Dr Spec

So Quinn had his optometrist appointment yesterday...

It turns out his eyes have deteriorated quite significantly in the last year. When he had his test last March his eyes were both +1.5. Now they are sitting on +2.5 and +3.0 respectively and he has astigmatism in one of them too. It was confirmed that he does NEED to wear his glasses, and pretty much all the time. He could barely read anything on the charts without them.

The optometrist, a lovely tiny young thing seemed almost scared and apologetic to tell me the news, she seemed to expect I'd be upset. Being the pragmatist I am, I asked if anything can/could have been 'done' about it, or if it's just one of those things that happen and can't actually be controlled at all (until you get to adulthood and can consider lasik etc etc), and she said yes it just happens and can't be controlled. I asked if increasing the prescription, or wearing the specs more, causes the eyes to weaken further and she said no not really - although they do try to keep the prescription on the lower rather than higher side, to keep the eyes having to work and focus etc so they don't get too 'lazy'.

So I said 'Right then we just need to deal with it as we can. He wears glasses already and doesn't mind them at all. He has done well with his glasses over the 15 or so months he's had them, and if he'll be able to see better and be more functional with a new prescription, well then bring it on!'. This really isn't something worth being 'upset' about, it is what it is.

Quinn's dad has quite bad eyes (around +4.5 in both eyes plus astigmatism) but they have been stable at that since his late teens, so I think we can expect Quinn's eyes to worsen and then stabilise as well, but time will tell. For now we'll get him tested annually and see how he is doing, and help him to be able to see his world!

We then had to select new frames. Last year the whole test, specs purchase and fitting cost close to R2500. Yikes! I went to Spec Savers this time because apart from being hellishly expensive the other woman is a bit of a snooty snob. This time I was told the test was free, and so are the lenses, and yes they will have the protective coating applied too - like the last ones, AND there was a selection of free frames too. This is all available for kids under 12 years old. GO SPEC SAVERS!

However Quinn did not like the free frames at all, and barely wanted to try them on. He finally did but just didn't feel comfortable wearing them. He likes the squarish lenses and very minimal frames. He doesn't like how obvious the full and thicker frames look. So when the man said he could order in the same frames he currently has, but we'd need to pay for those - around R700. I decided to just do it. He's loved his specs and treated them amazingly well up to now, and the fact that they were broken was not his fault and it turns out he DID need new specs anyway. So I have decided to get him the pair he loves. I guess we have saved a LOT by going to Spec Savers, and my boy deserves to feel comfortable and confident in his specs. (I have told him though that if they get broken again next time he'll be getting the free frames.)

Incidentally I was sitting with Griff while Quinn was being tested and he could read every single thing on the chart - so could I. Granted we were sitting about half the distance Quinn was, but we could both ready even the teeny tiny characters. :)