to think dds squint surgery has failed - help!? [Edited by MNHQ at OP's request]

[curiousgeorgie247]

Dd2 (10) had squint surgery this time last year. Everything went great and her eyes were super straight. They said they were a little bit over corrected and she didn't need glasses anymore. I first started noticing her slightly squinting on February and over the last couple of weeks it has got worse.
She had an inward her eye used to turn in too much. But now it is turning out really badly. She is looking at me with one eye and the other is looking at the wall next to her.
I'm so upset and feel so bad for her. She was discharged from the eye hospital in January.
We waited years for the operation.

What do we do now!?

You go back? Sorry she is still having problems.

I'm going to ring them on Monday but I don't hold out much hope as she's been discharged. I can't believe this has happened. They were so straight. I don't understand what's gone wrong

Unfortunately this can be quite common due to her age the muscles are still growing go to your gp and get referred back to hospital I had 3 lots of surgeries for it my dd had 2 ops and ds 1 so far. If it's in the intermediate range they may make you wait until she's older and then offer botox .
Basically don't panic its annoying but will get sorted

It's not gone wrong honestly when they shorten and reposition the muscles that control the eye they tie them rather than cutting them as you can never tell how much they will grow

I had an op on each eye as a baby, and had straight eyes for many years. One started turning in my teens and at 26 I had it corrected again. I’m 29 now and it’s held beautifully. I think there’s something in what the poster said early about her being young and things still moving. There’s a new, far less invasive, procedure with Botox now too. Maybe she will be offered that. Don’t give up, feel for you and glad you’re invested in getting this sorted.

I never really understood what any of it meant.
At her post op and all of her other appointments since they have been happy with her eyes. Even as recent as the beginning of this year. This has only happened in the last couple of months. And it's only got really bad in the last few days to a week. How is that even possible?

And her eye used to turn in. But now it is turning out.

She had surgery on both eyes at the same time. I'm pretty sure only one is not squinting but it's hard to tell as I don't know where the hell she is looking.

A growth spurt can do it. Also if she's tired it will appear worse get her eyes tested as she may now need glasses, if she does it will lessen the appearance of the squint

My sister never achieved binocular vision, which is apparently a risk for future deviation. She’s had surgery a few times for this reason

I would call the eye clinic Monday, explain what’s happened and they should be able to make an appointment for you. In my experience they’ll try fairly strong glasses to correct it first then look at other options.
My DD had her second surgery last June, all was fine until her eyes started turning in feb so we’ve got stronger glasses and reevaluate in June!
I hope it’s an easy fix for you and they see you quickly!

If its turning the other way it could have been over tightened of just be because they repositioned the muscles so when the muscles grew they didn't grow evenly

Very common. I had my second surgery 11 months after the first. Been fine since.

I don't think the opticians will give her new glasses yet as she only got some in Jan after her appt.
She was complaining about headaches so they gave her some glasses that just dealt with her astigmatism. I will see if I can get her in tomorrow and see what they say. I'm so gutted for her.

Yes this happened a few months ago as she was unwell/tired. But this time she says she feels fine. Plus it's been going on for longer.

That's good @pizza. I hope They offer her another ok as she hates glasses and finally thought she was free of them. Unfortunately if the hospital don't see her now and we have to go back to the gp. We're in for a long wait again.

Another op* not ok. Stupid phone..

Ive had three ops, one at 12, one at 13 and again at 24. Im now 31 and all has been ok since my last one.

I think I was incredibly niave to think it was all sorted 😔

Hi op I’m an orthoptist and happy to answer your questions. If her eye has suddenly started diverging this is not right and you need to be referred straight back to your local eye unit. Sometimes an eye can gradually start to drift out following surgery this is called consecutive exotropia. Hope you don’t have to wait too long to be seen

What could it mean @rodders? Is it an emergency? This has happened a few months ago. But not quite as severe. But it went away after a few days of rest.

I’ve had mine done 3 times as it’s always gradually worsened over time. I had the first at 3, the second around 10 and then again at 26!
Still does it occasionally if I’m tired or drunk too

DD had a squint that was corrected with glasses and eye drops. It was fine for a few months and then literally overnight her eye moved right over to the inside corner. They got her in for an appointment fairly quickly, within a fortnight, to check her over and then monitored her for a couple of months at which point they offered surgery. They did say that because of her age (7) she might need the surgery again when she's in her mid to late teens as it's not uncommon for it to need additional correction due to growth.

Hi op, it is not an emergency but ideally she should be seen within a few weeks. When they operate on squints they measure the squint to decide how much they need to adjust the muscles , there are formulas that the surgeons use to adjust muscles by so many millimetres per degree of squint, for some children this can however result in an over or under-correction. When the eye turns in the initial aim of surgery is to leave it turning in a fraction as naturally over time the position of the eyes tend to diverge. If you don’t have binocular vision because a squint has developed at a young age eye position is less stable so around 30% of people end up having more than one operation. More often it will take many years before the eye diverges .

@rodders thanks I will phone the hospital on Monday and try to get her seen. Her eyes turned in. They said at her post ok that there was a slight over correction so told her to stop wearing her +3.5/+4 glasses as They were making the over correction worse and the lenses had previously been used to pull the eye outward before the op.
Now one of her eyes is turning out and the other one slightly in.

@rodders I should also add. They corrected both side to side and up and down gaze. Her squint was quite severe. Up and down gaze seem normal.. for now.