No You Are Not Going Blind!
Everyone's Guide to stop worrying so much about your vision changes.
After 30 years of practicing Ophthalmology, I have noticed some common fears and misconceptions that parents have about their children's eyes and also about their own eyes that cause many hours of real anxiety when they should not.
These patients come to their exams and make comments like I know I am going blind or my child is going blind.
It took me a few years to realize that these patients really did believe to some extent they were going blind.
If you think you are going blind, that is a terrifying thought.
If I were going blind, I would be anxious as well.
As an ophthalmologist, I know what real blindness is and it is quite serious and can be devastating if that is really what is happening.
Fortunately, the patients I will talk about are NOT GOING BLIND.
Parents being parents naturally want to fix the problem so their children won't go blind.
These problems will not make children go blind.
The rare cases where these problems need medical attention are few and far between.
Children need regular annual eye exams to identify the need for glasses or corrective lenses.
Failure to correct these problems early in life can cause children to have poor vision and so the eye exams performed in schools for screening are very important.
The follow-up with your eye specialist is equally important.
Get the regular eye exams to identify real diseases and to identify those children who need glasses.
Once children have the glasses or contacts, regular exams are absolutely necessary.
The eyes are going to change and the glasses or contacts will change but the change is normal and do not result in blindness.
The change in itself will not make you go blind.
Always get your regular eye exams but don't fear the fact that these changes will occur.
I emphasize to parents that you can't stop the eyeglass or contact lens changes and those things on their own are not going to cause blindness.
Eventually most eyes stop changing.
You can't predict accurately when that is going to happen so stop trying.
If parents realize the change is not going to hurt their children and they can't control it anymore than they can control shoe size or height, then they can relax a little and each regular eye exam will not cause so much anxiety.
The anxiety doesn't come as much from the cost of the glasses or contacts as much as it does from the fear that their child or in a lot of cases the adult patients themselves are going blind.
NO! YOU ARE NOT GOING BLIND! DO GET YOUR REGULAR EYE EXAMS! Contacts are safe and necessary for people who don't want to wear glasses.
I will be writing more articles covering these fears that have been carried down for generations.
After 30 years of practicing Ophthalmology, I have noticed some common fears and misconceptions that parents have about their children's eyes and also about their own eyes that cause many hours of real anxiety when they should not.
These patients come to their exams and make comments like I know I am going blind or my child is going blind.
It took me a few years to realize that these patients really did believe to some extent they were going blind.
If you think you are going blind, that is a terrifying thought.
If I were going blind, I would be anxious as well.
As an ophthalmologist, I know what real blindness is and it is quite serious and can be devastating if that is really what is happening.
Fortunately, the patients I will talk about are NOT GOING BLIND.
Parents being parents naturally want to fix the problem so their children won't go blind.
These problems will not make children go blind.
The rare cases where these problems need medical attention are few and far between.
Children need regular annual eye exams to identify the need for glasses or corrective lenses.
Failure to correct these problems early in life can cause children to have poor vision and so the eye exams performed in schools for screening are very important.
The follow-up with your eye specialist is equally important.
Get the regular eye exams to identify real diseases and to identify those children who need glasses.
Once children have the glasses or contacts, regular exams are absolutely necessary.
The eyes are going to change and the glasses or contacts will change but the change is normal and do not result in blindness.
The change in itself will not make you go blind.
Always get your regular eye exams but don't fear the fact that these changes will occur.
I emphasize to parents that you can't stop the eyeglass or contact lens changes and those things on their own are not going to cause blindness.
Eventually most eyes stop changing.
You can't predict accurately when that is going to happen so stop trying.
If parents realize the change is not going to hurt their children and they can't control it anymore than they can control shoe size or height, then they can relax a little and each regular eye exam will not cause so much anxiety.
The anxiety doesn't come as much from the cost of the glasses or contacts as much as it does from the fear that their child or in a lot of cases the adult patients themselves are going blind.
NO! YOU ARE NOT GOING BLIND! DO GET YOUR REGULAR EYE EXAMS! Contacts are safe and necessary for people who don't want to wear glasses.
I will be writing more articles covering these fears that have been carried down for generations.
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