I just heard about this contest, and wanted to pass it along as something that might be of interest to people here. Sadly, it’s only open to US residents.
Airwear® Lenses are polycarbonate lenses that claim to use eco-conscious processing in the manufacturing and packaging of the lenses. Since they are polycarbonate lenses (lighter, safer, and provide protection against UVA and UVB rays) , they are appropriate for children of all ages.
Airwear is currently running a contest that is open to US residents only, with a grand prize of $1,000, and 10 runner up prizes of $400 vouchers for Airwear lenses. To enter the contest just visit www.lightersafergreener.com (the Airwear website) and share a 250 word essay on how you will help your kids have a healthy, safe and successful school year. Don’t be thrown off by the “school year” part of the contest, I double-checked, and even if your child isn’t in school, you can still enter and be eligible to win. The contest runs until November 30, 2010, so you still have plenty of time to put together a winning essay.
It’s been some time since I last posted an update regarding my son Nicholas and his experiences with glasses and patching. N has ectopia lentis, a congenital condition that causes a laxity in the fibers that hold his lenses in place, as a result the lenses can move, or dislocate, from their proper position. This has led to a high degree of myopia as well as anisometropia. Anyhoo..after several years of success with patching to maintain vision to the best possible, we learned a several weeks back that the lens of his left eye has moved to a position where it is no longer providing useful vision. (He’s -8.5 R and -23L. Lately we’ve not been able to gain acuity beyond 20/200 L)
So..we’re gonna have it replaced. Huh?
I always thought such things carried a lifetime warrantee. Such is not the case it seems. Surgery is tomorrow. The surgeon will work to secure the supporting apparatus of the inner eye and hopefully implant an IOL “in the bag”, complex terminology for “right where it needs to be”. Otherwise, suspend the new lens in the place where the bag used to be, if things go differently. A new frontier for us to say the least.
I’ve written infrequently, but visit this site often, sharing and leveraging the collective experience of this community. Hoping those who may have had experience with surgery could share some tidbits of advice. What’s the post surgical period like? Luck with maintaing the protective cover in place? etc. Will see you on the flip side and let you know how it went. (personally..hoping he gets the one with the bionic sound effect…)
I have spent the last week trying to take tons of pictures of Elliana’s eyes. As some of you may have the same problem that I do, she does not like to 1. look at the camera and 2. have her picture taken. I did however get quite a few shots. My husband and I looked at them all and sent several to our PO for review and we went in to get measurements again. Even when she is looking straighter, her eyes still turn in. =( There is also a test where she wears glasses with red and green lenses and must explain what she sees. It was obvious that her vision was switching… 2 red, 2 green, 3 green, 2 red, 4 red, she kept switching colors and couldn’t see how many. When I looked through the same thing, I saw 1 red, 2 green , and a white (maybe someone can explain this test better)
As for the surgery, I understand that they are going to move her eye muscle on her right eye almost back to where it started out. I asked how far and the Dr said that they will have to see if the muscle slid and wanted to know if I wanted her to call me during surgery (no way, please don’t call me… I am not qualified in any way to give any opinion – just focus on my baby) They will only do one eye as Elliana had a very difficult time adjusting emotionally and physically to the change. I have to admit, I am more nervous and scared this time around. I am SO worried that this surgery won’t work too. Then what? I also feel so stupid sometimes and think that I should have gone to school to become a doctor or a surgeon just so that I would know more.
We did tell her that she will have surgery on Thursday. She wanted to know what “exactly” was going to happen. I said, “We will meet Dr. at Papa’s work. They will give you medicine to make you sleepy and so you don’t feel any pain. Afterwards they will take you to the back room to see the fishes and you will wake up in my arms.” She however was not satisfied with my answer. I guess I didn’t give enough details as she wanted to know more. So I explained that she did such a good job patching but that the Dr wants to help your eye out so she can see better. They will move one of the muscles on her eye. She was ok with this and then asked if we could go to the grocery store to pick out treats for afterwards.
Elliana’s eyes are totally different every day. Some days I look at her and think, WOW her eyes are so straight. Then, an hour later, her left eye will be completely inward and I can see the scar tissue from the last surgery. Or it will be her right eye inward. WHAT IS GOING ON? At this time, there is a possibility that we may delay our 2nd surgery scheduled for September 23rd. The last month we have had weekly appointments to try and get accurate measurements. Each visit results in different measurements. The only good thing is that each eye individually is measuring in the 20/50 range (YEAH!) I am so relieved that there may be a delay as I want Elly to have the least amount of surgeries possible. My heart aches and I have lost much sleep about what to do. The final decision will be made next week.
I was thinking about putting together a post about how to find places that not only carry frames for little ones, but that also provide excellent service for the many adjustments and repairs we need. It occurred to me that we’re lucky to live near a place that caters only to children, that came highly recommended by our PO and others.
