Can glasses correct a turn in eye?

[ktmummy1]

Hi,

My daughter started turning in her left eye in November. She has seen several opticians, an orthoptist and is waiting to see the opthamologist. Anyway, her latest optician did the test where eye drops are used. He prescribed glasses with strength +1.50 in right eye; +2.00 in left eye. Her actual eye test showed her ability to see pictures was excellent without glasses with both eyes(he said this would be 20/20 vision in old terms). She has started wearing her glasses since yesterday. I am a bit confused by a few things but had so much to take in at her appt that I didn't ask:

1. Why does she need glasses if her eye sight came back as 20/20 vision?
   
2. How can an optician tell which lenses to prescribe after the eye drop test?
   
3. Will glasses correct her intermittent eye turn? How?
   
4. Thankfully so far she is wearing her glasses most of the time but if she didn't, would her turn become worse(I am worried about compliance to wear glasses after novelty wears off)
   

She is 3 and was a prem baby born at 34 weeks if this is relevant.

Thanks

[dementedpixie]

She needs them as she is long sighted and one eye is more long sighted than the other which can lead to a squint. Can both eyes see as well as each other as they can also have a lazy eye where one eye has poorer sight than the other?

The eye drops test lets them use lenses to work out what prescription to use for the glasses

Yes glasses can help with the squint as she doesn't have to try so hard to focus given there are different degrees of long sight in each eye

Yes she would probably squint more when not wearing the glasses and in turn may end up with a lazy eye

(My Dd age 12years is also long sighted with different degrees of long sight and wears glasses and has done since she was 18 months old. She also had patching treatment as the sight in her left eye was poorer than in her right eye)

[dementedpixie]

www.nhs.uk/conditions/Squint/Pages/Introduction2.aspx

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

when you read your eyes turn inwards which is perfectly normal, but in some cases an uncorrected prescription can lead to the eyes turning as they make an effort to see

sometimes if the eyes send different images to the brain, it will not process the poorer image, or the brain cannot tie them together so one (usually the worst image) will be ignored, this can also lead to a squint

the danger with an uncorrected squint is just that the brain will ignore the worst image, and then the weaker eye will not develop the acuity (detail) required for good vision.

so 1) the specs are required to prevent her squinting by "relaxing" the eye muscles, to maintain binocular vision and ensure proper eye development
2)the optician uses lenses/reflections/light to work out the power of her eyes and can prescribe from that, if a child is cooperative that prescription can be refined according to responses from the chart
3) yes they should correct it, but she may always need to wear them to prevent it, or she may grow out of it, or she may need muscle exercises, or possibly a squint correction operation
4) the main thing is to avoid the worse eye becoming amblyopic....where the acuity is much less and even specs cannot correct it, so ideally she must wear them as much as possible.

the eyes continue to develop up until age seven/eight so you have plenty of time and an early start is always best.

[ktmummy1]

Thanks so much for all this info. I am going to read it very carefully once the kids are in bed as I am finding it difficult to take in. Both her eyes were as good as each other at seeing the pictures on the wall chart(even the tiny ones that I couldn't see).

She has just recently started watching her favourite cartoons on our iPad, she prefers to do this than watch the to (although will watch both) but I've noticed she's glued to the iPad since wearing her glasses. I am trying to take it off her but she's having meltdown after meltdown, my concern is , will looking at a screen so closely damage her eyes further? Should I persist in getting it off her? She is wearing her glasses.

[dementedpixie]

If you are long sighted your distance sight is good but it is harder to see things that are close to you so maybe she can see the screen much more clearly now she doesn't have to struggle to focus on it.

[TobleroneBoo]

I was patch trained to correct a very bad turn in my eye, but had glasses at the same
Time

[redhat]

Is she not being patched?

DS1 wore a patch for three years after we caught a slight turn in his eye (squint). It corrected the problem and he's now absolutely fine. It wouldn't have been corrected with glasses alone though.

I would ask about patching. You have to do it before 8 or it is too late.

[dementedpixie]

Patching improves sight in the eye with poorer sight but isn't solely to correct a squint. Dd had glasses and patching treatment and in the end had surgery on her squinting eye as it was still noticeable even with her glasses on.

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

Hi KT

I started this yesterday which might be of use as a couple of helpful parents posted about what's happening with their children.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2563821-Lazy-eye-Squint-corrective-surgery-Any-experience?

I've got two children under 6. The best course of action is to hide the ipad unless you want them to have it. They are not particularly rational about handing it back at that age. Plus the iplayer app for example is quite intuitive and easy to navigate for a small child. Far more so than a tv remote.

Similarly to Toberone I was also patch trained and eventually had a turn surgically corrected. I was always told that the reason that my bad eye is as strong as it is, is because it was caught and treated very early so stick with it.

[ktmummy1]

Patching wasn't recommended but the possibility of future patching, exercises and even surgery was discussed. Glasses are the first port of call I guess. Her eyes are similar prescription wise but then they may strengthen the prescription in time I suppose, once her eyes have got used to the +1.50 and +2.00 lenses. Thanks for all this everyone. I will go and read the thread posted by treadsoftly now x