sudden onset of squint at 2yo - anyone else had this?

[vonsudenfed]

DD - who has to all appearances had good sight for all of her two years - has suddenly developed a squint in her left eye. It started about two weeks ago, and is getting worse and worse.

We've seen the dr - who couldn't see anything, but referred us anyway - but I was wondering if anyone else has had this, as it seems very late for something to develop from nowhere? And if you did, what did it mean, how was it treated etc etc.

As you can imagine, I am trying to be cool and collected about this, but withe the underlying fear that it really is a sign of something more serious...

I believe that between the ages of 2 and 3 is a prime time for a squint to develop. We first noticed dd1's squint when she was about 2 and it got rapidly worse from then. If we look back at photographs you can see a slight quint a few months previously.

It is good practise for a gp to refer a child with a suspected squint as the hospital are much more experienced at diagnosing them.

Depending on the cause the squint can be treated with glasses and/or patching.

When you go to the hospital ask all the questions you want. IME I have found the hospital optician and orthoptist to be better at answering questions than the consultant.

I first noticed dd squinting when she was about 18 months and got referred to the hospital orthoptist via the health visitor. It turned out she was long sighted with a lazy eye and ended up with glasses from about 20 months. DD is now 5 and in the last few years has had (and still has) glasses, patching treatment to improve the sight in her lazy eye and also a squint operation to improve the appearance of her squint as it was still noticeable even with her glasses on.

This is a normal age for onset of a squint.It may, depending on cause, just be treatable by spectacle wear and some patching.

You'll know more once you see the hospital orthoptist (specialises in eye muscles) and ophthalmologist (will check eye health) but I wouldn't worry as Elk said, squints commonly develop at this age.

Thankyou very much - we've got the hospital appointment in a couple of weeks time, and I'm sure it will be fine, but it's easy to worry until then!

Just to warn you - when DS's squint was checked out (age 2 1/2) his 'bad' eye had shut down completely. So when they did the initial tests, he couldn't see anything from his r eye. I was really shocked by this and got quite upset about it. 4 yrs on he still wears glasses, but both eyes work well together now from patching and wearing his glasses.