Hospital referral after first eye test

[MamOfTwo]

Took DD (4) for her first eye test today. She is long-sighted (+5 and +4.50) and optician have asked GP to refer us on to hospital as even after the drops and lenses her vision wasn't what it should have been. My question is - why have we been referred to hospital? What will they check for? Is it whether she needs a patch? Optician said back of eye looked fine. She may have explained but it was a lot to take in and I was also feeling guilty that I hadn't taken her sooner. Bit worried.

Children of that age tend to be dealt with through the hospital Orthoptist rather than a high street optician. My Dd had glasses from 18 months and was under hospital Orthoptist care until around the age of 8 at which point we started using an optician instead

My ds has been under the orthoptist since he was 2 (parental eye squint so referee automatically ) he is also long sighted and has check ups at the hospital. Up until his most recent eye test (last week) he has had glasses from the hospital too. Bit he has now outgrown theirs so he gets eye tests at hospital then gets glasses from specsavers.

I agree that it seems normal for young children to be monitored via the hospital. My DS was seen from 3, only discharged (with check ups now at optician) at 8 - I understand there isn't significant change / deterioration in sight after that.

My DD has had glasses since age 4 and was dealt with at the hospital until about age 7, we was told this was because they are not old enough to understand the normal optician test until about that age.

DD got her first glasses from the hospital when she was three. She was longsighted and we did two years of patching. The optician told us the hospital prefer children under their orthoptist till they are seven.

Thank you for all your replies. Just waiting for the referral to come through. DD has been wearing her glasses and I can already see the difference they are making. One question - does her prescription (+4.5 and +5) mean glasses are a lifelong thing for her, or could it come down?

I would think she will probably always need them. Dd's has improved and she has about the same prescription but will always need them

My daughter has a very strong prescription for glasses that are strictly to be worn at all times. The vision in her right eye has improved alot and they monitor closely as once it has improved enough she will need to wear a patch in order to strengthen her left eye. They say if we keep up with this she will likely only need glasses to read and what have you from the age of 8. She had to be referred to the hospital for her to be seen regularly (every 3 months) and for them to make that plan.

OP I agree with that prescription, even with improvement, she's likely to always need them. DS' prescription was +5 and +6.5 if I remember correctly and we were told at the outset he'd always need glasses.

Actually he's now 10.5 (so he's been wearing them for 7+ years now) and he's just new glasses. The optician told us at the weekend that he could have contact lenses now - not recommended for every day but for sports etc. I think as he becomes a teenager he could probably wear lenses. We think it's a bit early for think but the option is there.

That's quite normal. Current NICE guidelines ask Optometrists to refer children under 7 for "ophthalmological opinion" when their visual acuity (so the amount of letters they can see on the chart) is either unequal or lower than expected.

Its very likely your childs vision will improve with the glasses and they'll just be referred back to the Optometrist.