First Eye Test

OK, so I have blogged this, but I thought I would share it here as well in case someone might find it useful someday.  I hope you enjoy and if appropriate can benefit from it. 

Today I took E out of school for the afternoon for her

first eye test.  Not knowing what to expect I was unable to do anything but offer general reassurances and say to E that if there was something that she did not want to do I would do it first.  She was particularly apprehensive about someone shining a light into her eyes. 

As it turned out she was fine with all of it but I thought I would write something about the general experience in case there is anyone else who has a younger child who needs to venture into the clinical world of the opticians room where everything is big and strange.  Our experience took place in the local hospital having been referred by the school nurse earlier in the year, but it would be similar in a 'normal' opticians.  It has taken us about 6 months to get here, but if you went to the High Street I am sure it would be much faster.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT:

We started off seeing an ORTHOPTIC  specialist.  She did lots of 'fun' things checking each eye one at a time, and then checking the distances.  She used various small animal props and mostly they moved jerkily or poked out their tongues so that it was comical and engaging for the children.  Then there was the distance test where E held a piece of paper in her hand and had to point at the letter shape when the specialist pointed to the letters on the board at the other side of the room.

OPTICIAN:

In our instance after the test we needed to go see the OPTICIAN.  E got to sit up in the big black chair and then went way up in the air.  At first she looked a little alarmed, but we made some joke about her being taller than I was (me sitting on a normal chair just at the other side of the desk).  Relaxed she then allowed the optician to look in her eyes with his little light.  First with the glasses on her face (those  who have experienced an optician will know full well what I mean), and later he brought her to stand in front of me and look at me while he looked into her eyes and then he got her to look up, down, left and right. She did very well though often had a tendency through all her tests to move her head with her eye direction.

FIRST GLASSES:

Ultimately we needed to get fitted up for glasses today.  Here in the UK the National Health Service (NHS) can provide a voucher for lenses and glasses up to a certain cost.  Today the selection was to drool over for those unlucky enough to have had to select from the large owlish thick plastic frames. We browsed a while to find what E liked best and she was a great model in the mirror!  We honed it down to a choice of two and then the assistant measured her eyes.  The final product will be ready for collection in a couple of weeks. 

To conclude if you have a suspicion that your child may have an eye problem go and get it checked out.  In our case it was picked up by the school nurse and was not as bad as we first thought.  Whatever happens it is not as scary as it may seem and can actually be quite fun.

Peace
EF.x