Connor’s First Eye Exam

Two weeks ago, Connor (age five-and-a-half) had his first trip to the eye doctor. We got him an appointment at the same doctor his dad and I have started seeing, with the intention of getting him in the habit of having a regular eye exam, since (given his heredity) he’s going to need glasses eventually.

Our appointment was first thing in the morning, before school. We got there and checked in at the front desk, and got paperwork to fill out and a buzzer for when they were ready for us. Once our buzzer went off in the waiting room (where we didn’t even wait long enough for me to finish the paperwork), one of the nurses took us back to get Connor’s history and give him a couple of screening tests. Then it was off to the exam room to hurry up and wait.

Waiting excitedly in the exam chair

I told him to look excited for the picture, but to be fair, he actually was. 

Still waiting patiently in the exam chair

It took a while before Dr. S. came in.

Not-so-patiently waiting in the exam chair

A loooooong while. Long even for a grown-up. I let him play YouTube Kids on my phone while we waited.

Finally, she came in and introduced herself, then gave him depth perception and color perception tests (which he passed). Then she had him read the letters on the screen in the darkened room with the “monster glasses” on.

In the monster glasses

(I didn’t get a good photo in the dark, so this was a re-enactment.)

After that, she put some eyedrops in his eyes (which he hated) and showed him how the drops made his eyes glow green under a blacklight — like the Incredible Hulk. She was trying to make it fun, but he did not like that one bit. He nearly cried while she looked into his eyes with her light. The drops burned his eyes and he kept asking her to get them out.

Finally, she put some dilating drops in his eyes, and told him they would rinse out his eyes and make the “Hulk eyes” go away. Of course, we then got to hang out and wait for his eyes to dilate.

Dilated eyes

It seemed like forever, but it was only about 15 minutes. I let him watch YouTube Kids on my phone, but I warned him that eventually his eyes wouldn’t be able to focus (I just had this done not long ago myself, and I remembered vividly how boring it was to be unable to occupy myself with my phone while I waited for my eyes to dilate).

After he couldn’t focus anymore, I turned on Spotify and let him listen to his playlist. He was still bored and grumpy, though, even with music on.

Dilated and grumpy

Once she finally came back, he was SO STOKED when she shined the light into his eyes and he could see the inside of HIS OWN EYE. Too cool!

He was also stoked to get his very own cardboard sunglasses.

Wearing the stylish adjustable sunglasses

He was not pleased to hear that he doesn’t need glasses just yet. He’d been looking forward to getting glasses — I think they mean “grown up” to him, since both Mom and Dad have them.

Dr. S. told us to come back for another exam in two years, before he enters second grade, and we’ll see how his eyes look then. For now, he does have a little astigmatism, just like Mom and Dad, and he’s slightly far-sighted, like most kids are at this age (which I hadn’t realized). She said that he’ll likely follow more of my eyesight pattern — I didn’t get glasses until fifth grade, whereas his dad got glasses right before Kindergarten.

Since we had to drive right past our house to get from the eye doctor to Pre-K, we stopped in to get his real sunglasses, since he’d have to wear them all morning (and actually ended up wearing them all day).

Overall, Connor enjoyed his trip to the eye doctor, even with all the waiting. If you ask him what his least favorite part was, he’ll tell you it was the Hulk Eyes.

But his favorite part was getting the sunglasses.

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