Lazy eye, squints, glasses etc.....

[cheekyginger]

Im an orthoptist (binocular vision specialist) and a mummy.

I thought i would start this thread in case anyone was wanting any advice, re-assurance, opinions about any eye problems that you wee ones are having.

Thanks! I'll try the normal kiddy sunglasses for short spells then, see how she gets on, and start saving for the prescription ones for our summer holiday.

Glad to know the hat will suffice though!

Dunnein- am sure cheeky ginger will be on soon, but I wanted to say I had a similar feeling when first discovered that DS needed glasses-sort of denial almost!- he's had them a week now. He's 5 as well, and one eye was quite bad, 5.5/6 I think, so not as bad as your son but "a strong prescription" as the eye doc said. We had also not noticed anything with him and he is also super bright with reading and writing etc. He is adjusting to his glasses now pretty well. Tonight when he took them off to get in the bath he mentioned that he couldn't see a couple of times . I think if they are used to bad eye sight that's just how the world is to them, they haven't known any different!!

Anyway, I came back on here to say thanks any to Cheekyginger and to say that DS is happily wearing his glasses full time now. He was a little reluctant at first, partly because he didn't want people drawing attention to him etc, but he went to a holiday science camp today and wore them all day with no probs at all. Hooray!

Hi Dunnein,

Tggr pretty much hit the nail on the head. Kids get used to whatever they have so children dont know they cant see as well as other kids OR that their eyes are working extra hard to see what other kids see! The glasses check with the drops is really accurate therefore its unlikely to be wrong im afraid.

I wish professionals would think before they open their mouths to parents !!!!! We have enough to worry about and feel guilty about. Thats the whole point of vision screening.....to pick up the kids that parents dont notice any problems with! Unless your child has a visible squint or you have a degree in orthoptics please dont feel any guilt over it!

Hey Tggr, weel done your wee dude!!

This looks like a great thread- I am trying to find a way of passing on my daughter's frames, and hope Cheekyginger doesn't mind me coming on here as there seems to be a wide audience.... She is now 5 and has worn glasses since she was 2. Her prescription has moved every few months, and so I know how expensive it all is...I know there are ways to donate them overseas- but would rather give them to someone here as I think there are plenty of people that would still make good use of them. Currently I have a cute pair of Lindbergs in light pink suitable for a 2/3 year old (brilliant frames as they are so hard to break, and look feminine and understated)...and a few other pairs too. If anyone is interested pls email, as every time I see them sitting in a drawer I feel guilty they are not being made use of!

no probs NK....great idea !

But remember if you don't get any takers send them overseas to the poor wee kids that need glasses that dont have the luxury of the NHS !

Don't worry, will do.

Please may I ask a question on this wonderful thread?

My DS has just turned 3, and we have suspected for a while that there is a problem with his eyesight. He is incredibly shy and wary of strangers, and it has taken several months to get him seen at the paediatric eye department, but it has been confirmed that he is long sighted.
Severely long-sighted.

He has been given a 75% prescription initially- 6.5 and 7.5... full prescription would be 8 and 9 we were told.

He has to wear his specs the whole time from now on.

May I ask what his prospects are?

Will he need specs his whole life? We were told that if he wears them all the time, then by the time his eyes finish growing around 7yo they should have developed as well as can be hoped, and his vision would be 20/20 (well, 6/6) - did the consultant mean with spectacles on?
We were a little overwhelmed to take much in, and DS had had a very long day, and was starting to fidget.

How much do you think he can see now/has been able to see up til now with no correction? Feeling very sad about this atm, particularly as it seems my other child also needs specs now too...

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer

Hi there cheekyginger. I'm back again!

Just wondered what your views are on the research published last week by Glasgow Caledonian about the video game technique? Obviously I'm very interested having had a poor response from DD with patching and them suggesting that they could get results with older children.

DS is now getting on fine with his glasses (apart from the fact we are now on the 3rd pair - first ones leg broke off when he fell after having them for 8 days, second pair were mangled beyond repair at nursery although we have no idea what actually happened). Don't want to hijack but does anyone have any tips to stop a very rough and tumble 3 year old from destroying glasses? It's not the cost as obviously they get repaired/replaced for free, it's the constant trips to the optician - as DD wears glasses too one week we were there 3 times to get frames adjusted!!

