DD 2 years 4 months just been prescribed glasses that she has to wear all the time. Should we get a second opinion?

[magnummum]

Long post sorry!
Basically on holiday a couple of months ago DH and MIL both mentioned they had noticed a slight squint in one eye, only when she is really tired. Got a referal to see an opthamologist and saw him yesterday. Was all set for him to possibly say she may need to wear a patch for a couple of hours a day, instead he said she is very long sighted and needs to start wearing glasses all the time, immediately. Selected some glasses today and they will be ready next week.

I'm just a bit confused as her dexterity and coordination is great, she has no problem pointing out the smallest details in books and when dropping the ubiquitous raisins finds them in 1 second flat. Unfortunately I had to leave appointment in the middle as had an antenatal appointment myself and think poor DH was in shock and unable to take much in. We've got a follow up in 6 weeks and I was going to go with it all and get our heads round it and ask questions then.(the Dr is senior and well respected). Now wondering if we should consider getting a referral for a second opinion and am unusally dithery which I'm putting down to pregnancy brain (x2 as expecting twins). Anyone been in a similar situation?

nope its the norm now to make the kids wear the glasses all the time from the start then they review at the further appointments, myy dd has to wear hers all the just now but we have been told that eventually she will only need them for close up work.

Ds wears them too and because he was youger than dd when he got them and he wore them all the time he avoided getting a patch, the younger they get glasses the quicker the eyes respond, he will have to wear them all the time for ever thou as he has a different eye problem from dd.

My DS has this in one eye, we are going for an appointment at the hospital on Tuesdy next week. He has to wear them all the time now and then will hopefully not need to when he's older.

DS is 4 BTW. No squint, just long sighted in one eye and the same as yours with reading etc.

did they do checks with lenses etc etc?

dd3 is v v long sighted. but i had no idea till i offered her up for a new-fangled eye tests at local hospital with a special camera at a year old. is now almost 4 and loves her glasses.

My ds (2.5) was prescribed glasses for short sightedness and astigmatism. They can tell.

He needs them all the time (although he hates them and it's a battle to keep them on).

Like you I thought he could see very well and we were thinking about a second opinion, but the docs can tell and I think if they need them, they need them.

Anyone out there with any tips on getting ds to wear the blasted things?

DD (now 8) has been wearing glasses since that sort of age. A squint doesn't automatically mean lazy eye (the thing patching is used for), like you I'd expected the patch but was shocked by the glasses. Although DD seemed to have great sight as time has gone on and she's started school it's beome obvious she hasn't. The turn in her eye was intermittent at first but became more obvious, the glasses get rid of it completely, which is fab.

It did stir up some weird feelings at first (and still does at times) but DD herself can now articulate exactly why she loves her glasses.

No tips on how to keep them on I'm afraid, DD always wore hers without a murmur.

My Dt2 was also diagnosed with being longsighted at the same age. He also had a slight squint which was only obvious at times. He was told it was likely that he would always need glasses as he was very longsighted. The reason for his squint is that one eye is more longsighted than the other. I believe if the same amount of longsightedness is in both eyes then there is less likely to be a squint unless there is a different reason for a squint such as a lazy eye. He could also pick out fine details on pages of books. Coordination not great but thats a different issue for us. I was told that toddlers have a great capacity to compensate for their longsightedness and thats why sometimes its not until school going age that its not picked up as they have to concentrate for a long time. I have to say though i found it strange that he was so longsighted especially as I in my old age cant see small print easily anymore and my prescription for reading glasses is only a fraction of what dt2's is. Dt2 is 7 now and cant bear being without his glasses. We have lovely harry potter style ones and he looks really cute. At the beginning we had lots of broken ones as he sat or walked on them but he is fine now

I wore mine (tiny round wire ones) from 18 months with a ribbon around my head to keep them on. If I say so myself, I looked very cute .

