Eye Squint Queries. Patching, Surgery

[SpaceCowGirl]

Hi can anyone give any Pro opinion or any Parental experience (or personal experience ofcourse ) and advice on any of the following vvvv much appreciated (really) !
Re Squints, Consultants, Patching, Surgery...

Hello, My middle DS 4yrs 2months, today been to see Consultant at Hospital for 1st time (had v slight squint since prob 9 months)had couple of optician apps but always considered ok, but just to be on safe side referred and (waiting list) just seen today.
1st we saw a lady (?) who tested what he could see and she seemed q happy. Then we had eye drops and waited...
The consultant did a few tests (just the kind with shining lights in DSs eyes but not asking what he could see..... he did not explain what he was doing and when I asked he did not answer properly...
He then said my DS would prob need "surgery" and would write presc for glasses etc
My main Query is anyone else who has been left non the Wiser after such an appointment snd how to sort this out.....we asked a couple of qs and he answered but as it we ad asked completely different Qs. He also coughed all over my son which we said nothing about but I wish had !!!

xxx

Where di dyou go for your appointment?
It doesn't sound very professional.
Were you not sure if the orthoptist was a lady or not?
I would suggest writing down some questions for your next visit

what questions do you have? I'm about to go to bed but would be happy to try and help tomorrow. My 5yo had squint surgery earlier this year.

I have had a number of opthalmology and orthoptist appointments with my DD, and I have found that the orthoptists were often reluctant to say what they had found, but prefer to report it to the opthalmologist, who then would present the overall 'conclusion'.
That isnt to say that is typical of how orthoptists work, but that is how the ones I have seen seem to prefer to work.

Have you got another appointment to see the opthalmologist, or are they just going to send you out an appointment for the surgery?

My dd had squint surgery when she was in reception class. It went very well and the improvement in her squint was very noticeable. Her eyes turned in, one more than the other, which got worse when she was tired. She'd been wearing glasses for a couple of years and they were quite a high prescription mainly to correct the squint.

She is now 7 and a half and still wears glasses but has recently been discharged from the hospital and can visit opticians instead which is very good Her prescription has lowered a lot too. The squint was almost completely corrected and is only now visible when she doesn't have her glasses on and is tired.

She can also wear contacts when she's older now.

My DD first had her squint diagnosed aged 3. We were told then that we should try patching until aged 7 or so, as until then the eyes are best able to adapt. If that didnt work then she would need an operation.

So, for the next 4 years we had constant patching, starting off at 8 hours a day, then reducing down and down until just 2 hours a day. Her squint corrected itself enough so that she didnt need the operation. But, she will always need to wear glasses, and the squint is still there - albeit very slight now - more noticable if she is tired/unwell.

And unfortunately, i had many of those appintments where you come out feeling a little non-plussed by it all and not really sure if she is getting better!

But, good luck, and i think so long as they are onto it now, hopefully the patching will work!

the patching isnt actually to help the squint but to improve the eye sight in the 'bad' eye. DD had a squint diagnosed at 18 months and was also long sighted. She had glasses from then (is now 5.9years). We also did patching for a while but it was for just 2 hours to begin with and dropped to 1 hour as her eyesight in her left eye improved. She no longer needs to patch as her eyes are pretty much equal in sight now. She had the operation just before she went to school so around 4.5 years. The op was done as the squint was still noticeable even while she had her glasses on.

The first lady you saw would be assessing the eyesight in each eye i.e. whether one is lazy or not and also the extent of the squint. The drops help the consultant to see the back of the eye and helps him to assess the prescription required for each eye. We only see the consultant once a year when dd is assessed for her new prescription - the rest of the time we see the orthoptist for the basic tests (without drops)