Are glasses (really) needed?

My son is 14 years old.  At 4 years old he had surgery for ambliopia/stasbismus followed by several years of patching therapy.  He was "dismissed" from the pediatric opthamologist a little over a year ago with no recommendation of glasses/patching/etc.  

He started complaining about his vision being blurry so I took him for a general eye exam with a local optometrist.  This doctor indicated that my son has an astigmatism and gave us a prescription for glasses.  The prescription is
       Sph      Cyl     Axis
OD +0.75   -0.50   100
OS +0.75   -0.50   090

My questions are...
Are glasses really needed or would they be considered optional for this strength of prescription?
Can an astigmatism develop in 16 months?
Should we seek a second opinion or possibly even return to the pediatric opthamologist?

Thanks!

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

answered.

Dr. O.