It sounds like you don't want to believe they are necessary?
If he is a specialist then I would go with the advice given. My brothers eyes were terrible and not picked up until he went to school and they thought he was stupid- he isn't stupid, just very short sighted. He is now 31 and I have never seen him without glasses since age 4yrs. My point being that she is better to get used to wearing them now so she will have more chance of the eye correcting or improving. When people can't see and don't wear glasses it puts more strain on the eyes and makes it worse.

I would guess the squint is because one eye is much worse than the other. That would also explain why her eyesight seems OK - if one eye is better than the other then you constantly use the good eye. It's a huge strain though and leads to headaches as well as often speeding up the decline in the eye that you stop using. I had this (but for short sightedness) and because one eye was actually completely normal for ages (which is quite unusual) it wasn't picked up for a very long time. (They're both terrible now, but it's possible that could have been avoided if it had been caught very early rather than at 9 or 10.)

I'd trust the advice you've been given and try to spin it to your dd as a positive, exciting, 'grown up' thing, otherwise she may pick up on your concern.

btw there are some lovely kids frames available. theres a few of dd3 in her specs on my profile.

Thanks for all the positive replies. And no it isn't that I don't want to believe it and obviously want to get her appropriate help. It's just that eyes aren't my speciality and I just wondered what current general practice was. I would always respect a specialist's opinion but wanted to see what other people's experiences are. Thanks everyone.

Being longsighted will mean a childs eyes are prone to have a convergent (eye turns in) squint develop if tired.

The specs normally will keep the eyes straight if it is the type of squint which is called an accommodative squint which is most common if the child is very longsighted.

She will see without spectacles as you say because she is young and therefore she has lots of accommodation (this is the ability of the muscle that holds the lens of the eye to change it's shape when focusing) but this is a real strain on the eyes if you are very longsighted as she is and she will be getting eyestrain/tired eyes and the eyes simply can't cope after a while hence why she 'breaks down' into a squint in one eye.

If she doesn't wear the specs there is a risk the squint could become more apparent even when she isn't tired and the eye lazy/weak permanently as the eye that turns won't be used with both eyes open.

If the specs alone control the squint she won't need patching.Patching is only if one of the eyes is becoming lazy which is usually because of a squint which is apparent or a big difference in the prescription of the two eyes .Having a big difference in prescription between the two eyes (anisometropia) could also cause one eye to become lazy but full time spectacle wear normally helps this along with partial patching sometimes.

The period for wearing specs all the time generally lasts up to about age 6ish which is called the plastic period in that this is the time thought to be when the vision is amenable to change and beyond this mostly if a eye is lazy it can't be fixed.

If you are very longsighted normally you will still need full time spectacle wear up to this period and beyond this accordingly sometimes reducing to partial wear as longsightness does improve as children get older as the eye grows along with them.

It sounds to me (I'm an optometrist) quite the right thing if she is very longsighted that she needs full time spectacle wear and this is really very critical if she is showing a squint when tired.Definately if this is the eye specialist's advice I would follow it.

I presume they tested her eyes using drops (cycloplegic) which will give her full prescription and they will check this again in 6 weeks.She would normally be assessed by the orthoptist (specialises in how the eye muscles work together) as well as the top bod the ophthalmologist (the eye medical specialist) and they will moniter carefully for any change in vision in the eye prone to developing a squint.If there is any sign of this they may then commence patching.

I wouldn't bother with a second opinion as this all sounds reasonable.

Well done to your Dh on picking up the squint.

One little boy in my nephew's Year 1 class went off to the optician when the teacher told Mum & Dad she'd noticed him struggling to see the board, and it turned out he was very short sighted in one eye and very long sighted in the other, so he'd been able to compensate and use one or the opther up till Year 1 when it starts to be more about board work than in Reception. His mum & dad felt so bad they hadn't realised.

In the preschool I work in, we get non glasses wearing children trying to wear the potato head's glasses so they can be like their friends!

I've noticed that some children have the elastic round the glasses to help keep them on, and they do look so cute!

Thanks again - bookheadcase especially. Yes she was seen by the orthoptist and opthamolgoist so sounds like we're on the right track. Scooby Doo glasses on Wednesday here we come!