Failed eye test - do we wait for hospital appointment??

[Foresttwo]

So my daughter brought home a letter yesterday saying that she could have a problem with her one eye, following the routine screening they did at school.
We were very surprised at this as she doesn’t have any problems seeing the board at school as is above average for reading. She’s not particularly clumsy etc.
I rang and spoke to the community team who carried out the assessment and they said she failed on the LogMAR test. When her first eye was covered she couldn’t say the letters very well at all until the letters were much bigger. The other eye was fine she said. I asked her what we do next and she said it’s best to wait for hospital appointment. It would be referred to the hospital rather than an optician as her eyes were so different to each other.
I spoke to the class teacher who said DD got upset when one eye was covered and couldn’t see very well through it. I also asked if recognising capital letter may have been a factor, as she’s not 100% with all of them. It was also the first eye to be tested that was dodgy and she can be a bit shy. The teacher said she was ok with the other eye, so guess it may not have helped but maybe not main cause.
It sounds to be like she probably needs glasses, which both she and us are totally fine with.
However my dilemma is do I wait for the hospital appointment to come through as nurse suggested, as from speaking to the teacher is seems this can be up to six months! Or do I just book her into an opticians and get her glasses.
Does anyone know what the hospital would do that and optician can’t? We have an excellent local optician who my husband has been going to since he was 2 years old.
We don’t have her official results yet, just that one eye was significantly worse than the other. It says I could take up to three weeks just to get letter with results.
I don’t feel I can leave it now I know she may have a problem, although so far her education hasn’t suffered. Also don’t want to bypass the system if it’s not what she needs.
Anyone who has been through similar or any knowledge of how the whole process who can offer advice or the outcome you had would be gratefully received! Thx

[Foresttwo]

I should add my DD has just turned 5 years old

[GrowThroughWhatYouGoThrough]

Never been through this but personally I would ring the opticians and see what they say

[whereareyousleep]

I'd book her in at the opticians they will see her within a couple of days they will probably need to put dilating drops in which sting a little so be prepared for this . Did they say what her logMAR results were?

[Hawkmoth]

DS had this but the other way round in that he'd got bored by the second eye. It didn't take long for the community ophthalmology team to see him. You could always enquire directly about waiting times?

[Foresttwo]

Thanks for your replies. No haven’t had results, just that they’ll put them in a letter that could take up to 3 weeks to arrive! The nurse said the eyes were a lot different, that’s all. Maybe I’ll give the optician a call and see what they say.

[sashh]

I'd go to the optician, if she needs glasses she needs them ASAP.

I have astigmatism in one eye, I didn't have an eye test until I was 10 or 11. I should have been wearing glasses much sooner.

[Foresttwo]

That’s my feeling too, but as they said hospital rather than opticians I was afraid I may be bypassing something she needs at hospital. I’ll give the opticians a call and go from there.

[RueDeWakening]

Opticians will send you off to the hospital if they think it necessary, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. I'd take her to the opticians.

[Foresttwo]

Spoken to opticians, they were helpful. They said they’d only be able to do the same test as school and then they’d have to refer her to the hospital too. So it’s not worth going down that route as it’s likely they’d get a similar result. They said it may not be glasses that she needs, as it could be that exercises help but it is the hospital that could advise on that. Thanks for everyone’s advice. I’ll have to wait for the appointment and hope it’s not too long! I will be chasing them up every couple of weeks, as I want to get it sorted for my DD asap.

[stressedbeyond123]

This happened with DD, who was aged 5 at the time. i didn't wait for the hospital and took her to opticians to get her eyes tested again, and she did need glasses.

about 3 weeks later, i had a letter from hospital for eye test in 6 weeks time - called them, said she has had her eyes tested, sent them her prescription and they were ok with that. I was told whether it be at hospital or the opticians, they will only do the same eye test. they only refer you as the school nurses are not allowed to confirm the prescription - it has to be done by a qualified optician
x

[dementedpixie]

At the hospital they will be seen by an orthoptist. Dd was under hospital care until age 7/8ish and then was discharged to a local optician.

