Can child with normal vision develop myopia?

[momoftwo74]

Hi. I have an 8 year old son who has recently failed two vision screens at school. The screen was conducted by a registered nurse using the Titmus screen test. My son's results for distance acuity was 20/100 for the left and right eye. I know 20/20 is normal, but how bad is 20/100? He is in the third grade. When he was 5 years old, before he started Kindergarten , his vision screen results were normal. Is is possible that the vision screen he had at 5yrs old didnt detect the problem? Or is it possible that my son developed nearsightedness between 5 years old and now? I was always under the impression that a person is born with near or farsighted disorders or that an adult with normal vision can develop problems associated with age. My son has never complained that distant objects or words are blurry, although it may not have ever occured to him to tell me.I have never seen him squinting. I asked him if he has problems seeing words on the chalkboard at school but he just said no. He says that his seat is near the front of the room anyway. In retrospect, I have noticed that sometimes he tends to want to stand close to the tv ( I know alot of kids sometimes do) but when I tell him to move back, sometimes he has said " I cant see it good", which I never took seriously. I know vision probl;ems can be genetic,however, both myself and his father have normal vision (although my mother and sister both have myopia).  Also, I have heard that playing video games ( my son has a nintendo ds) or watching too much tv can cause nearsightedness. Is there any truth to that? My son will see an Opthamologist next week. I know Iv'e asked alotof questions. Any advice from a doc here or from anyone who might know a little about this sort of thing would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
MM

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[momoftwo74]

Thank you for the information. I appreciate your feedback.


MM

[momoftwo74]

Thanks for sharing your son's story. I definately have a lack of knowledge about vision disorders. I appreciate your feedback.

MM

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Your concepts of myopia, hyperopia and how they developed are false. Myopia develops quickly in many people especially young people. The most common cause is rapid growth of the eye in the axial (front to back length).

Keep your appointment with the ophthalmologist and ask for a detailed individual explanation of your childs findings.

Remember to have other children checked also.

JCH MD

[dazedmom]

oh yeah!

I'm NOT a dr.

But my son went from 20/20 vision in August of his 7th year, to 20/400 the next June. He's now 18 and wears 16+ correction... but he can still wear contacts and does absolutely fine.  His vision seems to have more or less stablized in past year or so, but for a while he needed a new prescription every six months.

In a way, you are lucky the nurse caught this now.  Jon just suddenly began to have problems getting things done at school in January--now schoolwork-wise, just ... not seeming to function effectively.  He'd forget his lunch box way too often, or do assignments wrong even though the teacher had shown the class just what to do.    She thought he was ADD.  We actually agreed to hold him back a year in school despite his straight As--and then that summer we went to a professional baseball game.  We pointed to the giant McDonalds sign on the homerun wall, and Jon said, "What McDonalds sign???"   It was the first clue we'd had that his vision wasn't still perfect!  Turns out he couldn't see the baseball players either.  

So yes, in my experience he can certainly develop myopia very suddenly at that age, and it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with tv or ninetendo or any desperate disease.  It's just the kid.

Good luck with appt!

dazedmom