Charlie Pitts saw the world more clearly after he visited UAB Eye Care, thanks to his parents’ taking proactive and prompt action.
During a routine well-child checkup for Charlie, his pediatrician performed a vision screening using a photo screening instrument. To everyone’s surprise, the results revealed that 9-month-old Charlie was extremely farsighted and should be referred for comprehensive eye care.
As they were first-time parents, the diagnosis was surprising news to Charlie’s mom and dad, Lindsay and Adam Pitts, because he was meeting all his developmental milestones.
“During our pediatrician checks, he was doing everything he was supposed to,” Lindsay said. “He could see well enough to recognize our faces, play independently and feed himself.”
Upon receiving the results from the pediatrician, Lindsay and Adam realized they needed to act quickly and booked an appointment with UAB Eye Care before leaving the doctor’s office parking lot.
“We asked our pediatrician, Dr. Patrick Farr of Birmingham Pediatric Associates, who he recommended, and his first recommendation was UAB,” Adam said. “We called UAB Eye Care and got an eye exam scheduled for Charlie.”
At the appointment, Kathy Weise, O.D., pediatric optometrist and professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, gave Charlie a comprehensive eye exam and got a precise measure of his significant farsightedness. Charlie measured in at +9.00 D, when normally babies at that age are roughly +2.00 D.
“When it came to start moving around — crawling and pulling up — Charlie’s visual world was more limited than it should have been,” Weise said. “His eyes were not providing the full picture.”
To fix his farsightedness, Wiese prescribed glasses for Charlie.
“The staff at UAB Eye Care were great to work with,” Adam said. “Dr. Weise even came out after the exam and helped us pick out and order glasses for Charlie.”
Charlie PittsTwo weeks later, the day arrived for Charlie to get his glasses for the first time. It was a special day for all –– the parents, the optometrist and the staff.
According to Charlie’s dad, “I was holding the camera to document this moment, and I melted. It was magical to see him see a new world. It was the first time he saw his parents clearly.”
For Charlie’s mom, “it was a surreal moment. The world was just magnified 10 times for Charlie. We are never going to forget that moment –– it will always be on our minds.”
Weise and her team were equally in awe of Charlie’s charm as his worldview suddenly expanded –– a sight Weise describes as her favorite in 30 years of providing pediatric eye care.
Charlie is now 10 months old, and the new glasses have done wonders for him. With his development skyrocketing, the parents are thankful for the care Weise and her team at UAB Eye Care provided.
“Charlie has had the glasses for four weeks now, and his development has just expedited,” Adam said. “We didn’t know as first-time parents the things he should be doing –– he has started crawling, climbing, focusing, and being more interested in books, colors and pictures. Charlie is a happy-go-lucky kid, and the diagnosis and glasses have made a world of a difference.”
Lindsay and Adam are proud parents because of this experience.
“As parents, it fills us with pride that we were able to find out what our child needed so early and took action to provide it to him,” Lindsay said. “Providing something to your child that they had been missing for an extended amount of time –– it fills us with such joy. You can’t replace that,” Adam added.
Doing everything right
Some babies need glasses and have no idea they are not seeing as well as they could –– Charlie is a perfect example. Therefore, proactive wellness exams and vision screenings are critical so vision problems can be contained at their onset.
According to Weise, Charlie was able to get help with his vision because “everyone did everything right for this baby,” she said.
There is a workforce inadequacy in pediatric eye care, with fewer than 5 percent of U.S. counties having a pediatric eye care provider. This means, to get the right kids to the eye doctors, it must be an all-hands-on-deck situation. She breaks down Charlie’s case with the following steps:
- Pediatricians need to perform vision screenings during routine exams –– which they did.
- Staff needs to inform the family whether the baby passed the vision screening –– they did.
- Staff needs to help parents understand the importance of getting to an eye care provider — they did.
- Parents need to take the information seriously and schedule the eye exam –– they did.
- Finally, the eye doctor needs to dilate the child’s eyes, find the right answer, make the conversations meaningful to the families and provide the best possible care –– they did.
“Charlie’s story is a testament to the power of proactive care and what can happen when everyone — pediatricians, parents and specialists — comes together to do everything right,” Weise said.