So my 4 year old was diagnosed with Hyperopia (farsightedness) and Amblyopia. The Ophthalmologist prescribed glasses and says that since we caught it early, there is a chance that we can correct it and that she may not need glasses for all her life. She's been wearing her glasses for two weeks now, her prescription is +4 which sounds really high, especially since we didnt even notice she had any vision problems, drawing, reading, writing normally. Anyway, I was just wondering if there was anyone out there in the same boat who's eyes did improve with early treatment and found that they didnt have to wear glasses anymore? I also never really noticed that he eyes crossed but its weird that since she's started wearing her glasses that when she takes them off at night, I can see that her eyes are not even anymore.
My son was diagnosed with lazy eye in K and his eyesight has improved with patching and wearing glasses. I second the pedi ophthamologist.
My Daughter was 5 when we discovered that 1 of her eyes was not focused at all. We patched for a while and then she wore glasses for a few years and was without them after that.
The amblyopia, definitely - the glasses will correct the vision and re-train the brain to process images from both eyes simultaneously. Farsightedness is, from what I understand, due to the shape of the eye itself. I'd be skeptical about "curing" that permanently without the use of glasses, contacts or surgery. I would guess that she will more likely than not need glasses or contacts throughout her life or until she does lasik, if she's ever a candidate for that.
My step-daughter was diagnosed with amblyopia, strabismus and myopia (near-sightedness) and was treated successfully for the amblyopia and strabismus at age 5. I don't know if it was due to bad advice or ignorance, but her mother also claimed after another year or two that her myopia was cured and she didn't need glasses. Well now she's 13 and has myopia in both eyes and still has strabismus and amblyopia (and astigmatism) and they can't be cured at this age. Because of the complexity of these issues she's not a candidate for surgery or contacts either.
Just take the treatment one step at a time - the amblyopia is the problem that's very time-sensitive so do everything you can to make sure it's treated correctly now.
I used to work for Dallas Services for Visually Impared Children. Our doctors said that if these problems were caught early enough that would be true. Just make sure you are seeing a pediatric opthamologist.
When I was little, I had amblyopia and a few other issues. I did patches and glasses as well. They did help. I also had surgery- where they tightened the muscle around the eye (sounds worse than it was). Once I had that surgery I didn't wear glasses at all anymore. Your daughter may still need something for the hyperopia, but may not be as big a deal.
Given that my surgery was some 30 years ago, I'm guessing they have improved technology now! I am starting to need glasses just now, at age 39. But it's not from the above problems, it's just silly aging things. :-)
I was so cross eyed that I was diagnosed at under one year. I spent years in patches and seeing eye specialists and I did not improve at all. However, when I was diagnosed the eyesight in my weak eye was so poor that it was considered legally blind. So, my opinion is that it is a combination of early diagnosis combined with the severity of the eyesight to begin with.
