1 year old opthalmology appointment?

[BeanJuiceq]

Hi, my 18 month has A opthalmology appointment coming up due to a lazy eye/eye turning inwards. Just wondering what to expect on the first visit?

DS had an ophthalmology appt when he was about about 21 months old. He’s 12 now, so I forget the details of what happened, but there was a lot of getting him to follow a light, shape, finger etc. Grab for stuff. Using his eyes together. Pointing out shh he shapes in a book maybe?

It was all very simple and straightforward, and “fun”.

I'm going to follow this, my 19th month has one coming up for similar issue!

If glasses/patching are needed will they be provided on that appointment or will another be given? Not keep on keep taking him to a hospital during the current climate

If glasses/patching then you will have regular appointments. I would expect every 3 months at that age. My DS was in glasses at 7 months.
Yes not ideal to have to go for appointments right now, but you cannot be too careful with eyes and even if it's just a 'mechanical' issue (for want of a better description) rather than medical, it's really important to get it sorted. Vision is very important developmentally. Also if truly a lazy eye, not just strabismus, you can get to a point where the eye gives up sending a signal to the brain.
I'm a lay person here...so excuse the clunky lay explanation.

You won't get glasses on the day. You will get a prescription and take it to an optician and order glasses and lenses. You will probably have appointments every 3 months at the hospital or a local clinic. It will get easier! My son is 10 now and awaiting an op but we have a good relationship with the staff

Be prepared for very frequent visits. The traumatic bit for us was the drops used to dilate the pupil which sting. Take plenty of toys and snacks as you might need to wait around for drops to take effect.

My DC started with ophthalmology appointments at about 18 months. They usually have to put drops in to relax the eye muscles and you have to wait for them to take effect before the appointment which I had no idea about first time. It can be 20-30 minutes wait for that. My dc had glasses from then on (separate appointments with hospital optician to get a prescription then take prescription to high st optician to get glasses) and an operation on both eyes at about 2.5. Then started patching and did that for about 4-5 years. And then a further operation at 8.

Thank you for your help! I don't mind taking him to regular appointments if needs be, obviously I'm sure they have all the necessary precautions to reduce risk. Never had no experience with opthalmology so wasn't sure what to expect.

In my experience with my daughter, they had some very clever a child friendly ways to check her eyes. Having spent a large part of my own childhood in and out of hospital with eye checks / ops etc I was so impressed with how well it's done now. My daughter really enjoyed herself