child's worsening vision

[mimemarcelle]

My physically active, 11 year old son, realized last fall that he could not see the chalkboard at school, so we had his eyes checked and he got a prescription- for distance- the eye doctor said he did not need to use his glasses for reading.(he is a big reader, several hundred pages a week, and on the computer too)

My son complained that his eyes hurt when he wore his glasses and we had him rechecked and discovered an astigmatism the initial exam missed.

By the spring he felt he could not see the board well again and over the summer says now his vision goes black when he moves his head quickly, he frequently gets headaches but still refuses to wear his glasses except at the movies because they make his eyes hurt- my questions are..

Is this kind of "deterioration" usual?  He has never felt pain free even in his glasses, is there something that might be going on that might make wearing glasses ineffective for some reason?    Finally  what kind of doctor/ specialist might be able to help sort out what is going on- he is getting afraid he might be going blind...  Thank you,

[Sandra M Brown, MD]

First step find a pediatric ophthalmologist at www.aapos.org and get him fully examined including pupil dilation.  DO NOT have neuroimaging like a brain MRI until after this appointment.  Yarrow is correct that the eyeglasses pain and the "blacking out" symptoms may very well not be related.  Conversely the headache could definitely be due to going without glasses.  Your son is reading himself into being more nearsighted.  This happens and it's too late to stop it.  Children with nearsighted parents are more susceptible.

[yarrow]

I'm not a doctor, but I have been a parent and I'm sure you are pretty worried about this, so I'm responding now.

If I understand correctly, you are saying that your son has recurrent headaches, that he does not see well even with glasses (which he doesn't like to wear) that were recently corrected again for astigmatism, and that now he gets some kind of visual effect when he moves his head quickly.

First of all, have his eyes been thoroughly examined, complete with dilation and a good look at the retina?  Did the eye doctor say everything in there was healthy?

I ask because recurrent headaches and a sudden blackening field of vision such as you describe are not necessarily related to problems with glasses or lens corrections.  Frankly, if your son's eyes have been found to be normal,  I'd recommend taking your son to the pediatrician or a pediatric neurologist for an opinion regarding other medical causes for the symptoms.