Any eye doctors/ opticians about?

[Mmmgoats]

Is a routine referral anything to worry about? Non urgent, up to 18 week wait apparently but could be sooner if there is a spot available.
Apparently to see a specialist in binocular vision

Just wondered if it’s more of a second pair of eyes pardon the pun or if it’s because something serious has been flagged.
Optician didn’t really explain

Bump for you

Is it for you or a child?

If it's for a child the same thing happened with my ds aged about 3.5. The optician said he had a squint, so not seeing in true binocular, and we were referred on to hospital specialist, where they did patching and things to help improve.

Routine is unlikely to be anything too serious (urgent/ sent to hospital are for that), it may be the optometrist you saw wants someone with more in depth knowledge to see you as it's beyond their normal scope of practice.

actually it was a micro squint so not obvious to look at IYSWIM

Ring them up and ask them - it'll put your mind at rest.

If an earlier appointment comes up, grab it (even if inconvenient/have to take out of school).

Vision is complex, and depends on a surprising number of visual processing abilities which develop in early childhood. An uncorrected physical problem (like squint or different refractive error between the eyes, preventing them from working together) can affect that development, causing difficulties even after the original physical problem is corrected.

Early detection and treatment is really important.

Sorry should have said, it’s for me
I phoned up and they said it had been put through as a routine referral so non urgent

And should have also said thanks to everyone who replied
Apparently if there’s space at a clinic for routine referrals then I might get in sooner so it does sound like they don’t suspect anything too serious as it doesn’t seem like I need to be seen at hospital particularly either

@underneaththeash was very helpful on my eye thread recently
Although it seems like there have been some very helpful answers already

I'm sorry, but I'm probably not much use on this one. Most binocular vision referrals are on a routine basis and there are quite a few things that can go wrong with binocular vision and they need an orthoptist to sort out (orthoptists are binocular vision specialists).

However, I'm sure that if you're concerned, your optometrist would be more than happy to speak to you, i'd call and ask them to call back during a quiet period.

It is quite possible too that they're unsure what the problem is. I referred a little girl a few months ago as I couldn't figure out what was going on (the hospital unfortunately couldn't either....) Depending on the problem, they may ask you to return and see other eye practitioners.

Thank you @underneaththeash
I called up and although I didn’t speak to the optician was told nothing serious or fast track had been flagged and it was a routine referral to see someone with more expertise

Since then I’ve had a call as I’ve been referred out to a clinic as apparently my referral doesn’t need to be at the hospital and they had space come up in a clinic in my local area so I’ve taken that appointment.

I’m a little reassured, especially since you have mentioned that there can be lots of reasons for focus/binocular vision issues and am just keeping my fingers crossed that it’s something non serious that they are familiar with that can be fixed and nothing scary.