My daughter is 12, and has perfect vision. Actually I usually laugh at the doctor's office because I'm standing closer to the eye chart than her, she has one eye covered, and she STILL sees all the letters better than me! Anyway, at the doc's office, her vision is always great.
However, they are now using iPads at school, so she looks at that or a computer screen a lot during the day. By the evening (and sometimes at school) she complains that her eyes are blurry and has a hard time reading papers or a regular book. I have a weak prescription for reading glasses, and sometimes she grabs those and says things look better. I don't regularly let her wear my glasses. I have heard that while I won't affect her vision, they are not made for her and could give her a headache or something over time. So I'm not thinking she should wear mine or anything like that.
My question is have any of you experienced this with the increase in screen time with your kids? Has anyone been helped by glasses even though their vision was not really poor to begin with? I want her to be comfortable, and wanted to see if anyone can relate to this before I consider taking her to an actual eye doctor. Thanks everyone!
I would take her to the eye dr. and ask for computer glasses. I have them. They help with eye strain, but I don't need them to see regularly.
She sounds like my daughters. Has someone in her class got glasses in the past few months? I would almost bet if you put glasses on her with no script she would still say it helps.
Every year my daughters claim they need glasses. The older one finally needed glasses in fifth grade, my younger is in sixth and still doesn't.
I asked the doctor about computers and the like effecting their vision and he said it really doesn't. I am 44 and I just got glasses this year and not much of a script. The doctor said it is my age, not that I spend 10 hours a day in front of a computer.
She could be a little far sighted, which is why the reading glasses seem to help. Or, she could just have headaches from the screens which is common.
This is a critical age when eyesight can start to change in a fairly short time. I agree with others who suggest she is developing far-sightedness. I'm short-sighted myself but can still see well enough to drive without glasses. Very few folks have perfect vision and under test will be slightly one way or the other. I can never decide which is best (or worst!) to be. You are doing the right thing having your daughter checked out. Let's hope it is only a mild bias which doesn't need much correction.
She is far sighted. Did they check her close up vision? Sounds like she needs reading glasses. I would take her to an eye dr and let them know what's going on and see what they say. She may just need some non prescription reading glasses if it's not really bad. I think looking at screens like that do strain your eyes.
You can discuss this with the doctor. I'd ask specifically about eye strain due to computer use.
My friend is and OD and says that other countries with less screen time have many fewer cases of near sightedness than ours. Your eyes can also get lazy and adjust to more and more help.
It may also be that she needs to hold it farther away. Can you get a stand for it so she's not laying on the floor inches from the screen? Or ask her to set it on the table so she's farther from the page?
She could be farsighted. Have her tested for that.
I would take her to an eye doc.... my son is 11 and he needs bifocals for cryin out loud! I couldn't believe it! His exam cost $60 total and our insurance did reimburse us. I guess the exams they do at the ped's office and and school are only for distance vision and aren't super accurate. The one he got at the eye doc was really thorough. btw - it was just a regular eye doc, not one that specialized in kids.
My son was having the same kind of problem. He complained that words were "moving up and down up and down" on the page when he read.
Take her to the eye doctor. That test at the doctors office (standing 20 feet away, reading the chart) checks for "near sightedness." That's usually what people are worried about for kids. Sounds like her distance vision is fine, which is why she passes that test.
Have them check her for reading glasses. Often kids can get away with being slightly "farsighted" (infact it is normal and expected for younger kids because of the ways eyes develop), but if she's having eye strain, some weak readers could really help her.
HTH,
T.
It sounds like she is at least slightly farsighted which is something doctor's don't look for. In general, ped doctors are only trained to do gross screening, and not actually diagnose vision problems. My one daughter has been farsighted in one eye since she was 2 and my other is 4 and extrememly nearsighted, but the ped never picked up on it.
I am a big believer in every kid going to an eye doctor. You wouldn't skip the dentist would you? If nothing else it is good habit, because as you get older, eye health is a big concern.
Anyway, a child's eyes change and don't get stable until adolescense or early 20s. Even adults continue to require small tweaks over the years before middle age changes. Be glad she has generally good vision, but why NOT take her to the eye doctor if she is having vision problems? She probabaly needs reading glasses, and the doc is likely to have her pick up a small corrective pair at the drug store. If (screen) glare is exascerbating her issue, you can have computer lenses made.
Check with the school and see if the is a glare protector that can be used with the iPad. I wear glasses but will still have eye strain with prolonged use of the electronic devices. Also she needs a break every hour, only for a few minutes, to give her eyes a rest.
She could just need reading glasses.
My daughter 10 has good distance vision, but needs a low prescription reading glasses.
Take her to an eye Dr. have her evaluated.
My son "failed" the pediatric eye exam. They told me that my son would most likely grow out his sight issues once he was reading more, because it would strengthen his eyes. I called my BIL who happens to be a optometrist. He said that those pediatric eye exams are merely markers. They are notoriously not reliable. He said kids come in who have "failed" all the time and have 20/20 vision. Other kids will come in telling him they "aced" the pediatric exam and come to find out their vision is awful. Take her in. Even if it's not covered by medical insurance, the cost is not outrageous (I paid $45 for my son last week), but it will give you piece of mind. She may have legitimate vision issues, or it may be simply fatigue from looking at a screen all day.
Try those moisturizing eye drops. They really help. Alot of times when my eyes get blurry (I look at a computer screen all day at work) I'll drop a few of those drops in and it really helps!
