Amelie got her super cool Spongebob raspberry pink *with rhinestones!* "sea star" glasses in the mail a few days ago and was SO EXCITED to open the box and put them on. Her friends told her she looks like a 7 year old and also "like a rock star."
The reason for her having to wear glasses: she has amblyopia, of which there are 3 types. Basically, her left eye sees 20/80 (like seeing through a soaped up window--seriously blurry), and her right eye is fine. She doesn't even know that she has this condition, and had to be told . We took her to the eye doctor for other totally benign reasons. So, her left eye has far-sightedness and because vision develops continually til age 9, and her left eye and right eye were developing vision at different rates, her brain has basically "chosen" to ignore the stimuli coming from the bad eye so her vision is kind of stunted in that eye. So we have to train her left eye to see again, and for her brain to develop those pathways for vision from that eye. If we hadn't discovered this at this age, if it had gone on til she nears the 9 year old mark, there would have been nothing we could do to correct it. This is a common condition with an 80% chance of success with treatment. She has an appointment with her eye doctor in 6 weeks to determine if the glasses are working sufficiently to change her refraction. If not, we may have to try other methods to obtain result. Treament can take months or years. But doesn't she look adorable in super spongebob sparkly sea star spectacles?
