Ms C has had her glasses since early April this year. It was not a very easy journey to this point especially when no one listened to you. It was around October last year that we noticed that she always squinting while watching TV or when we call her from afar. Most of our close family members are short sighted so it was one of the signs that she might have inherited this from us.
We went to see the GP twice and both doctors we saw on the separate occasions both said she was too young to be short sighted, come back if she was still having problems. My instinct told me not to trust them. So I asked my health visitor for advice. She told me to take Ms C to any opticians to check. I went to all the opticians in Lichfield and none of them would check for her because she was too young. They all suggested we go back to our GP for a hospital referral. I called my health visitor again and she promised me to refer Ms C to a children’s optician. We had to wait for 3 months before we got an appointment with her as she only comes to Lichfield once a month.
So it was March 2012 when we got to see the children’s optician to check her eyes. She did a few simple tests and they referred us to the hospital. Thank goodness! After so many months of waiting, we finally got a diagnosis for her problem.
We had to wait for another 6 long weeks before we get an appointment to see the ophthalmologist and optician at the Samuel Johnson Community Hospital.
The appointment finally came in late April, we had two appointments. She had to have an eye drop to dilate her eyes before she was checked by the optician. She was given different lenses to try on. The optician praised me that I had spotted her at such a young age. I told him I was so angry that no one had believed me in the first place and Ms C had to wait for at least 6 months before she was diagnosed.
Later, we were seen by the ophthalmologist to confirm the diagnosis. She had issued a voucher to get free glasses from any opticians. We went to Specsaver to choose the new glasses and were able to pick them up within a week. Since then, we had her eight week check-up and her sight did not improve. She was squinting at times. The optician put it down to her not getting used to the glasses and we had to wait for another month to see any improvement.
This Wednesday, we had the check-up and I told her that I am concerned that she was still squinting. Again, we have to wait for another month before we can see the Ophthalmologist to get the correct lens for her.
I didn’t realised it was so troublesome for the eye testing. It seems that we had to be back for check up every 4 – 8 weeks until her eyesight is stable. What a long journey! Do you all having the same problems with your children? Have you notice any signs in your child?
She looks adorable still with glasses. I remember the pain of getting them when I was young though (pink plastic NHS ones, argh!)