We've had them almost two months now and he's doing great with them! Bailey and Gerry never had vision problems, and our doctor never mentioned anything about Linc's eyes at any of his check-ups, so when we started noticing his left eye going wonky I just thought he was being silly.
Bailey was actually the first one to notice it. Can you see in the picture above how his left eye is kind of drifting inward towards his nose? At first, he was only doing it once in awhile and I thought he was being his usual goofy self. But then I started seeing it happen more frequently. And other people noticed it, too. So I made him an appointment with an opthalmologist that a friend recommended and off we went.
The appointment was something of a disaster. I went in with pictures to show the doctor, a family history of vision problems, and some questions. The doctor wouldn't even do a pupil dilation because he "didn't want to make a baby angry". He looked at Lincoln for a few minutes and told me that what we were seeing was "nothing more than an optical illusion", that Lincoln just hadn't grown into the bridge of his nose yet, and that it only looked like his eye was crossing.
I left that appointment with more questions than answers.
So I called Wills Eye and got him an appointment with one of their eye doctors. Interestingly enough, it's the same doctor that both my sister and I saw when we had vision problems, about 30 years ago (small world, huh?). Dr. Nelson was great. He performed a quick and painless eye exam, complete with pupil dilation, and he was quick and efficient about it. He took his time, listened to my questions, and confirmed that I wasn't going crazy and that the other doctor was basically a quack. Turns out Lincoln is very farsighted in both eyes and basically hasn't been able to see a damn thing for most of his little life. So, for the forseeable future, my baby is in glasses. And he's one damn adorable bespectacled boy.
Day one in glasses was a little bit rough. When we put them on him in the store, he just looked around in wonder and didn't touch them. Once we were home, it was a different story. He kept yanking them off and throwing them around. Trying to keep the patch on was a complete joke.
But by the second day, I think he realized that he could actually see when he was wearing them, and he's been great about it ever since. He does take them off when he's angry or having a tantrum, but for the most part he keeps them on all day. The tough part is finding a pair that he can't or won't destroy. He prefers round frames (I think because those lenses cover more of his eye so he doesn't have to work as hard to look out of them), but the optical stores in our area aren't very "baby-friendly" so our frames options are limited. We only get one pair a year with our insurance (technically, 2 pair because I went to America's Best and they have the "2 pair for $69" deal going, but I know we're going to need extra. We're already down to just one pair right now because the lens keeps popping out of the other pair.
It's going really well. And I think he's adorable in his glasses.
