Reading Astigmatism Prescription of 4.5 year old

[chk1212]

I need some help in understanding the following prescription for my 4.5 year old son.

OD Sphere   +3.5   Cylinder  -2.00   Axis  180
OS Sphere   +1.5   Cylinder  -1.00   Axis  180
PD 49

This was our son's first visit to the opthalmologist and we made the prescription glasses right away. Could someone please explain in layman's language about the problem and whether there is possibility of some improvement as the child grows older. As parents, what should we be doing in terms of eye care for our child?

Thank you

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

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[chk1212]

Thank you Dr. John. Our doctor had mentioned the long word "aneisometropia", but did not explain the underlying problems as well as you did. We truly appreciate your quick and clear response.

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

As long as he's being seen that often there is nothing you need do at home.

The problem is called aneisometropia (unequal refrctive error).

JCH MD

[chk1212]

Thank you John for very clearly explaining the situation and for recommending checking other children in the family - will do so. Thank you.

I had one small follow up question.

You mention that the right eye vision needs to be watched ... is there something we can do at home to look at symptoms? The doctor has called us in 3 months to follow up and has not recommended a patch for left eye as of now. A second opinion from another doctor had a similar prescription and no recommendation for eye patch.

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

He's farsighted (hyperopic) due to short eye, often causes the eyes to cross or extra work while reading of doing near tasks  (that's the first + number)

He's astigmatic (astigmatism) due to cornea being aspherical (not round). Blurs both distance and near vision, in a child can cause amblyopia or reduced vision not corrected with glasses.

The glasses often take some time to get use to. It's possible usually during adolescence to outgrow the farsighted but he's likely stuck with the astigmatism.

The right eye vision needs to be watched because having the  most hyperopia and astigmatism, and given the eye cannot focus different amounts in each eye the right eye is at risk for amblypia. May need some patching of left eye in addition to glasses.

Other children in the family should be checked as well as his cousins.

JCH MD