Hope your LO has good settling in visits at nursery.

CanCant - sorry meant to reply to you too (just until cheeky can come along with her advice).

This sounds very like our experience with DS (also 3) who was diagnosed about 2 months ago with +7 and +7.5 lenses and a slight lazy eye. We were shocked (even though we've been through it with DD) as I couldn't understand how he could have seen anything! Apparently it's to do with how long-sightedness works - because images can't physically converge behind the lens, the eyes just have to work extra hard to get them to focus on the lens (unlike in short-sightedness where they can converge in front of the lens). So they can see, just have to work damn hard to do so.

Unfortunately we've been told he'll need glasses for life (although he might only have to wear them for reading etc when older), as this level of long-sightedness might reduce, but won't go away altogether as his eyes grow. So it's likely your DS will gain 20/20 with the glasses on, but again he might not need to wear them all of the time.

Don't worry about both your DCs having glasses, all four of us wear them so apart from the frequent visits to the optician/orthoptist etc, it's just a family thing!

Thank you for your lovely post birdy (lovely name btw!)

I was rather stressed the other day, it was very kind of you.
My DD (6.2) was also diagnosed long-sighted over Easter, and is 4.5 and 2.75, so they will both be getting their spectacles on the same day, later this week... they are both quite excited about it tbh.

Reading your story about mangled specs makes me thankful we have an opticians at the end of our road

I think I'm most upset that a) my perfect children aren't quite perfect (irrational and ridiculous I know) and b) how on earth could we not have picked up this before now?

I am a little sad that DD only has a year before her eyes are fully grown and so not long to try and help them IYSWIM. DS will never remember not wearing specs, I'm sure, and he has ages whilst his eyes are developing to have treatment with specs, but she doesn't.

I am very thankful that it is something that can be helped by corrective lenses though obviously I appreciate there are many many worse conditions my children could be suffering with.

Glad to have been able to give a little help.

I think the way you are feeling is totally normal - I felt so guilty and upset when DD was picked up at her P1 screening (she was 5.8) with virtually no vision in her weaker eye - there had been absolutely no sign at all of any problems. It is amazing how children cope.

I also didn't want her to have to wear glasses as I have such negative memories from childhood of being 'the specky one'. Things have so changed since then - a girl in DDs class at school was so desperate for glasses like DD that she even convinced the teacher that she was going to be getting them! To be honest I now think they both look a little strange without their glasses (as do I).

Saying all that I do think boys, particularly 3 yo ones, are just so rough and tumble that you have to be prepared to spend a lot of time at the end of the road ........

Anyway, hope all goes well at the opticians - I'm sure your DCs will look great and cope fine.

Hi Cheeky,
Can I ask a cheeky question about my own eyes? I had temporary loss of vision in one of my eyes in February (10 minutes, 2 episodes). Previously I have lost part of my vision in one eye for a few minutes, but have not taken a great deal of notice because I get migraine with aura.

I am at high risk for stroke (mech heart valve, flutter), so was assessed by a neurologist, who felt that it was not a TIA, because I have had periods of vision loss going back 20 years. She has referred me to an neuro-opthamologist. What kind of tests can I expect to be done? Will I get my pupils dilated or have an eye angiogram. .

Hi Canccant,
Think Birdy has given you lots of useful information especially from a mums point of view!

The only thing i can add is that your LO should be able to achieve 6/6 vision with the glasses. And these things often go unnoticed by the parents and thats why vision screening is soooo important.

You obviously are sensible about the whole thing but your child getting glasses for the first thing is a big shock... But at least both of your LO's are getting them at the same time...so noone is being left out!!

Hi Madsometimes,
It sounds a bit like Amaurosis fugax. Not sure about other depts but as far as I am aware our dr's would just have a thorough look at the retina. Therefore you may need your pupils dilated. However, they would only need to do the angiogram if there was an actual blockage there and then. Good luck at your appointment

Thanks for your reply Cheeky. My eyes have been behaving themselves since February, so hopefully nothing will be found. I had a check at my local optician because I thought three months was quite a while to wait and I didn't want eye doctor to lecture me for not having regular sight checks. All was fine there .

