Just found out my son is nearly blind in one eye. What now?!

[thepobblewhohasnotoes]

DS (nearly 5) came home from school today with a letter saying he needed an eye referral. So I asked him about his eyes.

He told me that one of his eyes makes me look like an alien. He said it doesn't work because it doesn't let enough light in (perceptive I thought!). I held up two fingers and asked how many and he couldn't do it. He said he couldn't see the fingers.

He can see something with it, he said it made my eyes look all black, like I'm an alien, but I look like a human with the other eye.

I asked him if it's always been like this and he said no, he used to be able to see more with it.

Of course we'll get him an appointment asap, but can anyone give any advice in the meantime?

I feel shocked we've never noticed. Did we not do a good enough job of keeping his eyes out of the sun - could this be sun damage? (Probably just blaming myself, but I can't help it.)

What might cause it? Could his other eye be at risk? Should I know / do anything?

If there is any chance of it being a detatched retina he needs seeing asap, as prompt surgery can save sight. (my friend had this). I imagine it is too late now for A+E but I would get him to an eye hospital in the morning rather than a GP.

Well since age 2 my left eye has been lazy with minus 19 vision. Went through all the patching etc but my brain has more or less switched ofc with that eye...so all my life ive used one eye to see. Was told any bumps to head could result in detachment. I've had detached retina twice so far in my left eye. The vision goes black and is completely blurred and distorted. You can see shapes and distinguish colours. I've had surgery to repair and they also lasered away the vitreous jelly in my eye a few weeks ago to help reduce the chance of a third detachment. The jelly being there means my eye is more likely to stretch and its really at its max right now. .so more stretching means tears can occur etc.

Sounds like it may have been there for a while with him but I would definitely get him seen by a specialist or trek to Moorfields if you can. They really are brilliant. If its a detachment they often do the surgery the same day.

I hope you find out what it is!

If I was in London I'd go to Moorfields. We're not though, we're 70 miles away.

Maybe we should drive up there tomorrow?

I have no idea if it could be a detatched retina or not. His doctor's appointment is 8:30.

Can you just turn up at Moorfields? I think they have an eye A&E, is that right?

Get him to see the GP first. To be honest, another few hours isn't going to do anything if it has been this gradual.

I hope that the GP is able to help. There are other eye hospitals - DS1 is at the Oxford Eye Hospital which is great and a lot of the research is to do with the University.

Thinking of you.

AFAIK (it hasn't happened to me, so I'm talking theoretically, not from experience, but I am high risk for it, so know what to look out for) a detached retina will come on suddenly, or at least over a short period of time (hours rather than years). It typically presents as a dark or fuzzy area moving across the eye, like drawing a curtain. Floaters can be a warning sign for a detaching retina, but they can also occur naturally and be 'unthreatening' as it were. What your DS describes doesn't sound like a detaching retina to me, but obviously I'm ony going on what I personally have been put on my guard for, and on what you've described on this thread.

What your DS describes is pretty much how I see (or, rather, don't!) without my specs. I'm very short sighted and have bad astigmatism. Without my specs I can see moving colours - not obvious outlines at all, just the normal colours but blurring into one another round the edges. The 'alien eyes' thing is precisely how people's faces look to me... beigey blobs with larger dark blobs in the middle. To read a printed letter an inch or so high with my worse eye, I'd have to have my nose virtually touching the paper. (I have just conducted this experiment for you...) But with glasses I can see fine.

Obviously if your DS has gone from having perfect vision to this in a short space of time, then it's worrying and you definitely do right to get it checked out, but it may also be that he just needs specs. (My parents didn't discover how poor my vision was till I went to school - back then, that was at the age of 5 - and were gutted at not having noticed, but I had never known anything different and had just adjusted, I suppose.)

Please don't think I'm undermining your concerns - nothing could be further from my mind. But while you're waiting to get it checked out, remember that there could be less worrying possibilities too. Good luck, and I really hope your DS is OK.

Tuo, that's really useful and reassuring, thanks for posting. DP thinks probably astigmatism too.

PigeonPie I think you're right, GP first.

Now I think it's unlikely to be anything acute, but keeping the appointment just in case, and to get started on solving it, if there is anything we can do.

My 5 year old had something similar-picked up in reception that his eyesight in one eye was very poor. We had never noticed as he could see fine. It came as a massive shock to see that he couldn't see a person in front of him with only his bad eye.

He was diagnosed with a 'defect' to his cornea, like a bubble in the lense. He was prescribed eye patches and his vision in that eye has improved massively. It will never be great, but at least good enough in case anything ever happened to his other eye. The capacity of their eyes to change at this age is still huge, so I hope there is some treatment that can help your son out too.

How did you get on? You can just go to Moorfields. They have a&e there plus special clinic for retinal detachments. GP wont be able to check back of eye and you're better off going to opticians. They can give you a letter to take to Moorfields etc.

Wondering how it went at the GP today, and hope that it is ok.

Also thinking of you.

We went to Moorfields in the end. I called them and they said to bring him when I said he could hardly see out of one of his eyes.

It's good news. His eye could work fine, only there's something wrong with the shape of it. He has a "refraction" problem, so the light is hitting his eye in the wrong place - behind the retina, so that's why he can't see properly with that eye. His brain has coped by relying on the other eye. He couldn't see pictures in front of him at all with just that eye, but then he could make them out when he looked through a pinhole, which was great to see.

He's going to get a referral to the children's clinic and will need glasses for that eye. I'm really pleased we went. Had we just gone to the GP/opticians, I expect we would have got to the same place in the end, but it would have taken much longer.

I feel very relieved.

Thanks for the advice and support everyone, particularly nudging us in the direction of Moorfields.

dd is long sighted and that is also a refractive error. Did they say whether he is long/short sighted and/or has an astigmatism?

www.nei.nih.gov/healthyeyes/problems.asp - explains different refractive errors

from that link sounds like he may be long sighted

Thanks for the link, really useful. So if I've understood it right, he's basically very long-sighted?

It must be pretty extreme, as he literally can't see your hand if you ask him how many fingers you're holding up. But still very reassuring indeed to hear such a familiar term used to describe it.

And if that's the case, then it is our fault after all, but not because of sun damage, it's hereditary, not much we could do about it!

SIL has very poor eyesight in both eyes, I'm glad it's only one eye for DS at least.

Pleased to hear this OP! Glad you have the diagnosis and the referral. It was clearly very worrying and its hard when you don't really know what they are (or arent) seeing etc. Anyway, at least its not a detachment or anything else more serious.