Dated: 23rd November 2021
Breaking the news to parents that their child has low vision and needs to wear glasses is not as easy as it used to be, especially when they have come for non-visual complaints like itching. Truth be told, the trend is changing. Many children are being detected with refractive errors on routine eye examination. In our study we found that almost 60% of patients diagnosed with refractive errors presented to our clinic with complaints that was not related to vision, like headache, watering of eyes, itching and routine check-up.
In such scenarios, parents go through the same five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Before they come to the terms that their child needs glasses, they cannot wrap their heads around as to Why did their child get glasses? As pediatric ophthalmologists, it is our job to help them pass through these phases as comfortably as possible. Let us try and answer the burning question of WHY.
We have already understood the physics that why child gets glasses in our post Will my child’s glasses come off if they wear them regularly? We will brush up the concept quickly.
This is the optics of a child who doesn’t have a refractive error (emmetropia). The rays of light which are coming from infinity gets focused exactly at the retina.
Now, since you know that it is because your kid’s eyes are bigger than normal, that he/ she needs glasses to see clearly, we shall discuss the reasons for myopia.
Causes for getting a glass number:
One thing to remember here is that, there is no single cause for refractive errors. There are multiple factors which interact with each other altering the eye in a way that the child gets glasses.
Once the parents accept the fact that their child is going to need glasses for the rest of their lives, they want to know what can they do next?
Well, there are few modifications that you can do in their lives which will help to slow down the progression of myopia, at least.
During online classes-
Lifestyle changes:
Remember, we cannot make the glasses disappear, but we can definitely slow down the progression of myopia. Wearing glasses brings a new set of challenges and experiences in your child’s life. Let’s make it a pleasant one.
