Squint surgery

[banana506]

DD aged 3 has an alternating squint. We had her check up today and they said her previous prescription is too strong and have halved it. She was complaining of not being able to see in her glasses and constantly looking over the top of them.

The doctor has booked us in to operate as glasses don't seem to have made a difference to her squint.

I'm now really confused as to whether I want her to have the surgery or not. Especially as he said risk of loss of vision is 1/5000 that seems quite a big risk to me!?

Do you think we should wait till DD is older to operate!? Also could the new prescription help as she really hasn't been wearing her current glasses much at all.

I should point out that the doctor has said the operation is purely cosmetic and will make no difference to her vision at all. I think that's making the decision harder for me as a mother.

Can anyone help or share any squint surgery stories!?

I'm an eye specialist and I havnt heard that statistic and don't think it's accurate
the surgery is purely cosmetic and can be done at any age.
It all depends how the appearance of her squint affects her.

Dd had a squint op age 4 as she still squinted with her specs on. It was day surgery and she was able to go home after she had eaten. She had to have drops in for a while afterwards. I just didn't want people to make comments about her eyes so thought it best to get it fixed

Ds had it done aged 5. It was fine. He had a blood shot eye for a little bit but recovered really well.

The risk of vision loss is thought to be about 1 in 30,000 with squint surgery. If there is no likelihood of her having binocular vision and the surgery is for cosmetic reasons only then it can be done at any stage, it depends whether she will be self conscious about it when a little older. Children usually cope very well and recover quickly, but it is important that you understand that there are risks however small. I’m an orthoptist and happy to answer any questions

Thank you for all the replies, it's good to here from people that have gone for it.

@Rodders92 the doctor said there is a very small chance of getting some binocular vision but doesn't want that to be the reason to operate as it's unlikely. But he was keen to operate now as he said its easier in the long run when they are younger especially as she is likely to need patching after surgery!?

My biggest concern is her going through the op at this age and it not working first time and needing a 2nd op!

My dd only had 1 op. She doesnt have binocular vision unfortunately. Patching normally happens if the sight in one eye is poorer than the other. You patch the 'good' eye to force the other one to work and improve the sight. Dd also had patching treatment although I think hers was before surgery (she's had glasses since she was 18 months)

I had squirt sugary when I was a child not sure how old but well over 20 years ago now. It didn't work, I still have a squint now (I'm 27) it's my glasses on it's barely noticeable but without my glasses it's very noticeable. I sometimes wear contact lenses which are fine. My other issue is I constantly have double vision but I can't remember if this is to do with the squint or not, my glasses only partly correct this.
My parents where told I could have surgery again when I was around 16 but this was never mentioned again.
As far as I know recovery was fine there were no issues

Oh I also had patching for a while before surgery, the vision in my eye with the squint is still awful I can barely see out of it without my glasses but my other eye is ok so compensates.

Hi Banana, they measure the size of the squint to decide exactly how many millimetres of adjustment to the eye muscles is needed. Sometimes that can give an over or under correction of the squint as children with the same size squint can respond differently to the same surgery. If there is not likely to be any binocular vision and the eye is turning in the aim is to leave the eye turning in very slightly by around 5 degrees/10 dioptres as over time there can a tendency for the eye to drift outwards and if the eye is put too straight to start with this is more likely to happen. Younger children tend to deal with the surgery better as they are less anxious but up to 30% of people do need further surgery but this may not be until adulthood. Squintclinic.com is a good website to look at.

It's normal to squint with your glasses off. Dd's squint is largely corrected with her glasses on now but will squint with them off as her eyes try to focus

I had the surgery as a child, and then twice more as an adult. As a child the eye turned in. I had patching to improve the vision and then surgery. It was successful, although the vision in that eye was never great (long sighted). The eye then started to turn out during my teens and I had surgery in my early 20s. It was under corrected it the first time and it drifted again after a few years so it was repeated. My eye is now quite straight unless I'm really tired.

Surgery itself was fine. It is sore for a couple of days, but easily managed with paracetamol. If my own children were to need similar I wouldn't hesitate, I didn't enjoy having a squint and dealing with glasses as a child.

I didn't have it as a child and then developed the permanent double vision at about 14/15 and had a very successful op then. I am worried for my daughter who is 11 that the NHS will stop funding this op. We declined it for her at age 7/8 as cosmetic only.

Constant, not permanent.

Just because it's cosmetic doesnt mean it won't affect the person. I didn't want my dd to get comments about her eyes so she had the op when offered it.

Following with interest - my son has bilateral optic nerve Hypoplasia but seems to have reasonable vision, but he also has a squint which is worsening (turning up as well as in now). Normal prescription. Seeing his opthalmologist again in a couple of weeks. He’s only 2.5 and has ASD, cant talk yet so hard to assess his vision properly. Not sure what to do about surgery and I suspect the subject will come up again.

Glasses correct it for my daughter and did for me too so no need to take the risk for us.