It was the beginning of an on-going journey. It took a while for us to get an appointment set up for our son because there are not many pediatric ophthalmologists. We made two appointments. The first with a doctor that could get him in quickly and the second with a specialist at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. All of our kids' specialists have been through Mott (U of M), so this was our preference, but it would take 2 months longer in order to get in to see this doctor.
Our first appointment was in early December with a very nice, but very near retirement doctor. He was able to diagnose our son as significantly far sighted and gave us a Rx for glasses. He really didn't give us much more info than that. We headed to the eye glass store and were able to find some glasses. We found the cutest pair of kid's glasses that they could adjust to fit our little guy's big noggin. 😋 The problem occurred when the doctor's prescription was so ancient that they couldn't understand it. It took several calls to get the updated version of the prescription. At that point, we decided to have the follow up appointment with the U of M pediatric ophthalmologist instead and I am so glad we did!
For 2 months we struggled to get our little guy to wear his glasses. We didn't know if he would need bifocals, patching or it was just a struggle because he is so young. Thankfully, all of our questions and the ones we didn't even know to ask were answered by the new doctor. She is AMAZING! His prescription was right, but kids that are farsighted have a much bigger and harder adjustment to glasses than those that are nearsighted. When you are nearsighted, glasses immediately improve your vision. When you are farsighted, your eyes have worked so hard to compensate, that it takes time for the muscles to relax and allow the glasses to actually work. The doctor also recognized that at barely 2, this concept was more than we could expect to be able to explain to our son. To assist with the transition to glasses, she gave us drops that we used 1 drop, 1 time. It dilated his eyes, essentially forcing the eyes to relax allowing him to experience the vision improvement almost immediately upon putting on his glasses. Within the week that the drops lasted, he completely acclimate to his glasses and now loves wearing them.
**On a side note, we also learned that modern pediatric ophthalmology requires a specific residency, but it used to be that ophthalmologists could do a little work with pediatrics and call themselves a pediatric ophthalmologist. Our first doc actually specialized in cataract surgery, but was willing to take pediatric patients.
Our first appointment was in early December with a very nice, but very near retirement doctor. He was able to diagnose our son as significantly far sighted and gave us a Rx for glasses. He really didn't give us much more info than that. We headed to the eye glass store and were able to find some glasses. We found the cutest pair of kid's glasses that they could adjust to fit our little guy's big noggin. 😋 The problem occurred when the doctor's prescription was so ancient that they couldn't understand it. It took several calls to get the updated version of the prescription. At that point, we decided to have the follow up appointment with the U of M pediatric ophthalmologist instead and I am so glad we did!
For 2 months we struggled to get our little guy to wear his glasses. We didn't know if he would need bifocals, patching or it was just a struggle because he is so young. Thankfully, all of our questions and the ones we didn't even know to ask were answered by the new doctor. She is AMAZING! His prescription was right, but kids that are farsighted have a much bigger and harder adjustment to glasses than those that are nearsighted. When you are nearsighted, glasses immediately improve your vision. When you are farsighted, your eyes have worked so hard to compensate, that it takes time for the muscles to relax and allow the glasses to actually work. The doctor also recognized that at barely 2, this concept was more than we could expect to be able to explain to our son. To assist with the transition to glasses, she gave us drops that we used 1 drop, 1 time. It dilated his eyes, essentially forcing the eyes to relax allowing him to experience the vision improvement almost immediately upon putting on his glasses. Within the week that the drops lasted, he completely acclimate to his glasses and now loves wearing them.**On a side note, we also learned that modern pediatric ophthalmology requires a specific residency, but it used to be that ophthalmologists could do a little work with pediatrics and call themselves a pediatric ophthalmologist. Our first doc actually specialized in cataract surgery, but was willing to take pediatric patients.
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