[dementedpixie]

What age is your dd? Eyes grow and develop until age 8ish so plenty of time to sort problems out. Dd had a squint and got glasses at 18 months due to being long sighted (still has them now age 14)

[Foresttwo]

She has just turned 5. Since Xmas I’ve noticed she blinks a bit more at night sometimes when tired, but no other indications. Wondered if it’s something that’s just happened or always been like it and just recently got a bit worse. It’s hard when you have to wait for answers

[Foresttwo]

When I spoke to opticians they said if they had the same result they’d have to refer her too, so she’d just get a double referral. There seemed to be something, although not sure what, that the hospital would need to look at rather than them. I guess the hospital are more expert in paediatrics. She said she may not need glasses and if they prescribed them it may be a waste of time. Bit confused really, I want to go down the hospital route but the wait is very annoying.

[dementedpixie]

probably been there for a while but kids eyes can compensate so you don't know anything is wrong which is why eye tests are important. Both mine have annual eye tests

[dementedpixie]

It could be that one eye has poorer vision than the other. Alongside glasses dd had patching treatment to make the poorer eye work properly. (Patch was put over good eye)

[Foresttwo]

Yes from what they said one is ok, one is poor. How did the patching work? Was it for a certain amount of time?

[dementedpixie]

Dd had to wear hers for a couple of hours a day for quite a few months. Not sure on the exact timings as it was about 10 years ago now.

[filga]

My DS 'failed' his eye test at the same age. One of his eyes was weaker that the other. He was seen by the ophthalmologist and the my optician. The ophthalmologist said he needed a patch as one eye was weaker, they then monitored this, as well as his general eye health. The optician was responsible for eye tests and getting him the right strength glasses. Once his weaker eye was stronger we stopped going to the ophthalmologist, he still goes to the optician every 6 months, and they would refer him back to the ophthalmologist if there was a deterioration in either eye.

[filga]

Just to add if you do need to patch you can buy fabric ones that go over the glasses - my DS refused the sticky ones. He had to wear it for an hour a day, we used to pop it on when we got back from School.

[DropZoneOne]

Wait for the hospital. They are experts and will be able to identify what the issue is - it may be the muscles in one eye rather than just sight correction.

It shouldn't take 6 months for a referral, and your DD is coping at the moment so no need to panic.

My DD had hospital appointments for her eyes until age 8, they were so good in doing tests that were age appropriate not just letters.

[Foresttwo]

Thanks for everyone’s replies, they are very helpful and reassuring. We will wait for hospital letter now and go from there. Hopefully it won’t be too long.

[underneaththeash]

I'm an optician (Optometrist).
Where I practice children are screened (increasingly by an optician) and then referred on to an optometrist if they fail. Its really important that any visual problem is picked up as quickly as possible as children's eyes need to see well to develop. What would usually happen is that I would see them quickly, prescribe glasses if needed and then refer on to the hospital for evaluation by an Ophthalmologist (eye doctor) and an Orthoptist (who is a specialist in children's binocular vision).

The quicker they do start wearing glasses to correct any problem, the quicker and easier the treatment could be.

We can do far more tests than are done in a usual nurse screening, if we couldn't there would be no need for us to do a 5 year degree/post-grad course. It may be that your usual optician is really good with adult conditions, but less good with children.

If you're worried that the test wasn't accurate, one thing you can do is check yourself. Pop the subtitles on the TV and sit your child on the sofa and check each eye. A LogMar test is just an acuity test, so assessing the size of letters they can see at a certain distance.

Anyway, just get a regular eye exam

[Foresttwo]

Thanks, hopefully I can get her glasses soon and begin treatment.

[cestlavielife]

You can certainly play a game with her of covering up one eye each and looking at a picture with some small detail. Can you see the little dog can you see it s collar etc ? If she doesn't see very well out of one eye you will know....they may suggest patching the good eye so the weaker one gets stronger. The brain compensates and just uses the good eye...so ypyouu can retrain it to use the weak eye eyes...but you need advice from hospital orthoptist on how long to do this for etc.
Hospital will use pictures if she not good with letters.they can also check depth perception etc. Allow yourself several hours for the first appt at hospital take snacks!