My 1 year old son has myopia and astigmatism

[Nickpat]

My 1 year old son has mild intermitten exotrophia. When we went for his first opthalmology visit, the doctor said that his exotrophia ia mild and he recommended observation.
But apart from this he has myopia and astigmatism
OD: -3.00 +2.50 X 90 degrees
OS: -3.00 +2.75 X 90 degrees

He prescirbed glasses with slight overcorrection in order to correct his intermittent exotrophia as well. My qtn is-
1. Can you help me interpret these numbers and how severe they are for a toddler 1 year old.
2. As he grows his eyeball shape will change, will this increase or decrease his myopia and/or astigmatism?
3. I have read that myopia usually increases but on rare occasions it may decrease, how about astigmatism?

Regards,
Nick

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

Myopia generally comes from an eye that is too long, since the eye lengthens as the child grows myopia increases.

Certainly there are always exceptions to every rule. You may certainly hope the myopia.

You child does no have 3 diopters of myopia:
1. The ped ophthal "over-corrected" him intentionally.
2. The astigmatism neutralizes some of the myopia.  Read about spherical equivalent. Your child's glasses spherical equavalent is about -1.75 in each eye.

JCH MD

[Nickpat]

I was googling and came across this information
"It is generally not necessary to correct myopia
of less than about 3 D in infants and toddlers. Myopia of as much
as 3 D in an infant will sometimes disappear by 2 years of age.18,19
Myopia may also decrease in a child born prematurely; 50 percent
reach emmetropia by age 7. Moreover, because infants interact for
the most part with things that are close to them, they do not need
clear distance vision."

source : http://www.aoa.org/documents/CPG-15.pdf  page 16

If I understand this - Does it mean that myopia of -3.0 in infants and toddler disappear by 2 years of age? Is this data reliable. They have cited some journals

If this is true do I have some hopes for my son who has 3 diopter myopia to improve over time?

Journal reference:
Gwiazda J, Thorn F, Bauer J, Held R. Emmetropization and the
progression of manifest refraction in children followed from
infancy to puberty. Clin Vis Sci 1993; 8:337-44.

Mohindra I, Held R. Refraction in humans from birth to five
years. In: Fledelius HC, Alsbirk PH, Goldschmidt E, eds. Third
International Conference on Myopia. Doc Ophthalmol Proc, ser
vol 28. August 24-27, 1980. The Hague: Dr. W. Junk
Publishers, 1981:19-27.

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

This RX indicates a moderate amount of myopia and astigmatism. Only the pediatric ophthalmologist can tell you the amount of over-correction. So this is not a true measure of his myopia.

As he gets older the astigmatism may get better or worse the myopia usually gets worse.

JCH MD