Surgery to correct a squint - 2/3 years old

[Mouette]

Hello, my son is 2 and has poor eyesight and a pronounced squint. He wears glasses. We saw the optometrist today and she doesn't think the squint will get better on its own or with patches; so the only option to correct it is surgery. If you have a child who had surgery to correct a squint, I would love to hear from you - how did it go, any complications, how did you and the little one cope especially after surgery? I don't relish the thought of putting my son through it but it seems wrong to leave him with a physical defect that may affect his confidence, relations with the opposite sex later, etc and may also affect his eyesight, when a relatively minor op can fix it. Thanks in advance!

Watching this as DS 3 is going for surgery in the next 3 months

I am 36 and I had 2 ops for squint correction (mine was more complicated than normal) My first op was when i was 3 and the second when I was 8.
I struggled alot with double vision, which meant that I struggled with school work. It improved greatly after the second op. I had 4 years of perfect eye sight, but my eyesight did deteriorate, however I think it would have done anyway, I am long sighted now.
The thing that has greatly improved, is that I don't look 'funny' anymore- if I am very tired, or ill, then my eye still slips, but I don't normally squint and for a long time I could get away with not wearing my glasses for social stuff. That really helped with my confidence, especially as a teen.
All in all, if it was my child I would get the op done. HTH

That sounds good FairyLightsForever. This comforts me that having the op done is the right decision. CJMommy please let me know how the op goes! How old is your DS?

He's 3. I had squint surgery myself only a few years ago- it bothered me all my life as I hated the fact that people had to look twice to see if I was looking at them! Not sure why I didn't have it as a child but as it got worse over the years it knocked my self confidence.
I want my boy to have it done before he goes to school and before it starts to affect him.

Will let you know how we get on

Aw thank you CJMommy. I'm glad the surgery worked ok for you. Yes I don't want my boy to be disadvantaged or lose his confidence because he looks different. We're seeing the ophthalmologist tomorrow, so she'll be able to give us more details. x

dd1 had squint surgery in both eyes when she was 3. she is very long sighted and has astigmatism. Her squint was very severe without glasses, both eyes disappeared behind her nose and still very visable with glasses. She wore glasses for nearly a year before the op.

It was a day surgery, in by 8am and out by 1pm, by 3pm she was doing roly polys off the sofa!!!

It was a bit scary as she went off to sleep , the bed looked enormous but I stayed calm so she was fine. The worst bit was as she came round as she got very tearful but thanks to mumsnet I knew that she might get like that so I just lay with her and she calmed down.

She now thinks hospitals are wonderful and asks when she can have another op as she loved the hot buttered toast she got afterwards. (the staff also brought me tea and toast while I waited).

She is 8 now and last month was discharged from the hospital and told she doesn't even need to wear glasses at the moment if she doesn't want to, although she may find it easier to read with them on.

Thank you so much Elk for this positive message, it's great to hear from you. I feel much more reassured now about the whole thing. Apparently we can wait until DS is at least 3 before doing the op, we'll probably do it in the autumn next year.x

I had this op at 3. So glad I did as I would have felt very self-conscious with a a squint as a teenager. All I remember is being fussed over and getting extra treats - I say go for it.

My DD 7 has just been referred to hospital for this reason. She has good eyesight but the squint is in both eyes, does anyone have any experience of this?