Valerie Mernagh's seven-year-old son Ronan has been wearing glasses since he was about 18 months old.
But the spectacles never seemed quite right and, in recent years, he repeatedly had to have his prescription adjusted, his mother says.
Ronan attends a specialist at Our Lady's Hospital in Crumlin.
"He's been wearing glasses a long time. They never were right - they always fell down and any time I went to the hospital they were putting up his prescription. But my main concern was that Ronan was always bumping into things. He once fell over a branch outside our flat. Other stuff was his co-ordination and balance - he was constantly banging into doors and walls even when he was very young. You trust your optician and you trust the glasses they give you but they never seemed right.
"I'm only in Dundrum about a year and Helen Carroll was recommended to me. I've been attending her since April 2004. I told her what was happening and about his balance and co-ordination and how worried I was because he was falling even in school or bumping into tables and chairs. Helen explained to me about the glasses and the proper nose piece and how they wrap around the ears. It's amazing.
"Touch wood, since he's had those glasses he hasn't bumped into things. He'll fall, like any child will do, but not the kind of bangs he was getting."
"Ronan's eyes had never improved when I went back to the hospital over the years. The right eye was a bit weaker than the left eye. But when I went back the last time they said his right eye was improving. That's the first time they've ever said that to me."