How did you decide on the place to buy your child’s glasses?
Stella, back in May, on her first day with glasses. (She was 20 months old.)
Hello! I’m Amber. Ann recently posted about Stella, my little “fashion visionary.” She honestly does love wearing that “pirate girl” onesie! Stella very recently turned two and, in addition to wearing glasses and patching three hours a day, is two weeks into vision therapy. I’d love to share our vision therapy stories and hear about your experiences, especially with vision therapy for very young kids as it seems to present unique challenges.
First, let me explain how our path led to vision therapy. Treatment for her vision issues (first, accommodative esotropia and now ambylopia) began in April in the ER at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She’d been sick with a bad cold and had lost about a pound, and that morning I thought she’d bumped her head (saw it out of the corner of my eye–I wasn’t sure about anything but the screaming). That’s when both of her eyes suddenly started crossing–severely. Her was visibly alarmed and sent us to the ER where they ruled out serious lie-threatening problems via head CT scan and tentatively diagnosed her with “convergence spasms.” A couple weeks later, we were routed to one of Children’s Hospital’s ophthalmologists. We now realize that the illness and stress must be what brought out Stella’s latent or, at the very least, hard to detect intermittent esotropia. I wish the ER had been aware that this was actually a rather common presentation, so Stella could’ve avoided all that radiation. Hindsight is 20/20. Unlike Stella’s left eye. Ahem.
After a very thorough exam, the ophthalmologist prescribed glasses, which have helped a lot in keeping her eyes straight. Then, at the follow-up appointment, they told us to start patching as visual acuity was decreasing in her weaker eye (her left eye has a stronger prescription which, from what I gather, means she has anisometropia). They said she may need to patch for years, but never mentioned vision therapy, I suppose because most ophthalmologists not only don’t offer it but aren’t very familiar with or approving of it. After reading Fixing My Gaze, I became dissatisfied with this approach for Stella and was excited to explore the possibility of vision therapy. Our second opinion came from a developmental optometrist who told me that Stella was too young for vision therapy. Luckily, we sought out a third opinion from a developmental optometrist who, among other seemingly innovative suggestions that differed from what we’d heard elsewhere, said Stella could begin vision therapy at this age! We now go every Wednesday morning to play “eye games.” The vision therapy guidelines they gave us initially say that most courses of vision therapy span nine to 12 months. Our journey is just beginning.
Dr. Nate at Bright Eyes News just posted a wonderful round up of some relatively recent studies looking at the effectiveness of different treatments of amblyopia. He includes short summaries of each study, written in plain English, along with links to the article in PubMed. There’s some great news in there: improvement can be seen in amblyopic children over 6 years of age being treated, and the benefits of treatment are permanent in most children, even after they’ve stopped treatment.
This is absolutely a must read if you’re dealing with amblyopia and want to be up on the latest findings!
There was a post on the Little Four Eyes facebook group asking if anyone in the north Los Angeles area would be interested in having a get together. She’s asked that people message her privately on facebook if they’re interested.
I would be happy to try to help facilitate communication for other get togethers if people are interested. You’re welcome to comment here to see if there’s anyone in the area, or to propose a local park or other place to try to meet. Or I can pass along email addresses so people can plan things that way, too. I’ve really enjoyed meeting Amomofelly – and of course, Elly, herself – in person.
We have not had as many eyeglass issues as we have in the last 6 months. I think it is a combination between these new frames and having a baby brother. Babies are sure hard on glasses. Check out these…
Broken hinge – the right cable temple only stays on with tape
Rusting nose piece
Popping out lenses…
I sure have a greater appreciation for those of you with babies in glasses. Elly didn’t get hers until 2 and we haven’t had many issues until now!
AmblyopiaKids had a fun post last month about some fabulous shirts she’d found that feature glasses. It seems like glasses are becoming more and more trendy – at least when they’re featured on characters on t-shirts.
Stella, in her shirt featuring a skull with a heart eye patch. From lifeandtimesofstella.com
Then yesterday, Amber wrote a great post on her blog about her daughter, the little fashion visionary, Stella, and the shirts they’ve found celebrating her eyewear – both glasses and patches. She also noted that JCrew has a pair of glasses frames for girls listed for sale on their site. It’s unclear from the site whether or not the frames are meant to be fit with prescription lenses, or used as purely cosmetic accessories. I have to say, if they aren’t meant for prescription lenses, I would have a hard time justifying spending the money on the frames. After going through so many struggles just getting Zoe to wear her glasses in the beginning, it just seems crazy to me to pay money to go through that and not get the benefit of better vision. On the other hand, it certainly says something about how glasses are viewed if they’re offered as purely fashion accessories now.
Anyone else find any interesting glasses-related kids fashions?
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If you just found out that your child needs glasses, you may want to start here, or browse our pages or post archives. Please comment on anything that catches your attention.
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