The Glasses

Adeline has had her glasses for almost a week now. When she first put them on, the biggest grin spread over her face and she said "Oh Mama! I can even see BEHIND you!".  That first day she was a little cautious, but she said many times (and has said many times since) "I LOVE my glasses". She has only taken them off since then to sleep and have a bath - and she wished she could wear them in the bath. With no prompting at all, she puts them on the minute she wakes up and doesn't take them off again until it's time to close her eyes. She very proudly takes care of them, cleans them a few times a day and knows just how to put them down so they stay safe.They are making such a huge HUGE difference to her that she wants them all the time.

Now if only they were a better fit and didn't slide down so much, but we're working on that. And I do wish that the lenses didn't distort her eyes and make them look smaller - I feel like she doesn't even look like herself when she's wearing them. I know I'll get used to it and soon she won't look right to me without her glasses!  I also wish she could have more pairs, to match with outfits (instead of just the standard plain black ones I picked as a "go with anything" choice) as well as a "sport" pair for rougher play, but because she's got specialized lenses her glasses are probably four times as expensive as they would be if she had a simple prescription. I also wish she had a second pair as breakage is inevitable and now that she knows what the world should look like, having her without glasses for ten days seems cruel! The lenses are Zeiss Myovision which some studies have shown can reduce the progression of myopia, especially in asian children, so they are completely worth the cost if they do what they say they're going to. It means we can't pick her up a cheap second pair though, so we'll have to make do with the one boring pair. We're also going to go see a pediatric opthalmologist, as a three year old starting out with a heavy duty -10 prescription is very very rare and we want to make sure we're doing everything we can and that it's just a a matter of genetics and not any sort of medical issue. I'm a worrier, so I've been googling and looking at worst case scenarios for the progression of her myopia, and the worst case scenarios are pretty dire and do include vision loss that can't be corrected with glasses or even blindness. Yes, those are very very rare and likely she'll just be a lifelong wearer of strong prescription glasses, but a Mama has to worry. If it progresses as it's likely to, she probably won't even be able to wear contacts (although I really really hope this is an option for her later) and current surgical options won't help (although who knows what they'll have available by the time her eyes stop growing). So while I'm THRILLED that Adeline can finally see, I haven't quite come to the "acceptance" stage yet and am still in a bit of the worry and grief stage. I'll get there though.

We've realized how very much she was missing before... Adeline is very verbal so she's really been able to articulate what she can see now that she couldn't see before - like the cracks in the sidewalk and the tiles on the floor, the branches in the trees (or that there even WERE trees across the street from our house),the stop and walk signals at the the crosswalk. the boats in the water and even at home she exclaims things like "I can even see the COUCH from here!" (it's about 10 feet from the table to the couch...). Adeline is spending a lot of time just LOOKING at everything and gazing out the windows and our walk to preschool takes twice as long now as she's realized she can see what's on everybody's porch, what's in their gardens and what every bird singing in the trees looks like. The optometrist said that her sweet spot for everything being in focus is just four inches from her eyes and everything beyond that is blurry. No wonder she couldn't even see that there was an eye chart on the wall when it was time for her exam! I'm so happy that Adeline can SEE! We think she's brilliant now, just wait until she's getting accurate input from her eyes too!

I also feel like I need to learn some new photography skills. With Adeline's thick lenses, in every picture I take, no matter what I try, her eyes look blurry and I want nice sharply in-focus eyes and to show the lovely sparkly catch lights that her deep dark eyes have. I will keep trying though and there has to be some info online about photographing children with glasses. There's also the glare to contend with and I know there's nothing we can do about the distortion or the way they shrink her face (look at her temples in the pictures - where you should see her ears and hair you can see all the way behind her - it's like looking at her eyes through the wrong end of binoculars). It's a challenge, but I want her to always feel good about her glasses, so it feels very wrong for me to ask her to take them off so we can take pictures and I'm not going to do it.

 

 

 

Comments

[Steph]

DO NOT GOOGLE!!! Seriously, don't make me smack your hands. Dr Google is a quack! Perhaps in Vietnam untrated that stuff might have happened but you are being super proactive and giving her every advantage for a long visual life.

Contacts and surgery wer never an option for me and unfortunately the 80s were not kind to kids with glasses. Other kids were cruel and the worse part was that when I tried on new glasses frames the plain lenses and the mirror being too far away meant I couldn't even see what I looked like. It made me choose BAD frames and get teased all the more - so my only advice other than to relax a bit is to always always have final say on what style of frame Adeline ends up with. You obviously have good taste, they make her look so cute - and so grown up!

[Bev]

Oh, Miss Adeline, you have always been beautiful and the photos that your Mama and Daddy take of you and share here have always brought a smile to my face, but... I see a whole new twinkle in your eyes now that you can see and I am so happy for you! I'm also so happy to hear that you are loving your glasses - that is fantastic!! Enjoy exploring the world around you that is finally in focus - what a wonderful time to discover and learn.

Lisa (and David), I totally get all of the worry and I know you are taking a logical approach to every little aspect of this big transition for your precious girl. How wonderful it must be to witness her world opening up in such a dramatic way! At the same time, it must be hard to adjust to Adeline's new "look" - not the glasses themselves so much, but the little things that you've mentioned about how they don't let you see her eyes sparkle the way you used to and how they distort the appearance of her face at her temples. I'm sure this won't be as obvious to you over time - I didn't really notice it in the photos until you mentioned it. I sure hope that the world of opthamology continue to evolve so that better treatments will be available to help Adeline in the future. One thing we know for sure is that she has parents who will do everything and anything to get her the very best care and treatment possible.

[karen]

So good to hear Adeline's excitement and wonder at being able to see!