squint, doctor or optician?

[ditavonteesed]

dd2 appears to have developed a really slight squint, and I mean really slight, I would like to get it checked out, I have a lazy eye which wasx treated as a child. she is 4, I am not worried, so do I need to take her to the opticians, or to the docs and get referral to specialist?

[edam]

Hope someone with specialist knowledge or experience comes along but I think a decent ohphthalmic optician - (can't remember how to spell it but that kind of surgeon definitely has two Hs) the sort that can prescribe glasses - will refer you to a consultant. (Or send you back to your GP for a referral, possibly.)

[purepurple]

I would go to the GP first. They will be able to refer you to a consultant.

[Fuzzywood]

When we were a bit concerned about DD we saw an optician first but he told us to see GP and get referred to an Optomotrist (think that's the right word). No problem identified but as me and DH both had lazy eyes as kids they see her every 6 months. She is a bit younger than your DD though (nearly 2), don't know if that makes a difference. Think any referral to a specialist has to come from GP so I'd suggest try that route.

[LostArt]

When I notice DD squint, I took her along to Specsavers. (it's a lot easier to make a convenient appointment with them than the GP here). The referral was made via the optician, so I didn't have to see my GP. The appointment came through really quickly.

I wouldn't recommend going through the HV - I asked DS to be referred and it took over a year for him to be seen!

[Oblomov]

GP. then you will as fuzzywood says be refered to the optomotrist at the local eye dept. they will assess. and decide if patching is needed etc etc. they have been very good with ds1.

[Seona1973]

dd was referred through the hv but was only 18 months at the time. The appointment came through quickly. You could either refer through the gp or go to an optician that deals with children. One mother I know took her kids to the optician and they referred them to the hospital orthoptist as their eyesight was quite poor.

[ronshar]

I would suggest opticians. They are eye specialist and can refer you to exactly who you need rather than a GP who isnt an eye specialist.

[DBennett]

An ophthalmic optician or optometrist (same qualification, the name change happened about 6yrs ago) who works in a high st. practice is qualified to deal with this and should be able to help.

However not all optometrists feel confident dealing with young children.

If you can find one who is (and I'll run through what the examination should include) then they are the best person you have access to directly.

If you can't find one who is comfortable (and that might take a few phone calls) you should go to your G.P who will kost likely refer you to see an Orthoptist (an expert in child vision and eye muscle issues). An orthoptist, working alongside a Ophthalmologist (eye Dr) or, more likely, an Optometritst working in the hospital will check the child, diagnose issues and instigate traetment if required.

A high street optometrist should use an age appropiate vision test (for a child age 4 this should ideally be a Crowded LogMAR card (sometimes known as Glasgow Acuity Card or Keeler LogMAR card)).

They should also be performing a cycloplegic glasses check (one which uses eyedrops).

They'll also do some other tests to check whether the eyes are straight, the health of the eyes and whether the brain is using both eyes together.

They almost certainly shoudl be giving teh full prescription and insiting on FTW.
Partial or half prescriptions and part time wear (for almost all prescriptions) used to be standard practice but now our knowledge base has improved.

It's a quite long post but I wanted to give some info about which route to take and what you should expect along those paths.

If I have been unclear, please post again.

[ditavonteesed]

thank you, there is an optician down the road who is happy to deal with children, I have taken dd1 a couple of times when she was younger. actually explained to me for the first time ever why I can't see 3d, which was interesting. will pop in tommorow and see if they are happy to see her.
As i say if it is a suint it is very tiny on saying that my parents never noticed mine until there is a photo of me looking in complete opposite directions.

[ditavonteesed]

well eye test went really well, said no problems but they will see her again in a few months and if I am, still worries in the meantime to go back in and they will refer her.