It can get really confusing can't it, esp when you spend a long time thinking about it! I noticed him develop a squint when he was 9, old, so took him along to the hv, who was USELESS. Denied he had a squint, but said she would refer him anyway. She forgot, so I waited about 4 months to get an appointment through. The eye docs said staright away that he needed glasses though. They tried that first to see if his eye would straighten, but it didn't. Interestingly, they said that although the squint was mainly in his left eye, he could swap it to his right eye. So in effect he was compensating by using one eye at a time, which meant the muscle wasn't that lazy, he just wasn't able to use both eyes at once. I'm told this is a good thing, as both eye muscles get used.
Like I said, wearing glasses alone didn't work, and after 6 months of wearing them (he started at 1), we moved house to a new area. The eye clinic there said he needed patching, for about 3 hours a day for 6 weeks, I think it was , to see if it helped. It did a bit, but he still had a v marked squint, and we figured he had so much to contend with as he grows up already, that if we could minimise any further chances of bullying or stress then we would.
He had his op in NOv last year,aged 2 1/2, in and out within 6 hours. His eye looked a bit red, and it made me a bit squeamish when he kept trying to rub it (they don't dress it afterwards), but he was really good after the first afternoon wrt touching it. In fact he recovered v quickly, and I could see an instant improvement. Like I said he does still have a squint, but they tend to undercorrect rather than overcorrect, but it is a huge improvement.
To do this they have to cut and shorten, then reattach the weaker muscle, makes my knees go quite frankly. I guess by patching they are making hte weaker muscle work more, hence strengthening it, which hopefully avoids the need for an op.
Has this made any sense?