May 13, 2012

Becoming 四眼妹 (four-eyed girl)


Yiu Yiu came home from school one day, informing us that there was an eye check at school, and she was diagnosed with astigmatism.  We took her to the optometrist to get it checked out again, and confirmed her astigmatism of 1.0 Diopter.  She also has nearsightedness of 0.5 Diopter.



I asked the optometrist the reason for her sight problems, and he said that most likely it’s inborn.  A quick check on medical literature confirms that the cause of astigmatism is unknown.  It is usually present from birth, and often occurs together with nearsightedness or farsightedness.  According to an American study, nearly three in 10 children have astigmatism, and the prevalence is higher in Asian children.

While adults with a higher degree of astigmatism may realize their vision isn't as good as it should be, children who have astigmatism symptoms may not be aware they have this condition, and are unlikely to complain about blurred or distorted vision.  So parents of young child(ren), if you are reading this, please schedule regular eye exams for your child(ren) to avoid vision problem in school, which may impair their performance in school and in sports.

Back to Yiu Yiu, the optometrist recommended that she starts wearing glasses, so that she doesn’t need to strain her eyes when looking at the blackboard in school.  We shortlisted these two frames – actually she chose the pink one and I asked her to consider the purple one.  No prize for guessing which one we ended buying J


And now I present to you, the bespectacled Yiu Yiu…

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Yiu Yiu looks nice in her new glasses. But sad that kids these days have to start wearing glasses to early in their lives. Vic came home with a reading school one day and I saw that she has "power" that require her to be bespectacled. After lecturing her, she told me then her whole class will have to wear glasses! Then it occurred to me that the reading from school is not accurate and her eyesight, upon home checking is ok.

But still, it's a good fright to her as she likes to dip her head really low when writing.

WK Liew said...

Wah so look so big gal with her glasses. Still looks pretty :)

jazzmint said...

she look more serious now with her specs. Still pretty :)

chanelwong said...

She looks pretty with her new glasses....

MeRy said...

Yiu Yiu looks great in her new glasses...It make me recall back on myself, I started to wear glasses on Primary 1.

Small Kucing said...

why not get two? The other one as back up coz sometimes in school playing sport might break the frame. Then have to rush to the shop get new ones. Rather troublesome

Kit said...

Nice glasses! She looks good in them :) Funny how they are really into pink yeah?

LittleLamb said...

I realised too..many start wearing glasses at young age... sigh. I hope this is just temporary n his asgti will "grown off"

A Mom's Diary said...

Irene - I think that must have been the same screening that Yiu Yiu went through at school.

WK, Jazz, Chanel, MeRy - thanks, she'll be so happy to know. In fact, she enjoys wearing her glasses!

smallkucing - good idea. I didn't think of that.

Kit - your little one too? Already into pink?

Little Lamb - the optometrist said it's inborn, not sure if she'll outgrow it eventually.

ZMM said...

Hey 0.5 also need to wear?
Zaria is 0.25. I haven't got her a pair yet.

A Mom's Diary said...

Zara's Mama - when checked with the machine, it was higher, about 1.0D. When trying out the lenses for her using the alphabets chart, it seems 0.5D lens is adequate.