Paediatric Ophthalmologist near Edinburgh

[SillyBilly1993]

My 3-month old son can’t see very well. We’re waiting on a referral through the NHS for an initial assessment but are anxious to see someone as soon as possible in case it’s a time sensitive issue.

Does anyone have any paediatric ophthalmologist recommendations within 2-3 hour’s drive on Edinburgh?

Thank you in advance! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

I would have said Alan Mulvihill as he was brilliant with my kids but he seems to have moved abroad. Sorry that's not much help.

Most 3 month old can't see very well, especially at distance.

What are you worried about? Things to be worried about are eyes moving rhythmically, a white reflex in the pupil, not looking at you when feeding or the front of the eye looking abnormal.

You could try and see one of these drs privately.
https://children.nhslothian.scot/departments_services/ophthalmology/

Sorry I don't have a recommendation (ours is in London) Has he had a red reflex test? You are right to want to have him seen quickly as at that age some conditions are very time-sensitive.

Or the eye pointing outwards all the time, that's also not usual.

I don't know if these are too far, but my child is under the eye department of the hospital in Newcastle, the associated practices are C4 sightcare in Newcastle and Simon Berry in Durham. Both are good although you'd need to ring to book as you will obviously want the specialist. Both can have a wait for appointments though.

I agree that as said above, a 3 month old won't have great vision anyway, and their eyes haven't learnt to work together yet. But definitely worth getting checked out just in case.

Thanks all, some really useful options there that I’ll pursue tomorrow.

What’s happened is that my son was born 4-weeks early so his 6-8 week developmental checks were delayed until last week to give him time to catch up. The health visitor and GP were concerned at those checks that he doesn’t look at or track objects.

Since then I’ve realised that a lot of the time that I thought he was looking at me or something else, he was actually responding to sound. He looks towards windows and lights, but otherwise doesn’t seem to see much at all.

If you put any objects, pictures or screens in front of his face or further away then he doesn’t seem to see them even if you wiggle them about. He seems to look at me while he’s feeding but if I move my head to a different position then he carries on looking at same spot as before. If I stand right in front of him or across the room then he doesn’t react until I speak, when he’ll startle and smile and look around for me.

He’s such an affectionate and smiley little baby, he responds with lots of excitement to sound and touch. I just wish he could tell me what he could see!

@SillyBilly1993 You need an urgent referral. It might be nothing, but if there is something timing at that age is very important for visual development (saying this because my son had an issue that was missed for a while, and his visual development has suffered).
I was also offered a referral that was weeks away, but wasn't happy, so took my son to pediatric A&E at Moorfields eye hospital, where they were able to diagnose immediately and get things moving urgently.
If your local eye hospital has a kids A&E, or even just a kids department I would take him in or call them for advice.
Hope all is well!

@Pigeon66 thanks, would you mind saying what your son had?

I’ve contacted the GP to ask about timescales and say that I really think time could be of the essence. He called the hospital and got me an appointment for next week, which I’m really relieved to get.

I hope all goes well. I spent many many hours in the eye department at our local children's hospital and after 8 years he was finally discharged. They can do amazing things. Good luck.

@SillyBilly1993 My son had cataracts in both eyes. They were probably there from birth, but were missed by our GP on at least 3 occasions. I was offered a referral 2 months away, so went to Moorfields A&E, where they were diagnosed immediately and were operated on the following week.
Because of the delay in diagnosing, my son's vision has been permanently affected.
He is doing really well though and is very happy!

Pigeon I'm a cataract mum too, solidarity 🙂

Silly Billy I'm so pleased you have an appointment. There are lots of things with eyes that are fixable or improve able. Vision keeps developing until the age of about 7. Hope its something straightforward.