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.

Just wanted to add a message to let you all know i am going back to work on friday . After a lovely year of maternity leave.

I intend to keep this thread running but my responses might not be that quick. Please feel free to post any questions about squints, lazy eyes and glasses for children OR adults.

Thanks for keeping it going

Hello Cheekyginger

It looks like you have been working through most of your maternity leave on here. It is very kind of you! You are obviously very passionate about your job so good for you!

My DD who 5 ½ has just been referred to an eye hospital as her right eye drifts slightly when looking at objects very close. I feel terrible for not noticing myself but my question would be is it too late at 5 to treat this and if not what will the likely treatment be. There is an 18 wk waiting list for an appointment and I just feel so useless ? I have read about covering the strong eye to help the weaker one but the last thing I want to do is more harm than good.

Thank you

Good luck with going back to work and thanks for giving up some of your precious mat leave time to give such fab advice.

We are taking dd to Glasgow next week to see if she is suitable for the video game research - worth a try to see if we can improve her BV.

Hello again I probably should have mentioned that her vision in fine and well within the normal range apparently. The drift happens when looking at something closer than normal reading distance.

Thanks

Hello again, My DD (just turned 2) has been getting on great with her glasses for the last 6 months, she also wears a patch for an hour a day. All has been good until the last few weeks when she has started to squint with the glasses on, this has never happened before. Does this mean it is getting worse rather than better . We are back to the hospital at the beginning of June but just wondered your opinion.

Hi Hollie25, wouldnt advise patching if her vision is normal. Patching is only used when the vision is lazy in one eye. 14 weeks is quite a long waiting time. You could take her to a local optician to have a glasses check. It may be that she is longsighted and getting her into glasses sooner rather than later is a good thing.
I find it odd that you've not noticed it (as parents are often the first to notice squints).....who was it that spotted it? Squints tend to get worse over time and generally present around the age of 2-3. Could it just be the shape of her eyes/eyelids that are making it appear that one eye is turning in?
As for treatment. It depends on what type of squint it is. But if she is longsighted then glasses would be the first step.

Hope that helps...

Hi PuffofSmoke,

Dont panic! It might just mean that the strength of her glasses need adjusted. The best thing to do would be to phone your orthoptic dept/eye clinic and explain to them what you are seeing. They will likely bring your appointment forward so that they can re-check the strength of the glasses. But if they cant bring the appointment forward thats ok too. Nothing drastic will happen in 4-5 weeks.

Hi Birdy,

Hope it goes well in glasgow. I was at a meeting that Anita (sure she wont mind me using her name as she was on TV the other week!!) was presenting at just the other month. Her research is really interesting.

Keep me posted if you can!

Hi mums

Cheeky ginger, thank you so much for taking the time to answer everyone's queries.

Last week I took my daughter to the optician following a concern that she saw a flash a couple times. We found out that she is long sighted, has astigmatism and lazy eye. It was so shocking to hear and something we had to accept. Myself and my husband are shortsighted, not long sighted. Could long sighted ness come out of the blue for young children even though the parents don't have the condition? Or could it indicate other health problems?

My daughter's prescription is as below:

Right dust. 6/15. +2.50/-2.50 x 10 6/15
Left dist 6/15. +2.50/-2.50 x 180 6/12

Does anyone understand these readings? How bad is her eyesight? Is it likely to improve? What I don't understand is that prescription wise, her readings are quite similar, so how come she has a lazy eye? The optician put R>L amblyopia.

P.s my daughter is 4 years and 5 months. Any advice would be much appreciated, I feel so tearful!

Thank you

Hello, I hope I'm ok posting on here. My ds is nearly 18 months and I'm sure one of his eyes wonders (towards the nose/middle of his face) when he is looking at me. It's nothing dramatic just something he's done since birth really. I have photos of him looking slighty bozzeyed in his left eye but I always put it down to his age. Is there anything I should / can do? Is he too small for eye tests? His dad wears glasses full time (if that makes a difference). Thank you

Hello again cheekyginger

I'm confused now as she doesn't have a squint just the eye drift thing looking at objects very close? Is this the same?

The eye test at school said her vision was normal.

Thank you

Hi there, my 4 year old daughter had her pre school check last week and it said she had reduced vision and a squint in her right eye. I took her to the optician today and have been told she has a squint and needs to wear glasses with a prescription of +2.5 in her right eye an +1.5 in her left. I am really upset that I never noticed this (she is very bright and reads really small letters with ease so never any cause for concern?) Can you please tell me what treatment should I expect going forward and will she need the glasses for ever. I still can't see any obvious issues although I think I am probably in denial! Thank you x

Hi Cheekyginger, how did the first day back from mat leave go?

Just wondered what your thoughts are on prescription sunglasses for a 3yo?

Hi Thara,

Going from the prescription you have written down your DD has astigmatism. That prescription can be what we call transposed to read 0.00/+2.50 x 100. The numbers after the / are the amount of astigmatism.
Lots of children need glasses even though their parent dont it's just one of those things im afraid.
Your DD's vision is only mildly reduced and there is only a small difference between the two eyes. If she is wearing her glasses full time this vision should improve in both eyes and even out. One line difference is very mild amblyopia and it would only really be classed as amblyopia if the difference is still there once she has been wearing her glasses for 3 months.
Try not to be too tearful it's really good that this had been picked up now. Once she gets used to her glasses she will not know any difference!!!

