7 year old daughter with farsightedness 1.00 in each eye

[maeara]

My daughter and I went to a chain eye glasses store today and got an eye exam.  The doctor diagnosed us both with farsightedness, me .50 one eye and .75 the other.  My daughter with 1.00 both eyes.  My daughter is almost 7.  The doctor recommended that we both get reading glasses.  He said that my daughter may have challenges in school related to her vision, not because she can't see but because it is harder work for her to focus her eyes and therefore she may get bored of reading or tired of doing homework sooner.  Last year in first grade this was definitely an issue. It was hard to get her to do her homework and she didn't always keep up with her classwork.  My feeling is that this is not uncommon in a first grader.  I felt a lot of pressure from the entire staff at this chain store and left without buying glasses, though I was very close to buying glasses for both of us. I decided to do some research on whether it is a reasonable thing to recommend reading glasses to a child with age appropriate farsightedness.  I also realized just before I shelled out $200 for us each to have glasses that I don't need reading glasses that bad, if at all.  Was I being scammed?  Or should I really get my daughter reading glasses?  Unfortunately I wasted my annual eye exam on that place instead of going to a reputable opthamologist, so I'll be waiting until January to get us in to be seen again.

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

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[robcon]

I have had trouble with headaches, nausea, and reading for my whole life and have tried to explain to people that I am not faking my symptoms to get glasses.  For some reason they thought I was just trying to get them to look cool after my eye exams stated I only was minorly farsighted.  I tried using the over the counter magnifying lenses they call glasses, and they helped a little but my symptoms always returned before long.  Finally now that I am out of college I was able to go to the optomotrist with my own money, and I don't know if the man was just a good professional or just willing to listen to me since i seemed to know what I was talking about, but I am finally feeling much better with my symptoms almost gone and excelling in life. I am only at a +.75 Rx but with all the time i've spent in front of the computer my whole life I've been reducing the amount of time that I could actually stair at something up close or read to the point  where I could hardly do homework or read for 30 seconds at a time without completely straining my eyes and giving myself headaches and nausea.  Luckly I had enough heart to barely get myself through Engineering college, but I know that I would reduced my anxiety and ideas that I was stupid if I had my glasses.  Now that I have my glasses with the correct perscription I am finally able to work with well and not have headaches or feel sick multiple times a day.

Sorry for being long winded, but with how much kids required to stair at close items these days I know you will be saving your daughter from alot of anxiety and pain if you listen to her when she says that something is just not quite right.

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

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[berrywoo]

If you feel that reading glasses are not necessary for you than with your Rx it's fine to not get them.

However, for your daughter who is in school and doing a lot of near tasks, like reading, it may benefit her to get reading glasses. For those who are farsighted near tasks are a bit more difficult. So yes she may tire of trying to focus her eyes on things that are close up.

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

No way I can tell if you were scammed. Generally optometrists prescribe glasses about 20% more than Eye MDs.

JCH MD