Hi Cheeky. Thank you so much for this thread. I have read it through but have my own question to add. We have intermittently noticed that DD, who will be 4 at the end of this month, appears to have a squint. It is only when she looks up and to the left and then her eyes don't seem to move to the same degree. Her left eye turns out more, or her right eye less I guess. Tbh, we have been aware of this for a while but I hadn't got it checked out. Our new nanny noticing it within the first few weeks made me realise it is becoming more prevalent. For background, she didn't seem to have this as a baby but at about 18 months old she had febrile convulsions and when she stopped fitting she had a constant pronounced squint for a few hours. When she woke a few hours later in the hospital it had gone. Could she have damaged her eyes through the convulsion?

We took her to the gp this week and have a referral to a paediatric ophthalmologist. I had assumed the squint was a cosmetic thing only but is it likely her vision is also affected? What should I expect from the appointment?

Thanks in advance.

Hi thomsonf,

Its tricky to diagnose from what you have written. But some children/adults have eye conditions that only affect their eyes in certain positions of gaze. Their is a condition known as Browns Syndrome (link to google images) that is a non-progressive condition that can cause a problem with upward gaze???

If its only present when she is looking up then it unlikely to affect her vision. However the eye Dr will likely carry out a glasses check as part of their routine assessment.

If you were getting referred to our eye clinic she would be seen by the orthoptist first to have a vision check and a thorough check of the eye movements and 3D vision. She would then get drops in her eyes to dilate her pupils so that the Dr can get a good look into the eye to check the health and carry out a glasses check.

Good luck at your appointment

Hi Cheekyginger,
My 11 yr old dd had an eye test today and was told she is long sighted but won't be needing glasses. The optician said glasses will not make a difference to her and most children grow out of it and it's only a problem if there is a squint. Is the optician correct and does my dd need glasses? Thanks.

Hi cheekyginger, just want to add that my dd's 0.75 in both eyes. Is this only slightly long sighted? Does she need glasses?

Hi candyfloss,

This is a really minimal prescription, therefore the optician is quite right not to prescribe it.

If your daughter was to start having headaches or sore eyes when reading then she may need to be checked again to ensure the prescription is not increasing. But this is unlikely.

Thanks for your reply, Cheekyginger.

Another quick question. I know most young children do grow out of being long sighted as they get older, but my dd is already 11 yr old, will she improve as she gets older?

Thanks for your help.

Not sure if this is the right thread but - hello :)

My DD (2.4) has had an ongoing 'issue' with her eyesight in that she often keeps one eye closed entirely. It almost always seems to be her left eye, it happens more in bright light, and otherwise her eyesight doesn't seem to be presenting her with any problems (eg. with her confidence to climb, move about, judge obstacles). We were living in Switzerland and last summer I took her to an opthalma-something () who had a look at her and declared that the eyes appeared to be aligned and that the next step would be to put dye in to check eyesight, but that even if they thought she might need glasses they weren't really recommended for that age because they could cause headaches. Embarrassed to admit but then summer ended and we never went back, and moved back to the UK a few months ago. Summer on its way again and lo and behold, the problem is still there.

Does anyone have experience of similar symptoms and have any idea what it could be? It's next on my list of issues to sort out with her (current one being terrible chronic constipation, sigh) and I'm already feeling guilty at having left it last summer.

Thanks in advance.

Hi candyfloss,

As its such a small prescription the answer is yes for your DD. Anything higher than a +1.50 is likely to be a bit more permanent longterm.

Hi londonlottie,

Sounds really bizarre. My recommendation would be to get her checked at a local Optometrist (optician) practice. Might just be that she is light sensitive and a pair of sunglasses will help sort her out.
Sometimes the closing of an eye can indicate an intermittent divergent squint (the eye turns outwards at times).
But an optometrist would be able to do a basic eye exam etc and see if she needs referred on to an eye specialist.

Maybe some other mums will give you a different answer from their experience.

Thanks for your reply, Cheeky. That's very reassuring to hear.

No probs