Help understand eye test

[Missmiller]

My daughter is 8 and has worn glasses since she started turning her eye inwards aged 3.

Her prescription has been +4 (with 0 cyl) in both eyes but today has gone to +3.5 (with -0.25 cyl in both eyes).
The optician said it was neither better nor worse but she has 20/20 vision in her glasses. He said the children’s prescriptions can vary up or down each year.
In my opinion a reduction from +4 to +3.5 is an improvement?
Can anyone else explain why the optician said it was neither worse or better please?
Her eye turn is very well controlled in glasses but visible without (although less so that when she was younger).
I find it all quite confusing to get my head around, so any help to understand this would be brilliant,
Thank you.

It's not really a significant change. It's a little easier sometimes to get an exact prescription from an older child as it's not just based on the little light we use, we can also ask their opinion on the lens they prefer.

You would expect a little improvement over the next few years, long sighted prescriptions tend to improve slightly during teenage years.

Thank you, so if there’s a little improvement in her prescription, does that also mean that her squint will improve. And how much improvement is likely please if her prescription is +3.5 now, down from +4 last year?
Thank you for your help!

Very possibly It's difficult to say, it does sound as if her squint is fully accommodative, so should improve slightly as her prescription reduces. Maybe down to +2.75/+3.00. She'll probably need to wear her glasses most of the time still. But she'll be able to wear contacts.

It does vary between individuals though.

Thanks. Is it possible for her eye sight to resolve completely, I am mildly short sighted, her Dad is very mildly long sighted but only needed glasses for reading in his 40s. There is a vast array of long and short sighted relatives!!

I think its unlikely that she will grow out of being long sighted given her prescription. My dds squint is controlled when she has glasses on but returns when they are off. She's had glasses since she was 18 months old and is now 17years old.

She had an eye op at age 4 as her squint was still noticeable with her glasses on.

My daughter hasn’t needed an operation as the glasses fully correct her squint. I would say the squint is much less noticeable without her glasses on than it used to be.
The optician said he wouldn’t recommend an op as it could potentially lead to double vision.
Will just see how it goes, time will tell I suppose! She’s still got a lot of growing to
do yet as she’s only 8, so I feel that it might improve but don’t mind if it stays as it is x