Experience of squints, glasses, operations...

[emlitt]

Hi
Does anyone have experience of babies/toddlers (who look kind of cross-eyed) with so-called squints who have to wear glasses: how do you get them to keep their glasses on? Plus, what about the surgery that they can have at a later date? Has anyone gone through this and come out the other side - thanks.

my dd wore glasses from around 18 months (still has them age 6). I cant remember how I got her to keep them on - bribery probably!! She also had patching treatment to improve the eyesight in her 'bad' eye. She had a squint operation when she was 4 (not long before she went to school) as her eye still squinted even while she was wearing her glasses.

I had it done when I was about 3 with no problems (now 32). I have very little sight in my bad eye but it is straight unless i am very tired. I also had the patch to try and make the bad/lazy eye work but wasn't successful - hence the operation. I have photographs of me wearing the patch but I donty think I was very keen and used to just peek out from underneath!
Having sight in one eye hasn't bothered me and i can still drive but not great at ball sports as difficult to judge distance (or maybe I am just rubbish anyway!).

My ds has had glasses from age 6mths. At first we used a sports band to keep them on - didn't look great, but I look back on it as part of his babyhood. Cute, really. You can get special glasses with curly sides - the arms curl right round the ears - but these didn't do the trick for our ds - he was determined to take them off!

Our ds had to be patched for a while - we did the pirate thing, and the patches come with fun stickers to stick on, so he liked choosing which sticker to have that day. He was quite amenable by then, so it wasn't too bad.

He had pioneering surgery at the age of 5. I was terrified in the years leading up to the op - just scared of him having the GA, etc, but on the day the hospital staff were so brilliant and he was so brave and up for it that it was fine. The adrenaline kicks in and you find the strength from somewhere. The operation was a huge success and has made all the difference to our ds.

He still wears glasses and always will, and they are part of him now. Looks funny without them to me!

Hope all this helps

Thank you Seona londonmackem and Bobbiewickham
Fascinated to read your stories, and finding them very helpful and informative. It's actually my dear friend's ds - she is ill herself so difficult to get online so I'm doing it for her and reporting back - he is 8 months and deemed quite a 'bad' case, and it sounds like the glasses/patches treatment is unlikely to work and he'll have to have the surgery in a few years' time. Useful tips about keeping the glasses on - thanks - and encouraging to hear you just get used to them wearing glasses.
Seona did the op help your dd?

yes, her squint is much improved while she has her glasses on. She still squints with the glasses off but that is normal.

my dd, now 5.8, has a lazy eye and a squint

she has worn glasses since and has used patches since she was 3

early last year she had an op to straighten her eye

the op itself was fine, quick and straightforward, done in a day, but it wasn't entirely successful

her squint is greatly reduced but is still obvious when she is tired and doesn't have her glasses on

we have had no problems with her wearing her glasses as she can't see well at all without them so prefers to have them on

specsavers do some great frames for free with the nhs voucher

bobbiewickam i'm interested to read that your ds wore glasses from 6mo - dd2 is 19 weeks and i'm concerned she might end up with a squint too. We were told that had her long sight been picked up earlier then her squint might not have been so pronounced so I'm keen to get dd2 looked at as soon as is practical. i'll look into getting her eyes tested, thanks

Hi Emlett-

Here is my experience:

DS(now 6 1/2) was diagnosed with lazy eye and squint at the age of 3. His came on suddenly- one day he looked 'normal' and the next his eye was stuck in the corner (inverted- or looking towards his nose) I freaked out as I do but once I was referred to our local eye specialists treatment has been brilliant.

He goes to see the orthoptist every 6 weeks to make sure he is staying on track and his eyesight is stable.

He was immediately given glasses to correct his long sightedness and eye muscle weakness. He was given eye patches to wear daily as well over his 'good eye'. He did this every day for 1-2 hours until he was nearly 6. His eyesight improved significantly to the point that it is now nearly perfect when he wears his glasses. He will have to wear glasses for the rest of his life. Once he is a young man, he will qualify for contacts.

Last year he was referred to the opthamologist for eye surgery. His squint was severe enough to qualify for the free surgery.

Just to clarify because sometimes it is confused, the Lazy Eye refers to the actual vision aspect and the Squint refers to the cosmetic side. The glasses and the patching is to correct the vision and the surgery is to correct the cosmetic eye turn. Sometimes, if it is caught early enough, the glasses and eye patching will correct the cosmetic side as well, especially if the squint is not pronounced.

But the surgery will not correct the vision, only the cross-eyed appearance.

DS had surgery and it went really well. It was horrendous watching him go under and I was so worried that he would poke at his eye and infect it post surgery but it was fine. his eye turned out a bit in the wrong direction after the surgery but surgeon explained that this would relax as time went on. It has. His eye now still turns in a bit without his glasses but that is what it is supposed to do. As he needs the glasses and the glasses correct the appearance to some extent, his eye would look like it was turned out with the glasses on if they corrected for glasses off, if that makes sense.

Hope this is a bit helpful for your friend.

Should say, even though he doesn't look 'perfect' without his glasses on, it is such a joy now to see his peepers both looking straight at me through his glasses!

These stories are brilliant as so much detail. I didn't know that about the patches/glasses being for the vision and the surgery for cosmetic/appearance - thanks littletree.

Tigerfeet sounds like your dd2 could start with the glasses - if necessary - really soon - my friend's ds is 8 months and has had his glasses since about 6 months/7 months but as I said keeps taking the darn things off. I'll get her to try Bobbiewickham's idea with the sports band.