Vision issues help needed!

[Stayseeliz]

My oldest DD was dx with severe amblyopia at age 6 in 2010. She has an almost 7 point difference between her eyes. Glasses helped get her vision up then we switched to a developmental optometrist for vision therapy. I don't know if it was the person or what but I feel like it was a waste of money. She had us patch until DD's vision reached a corrected 20/40 in her bad eye then we did therapy at home. It was exhausting and I did't see much change. Maybe her depth perception is better but that's it. I don't know if it's poor communication or what but I don't think the COVD helped much. I decided to take her to a pediatric opthamologist today. She put her her back in regular glasses and said we'd probably start patching again to get her up to 20/40 then see where to go from there. She didn't slam VT and said there were some things we could do down the road especially on the computer.

 

My middle DD had a 1 point difference between her eyes when she got checked in 2010 and it went down to .75 difference this past year after a year in glasses. When the ped opth. saw her today she said her main issue was astigmatism and she normally doesn't worry about correcting that until kids are much older.

 

This is all so confusing!! Any thoughts?

[PeterPan]

I don't think our developmental optometrist place does patching. I would get a 2nd opinion with a better dev. optometrist, a practice with a Fellow. I'm not actually sure what your question is, but if you're asking if VT can help or what happened, that's my two cents.

 

And how old is the dc with the astigmatism? I have it and both my dc do. The dev. optom. found it and created a scrip for my ds3 but said we'd start he when he starts doing close-up work. (He's near-sighted.)

[Gingerbread Mama]

Our VT said that we "might" use patching on DS8's amblyopic eye. She said that was one of the things she had used in the past, as in "one of, but not the only".

 

Unless the child is really, really young I don't understand waiting on the astigmatism. I've had two with astigmatism, and both were treated for it in elementary school (ODS at 6 and YDS, now, at 8.)

[wapiti]

I'm not quite sure I understand either, but I was thinking the same thing - if you're not feeling confident in the COVD, I'd get another opinion. Quality and experience can vary considerably.

 

It sounds like the covd patched until the bad eye was 20/40 and then started therapy that you don't feel was effective, and the opthamologist is saying more or less the same thing, patch until 20/40 and then think about what comes next? Isn't the eye already at 20/40?

 

Also, the COVD should be doing occasional progress checks, where testing is re-done and improvements (if there are any) should be measurable. There should be numbers.

 

I too am not familiar with waiting on astigmatism (I don't remember if dd has an astigmatism; I do have one but that wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult. All I can say is that it makes a big difference in my contact lens prescription :))

[Stayseeliz]

Sorry-Yesterday was a long day and I was tired! :)

 

First optometrist-Glasses only.

Dev. optometrist-Patching until 20/40 then vision therapy. I just didn't see much change and the communication issues were awful.

Ped Opth-Regular glasses instead of bifocals until 20/20 then maybe something else after that but probably not VT.

 

I would love to try a covd dr but there is no money. We spent a ton on this first one and insurance won't touch it and we are tapped out. I don't know what to do at this point.

 

The DD with the astigmatism is 4. I don't know what to do. I'm going to call our regular optometrist today.

[PeterPan]

Ok, here's what I would do. DON'T go back to your regular optometrist, since he's not getting you answers. Does your insurance cover that? Find a really, really GOOD developmental optometrist but do your next *regular* appointments with him. Does that make sense? So that way you're paying the same price (just a regular vision check, not that developmental eval), but you're getting the screening and the more knowledgeable doc to talk this over with. But get a FELLOW. Please don't go to any ordinary COVD doc. Some of them do this seldom, if at all. Once you're more complicated, you want someone who does this a lot. The lead doc at our place writes for textbooks. There *are* better docs out there. And seeing her costs no more than seeing any of the other docs. So what you want is to find the better doc and put your money there.

 

It sounds like you got a really bad apple for your first one.

 

On the 4 yo, it might be ok to wait. Is it affecting her? Causing her to fall? Giving her headaches? I told you our doc found the astigmatism and nearsightedness in my ds but said we would wait until he starts close-up work. I'm going to push for the glasses this fall, mainly because I'm going to have him doing more close-up work. Walmart can make kid glasses for $50, so my plan is to get his new scrip through the developmental optometrist but get them filled at walmart.

[Citrusheights5]

We recently got 3 pairs of glasses from zenni optical for $84. We've had really good luck with them so far. http://Www.zennioptical.com. Takes about 3 weeks for them to arrive, but for the price it's worth it. My son is hard on well everything and we call these glasses "disposable" since we only pay $7 per pair plus $ 9 for extra strength prescription. Mine is a lower script and I only pay the $7 and shipping.