Hi hollie25
Try not to worry. If her eye check came back as normal then it might just be something quirky . Shape of her eyes etc.
As i mentioned before you could take her to an optician. Purely for your own peace of mind. Eye tests are free for kids.

Hi pinkyp

Babies eyes should be fairly co-ordinated by the time they are 6 months, anything persisting after this should really be referred to the eye clinic.

I would recommend that you see your HV or GP and they should make the appropriate referral. make sure you tell them that his dad has had glasses since he was a child.

Hope this helps

(also on maternity leave!)

Hi Hev0811

I hear this daily from parents, you are not alone!

Children get used to what they've got....they dont know any different. When children are longsighted they can over focus their eye and see reasonably well, unfortunately that means they are constantly over focussing and sometimes this can cause the eye to develop a convergent squint.

Treatment involves wearing the glasses full time. If the vision is poorer in one eye once the glasses have been worn for at least 8 weeks, patching may be required. As to how much patching that depends on the level of vision. The poorer the vision the more patching will be required (max amount given is 6 hours a day).

If your LO has a squint then the glasses may make this smaller OR completely correct it OR make no difference at all. You wont know this until she is wearing her glasses full time. If you want you could write down her diagnosis at her next appointment and ask me again!

Hi Wanksock,

Had a great day back. Helps that my DS is loving nursery. Really nice to be using my work brain again.

As for prescription sunglasses. If your LO is quite sensitive in the sun then they are definitely worth the money. My DS who is only one could barely open his eyes for the first few days of our holiday last week!!! We bought him a wee cheapy pair of sunglasses which he actually kept on for a surprising amount of time! So if your LO wears glasses anyway then he/she will likely take to them really well.

My hubby is fairly useful at times. Just picked his brain (he's an optician!). You can buy cheap sunglasses and get your optician to put lenses in them. Just need to avoid them being too wrap-around, if that makes sense!!

Hi all does anyone know how long is recommended to have off school after squint surgery?

Hello,

I have just seen your post/thread and would like to ask:

My son is 5 and has an alternating convergent squint. He was patching for a while because the left eye was weaker. Then they said the difference was not too bad so stopped patching.

He has worn glasses since the age of 2 1/2 and they are +2.5.

We had his eyes tested 2 days ago and the left eye is definitely weaker than the right. So I don't understand why the prescription is the same in both eyes.

I also don't understand why we have not been asked to patch again. They said it can be weak on and off and so want to check again in 2/3 months. But I could see the difference ( he could see 2 lines smaller with right eye) and am sure that his left eye turns in more anyway.

What would you do?

Thank you.

Hi Cheekyginger,

I hope you get to read this message, you have replied to me before with concerns about my daughter (5) who has a lazy eye. Thankfully the patching is working really well and is improving so much.

But I mentioned at my last orthoptist appointment that I have noticed her getting words mixed up when she reads her school books with me. ie she will say got instead of get, and when I ask her to check the word she takes a while to think about what it should be and then will get it right.
So had appointment today and she did a test with her, and agreed that she does struggle slightly with it, and has given me some sheets to do with her. (Visual motor & perceptual skills therapy booklet)

But I don't fully understand what all this means!

Is it all to do with her lazy eye or something completely different?

Is she likely to need extra help at school (she said that she doesn't at the moment) but does that mean she will as she gets older?

Is it something that she will always struggle with or will these sheets I have help her, and put a stop to it all?

Many thanks in advance if you can help.

Hi CheekyGinger

Hope work is going well! I posted on here a few months back and you were really kind and helpful so wanted to update.

DD had her appt (finally!) with the Orthoptics dept and Opthalmologist at the hospital and the outcome is the squint is because of her eyesight and is being corrected by glasses. She is longsighted and apparently her prescription is quite bad.

Her prescription is

R Sph +3.0 Cyl +3.0 Axis 110
L Sph +3.0 Cyl +1.5 Axis 80

She is over the moon that she gets to have princess glasses - mind you may be a different story when she realises that she will have to wear them all the time lol

They are apparently having to send the lenses away to be filed down as they would otherwise be too thick and heavy for her frames and little nose!

Feel awful that I haven't noticed before how bad her eyes are - {bad mum emoticon}!!

Thanks for all your support and help!

Hi largeglassofred,

Its recommended they avoid gym/PE and swimming pools for at least 2weeks, as for school 2-3 days should be fine.

Hi skewiff,

If his glasses are +2.50 in each eye then the vision is lazy due to squint not due to the glasses. As you said you feel that this eye is the eye that tends to squint most. If the eye is squinting then its not getting used therefore amblyopia develops (amblyopia is the correct term for when the vision is lazy).

When the patching is stopped the vision can drop back a little this is quite normal. But the potential will still be there. Your eye clinic will decide if it drops too much and re-start patching. Hope that makes sense