child with squint - GP or optician as first port of call?

[UnikittyInHerBusinessSuit]

DD(12) had a slight squint when very young but grew out of it although still squinted a bit when tired.

Recently (last few weeks) she's been noticing it more and complaining of double vision.

Do I go to GP or optician?

Thanks for any thoughts

I had a squint and 4 ops as a child and we always went through the gp.

Opticians - they have more specialised equipment for eyes than gp and can pick up many reasons for sight problems. They will refer you to gp or eye hospital if needed.

The optician will be able to examine her and write a much more useful referral letter to your local eye unit, the gp can also refer you directly but have a lot less knowledge of squints

Thanks all. Is there any reason to choose a "posh" optician rather than our local Specsavers? I kind of assume that if you're a qualified optician then you should be capable of assessing a squint regardless of who you work for?

Optician I think.

Ds1 was referred via the HV when he was little. He was under the hospital optometrist for years and now just sees an optician. We go to an independent optician, I've never been impressed with specsavers but that's a personal thing. I'm sure they are all equally qualified.

We use an independent local optician. does your lo not have an annual eye test?

Nope i used to go to a posh optician as my mum worked there but i go to specsavers now and they're really thorough.

Optician, my ds recently started with a squint, they referred to the hospital and I think because of the detailed referral we got seen quicker, as from the tests she did, it was deemed urgent. Not sure the gp would have been as thorough. Hospital were also pleased that she had done the test with eyedrops (don't know the proper name sorry).

We went to an independent, I felt they were a bit more specialised in children, although this decision wasn't actually erm based on anything!

DD has definitely had eye tests - the last one was either 18 months or 6 months ago - I can't remember which, (DS has glasses so he always gets an annual checkup) and she got a clean bill of health then.