier but noticed it was a reply to Ingrid’s comment so it may not have been noticed in the thread (not sure;))
You can tell hardly in some photos but in real life if you didn’t tell someone there is no way they’d notice since it is such a subtle difference…and kids move so much I realized that is an added benefit to distraction from the lenses 😉 lol
If this link doesn’t work let me know 🙂
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Those are seriously cute glasses on a very cute girl! If it’s all right, I’m planning on doing a follow up post where I include pictures. May I include this picture of Elise?
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Thanks for the sweet comment! And yes definitely feel free to use the pic, we’d love to contribute 🙂
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I was just reading about this topic, and found your link. I feel so much better now. We are waiting for my daughter’s first glasses to be ready. She will have 6 diopter difference (myopia) betwen the lenses now. We went with the 1.6 high index material. I agree, these are the cutest glasses, and your daughter is so beautiful!
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wow, thoses glasses are adorable!!! love them 🙂 so is your little girl!!
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how do you create a link to a photo Lindsey?
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Hi Ingrid,
I created a flickr account (quick and easy) then after you’ve uploaded the pics you can pull one up individually and just copy the entire link in the url bar then past it. (Let me know if you need more detailed instructions I’m happy to help).
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I had a six diopter difference between my right and left eyes. If you’re looking for it, yes, the eyes are different. However, people *expect* the eyes to be symmetrical and tend not to notice it.
I highly recommend high index polycarb for lenses when there is a big difference. At one point I actually had plain plastic in one lens and high index in the other to balance the weight. I also wore a single contact lens for many years, starting at age 12.
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My son, age 7, has been wearing glasses since age 4 because of this problem. Neither eye looks any different. At first, he kept playing with them and taking them off, but now we just have to tell him to put them on in the morning. But appearance has not been affected. He just looks like any other kid with glasses.
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