Any eye experts ?? Parents of DCs with lazy eyes .......come here please !!

[twocutedarlings]

4 weeks ago DD2s eyes were perfectly fine not crossed atall. All of a sudden one started to turn in every so often, i got HV to refer her to eye clinic ect and we are still waiting for appointment.

2 weeks ago booked her in at optitions for sight test, they diagnosed short sightedness and slight squint and perscribed glasses, but over the last couple of days her eye is turned in almost all the time.

Im really worried that there is something really wrong, ive chased up her appiontment yesterday and they are going to look at her referal letter again and try and get her an urgent appointment.

Is this normal for a childs eyes to got from normal to really crossed in such a short space of time?? has this happended to anyone elses DC ??.

Bump

how old is she?

Shes 3.5

does her eye turn in with the glasses on?

Yes, it doesnt seem to make any differance, if they are on or off.

I had a squint when i was little.It was in both eyes but more in my left than right one.It was always worse when i had been watching tv or reading ect.My eyes could look fine one minute then be turning the next then back to being fine.

how did the optician do her test?

dd3 has a significant squint, she is exremly long sighted, and was diagnosed at 1 year old as needed specs. the squint didnt appear until last summer after she turned two. her optomitrist (cant spell) at the eye clinic reassured me that as long as her eyes were straight with the glasses on then we could wait until the next appointment. we did patching for 6months as dd3 actuially stopped using that eye with and without glasses and failed her eye test. after 6months she began using it again and we dont have to patch atm.

I would keep pestering the eye clinic for urgent referral appointment, as i think she should be seen sooner rather than later, to correct the squint and getting her using her eyes together again.

Yes this has happened. In our case dd1 had eyes checked at school at 6 and all fine but a year later had difficulties and so brought her to opthalmologist who diagnosed standard long sightedness and said we should have others (then 5 and 4) checked out.

We had them tested and turned out the then 5 year old severely short sighted in one eye (& also had an astigmatism).She was prescribed glasses and patches for an hour or two each day, After a week or two her eye started to turn in. When I spoke to opthalmologist she said it sometimes happened at the very beginning of treatment but to call back if it was still happening after another while. It did happen, especially when tired eg in bath in the evening and not.

We went to another opthlmologist who said first prescription, while correct, may have been too much too soon for eyes that had not been corrected for 5 years so he gave us another prescription and we continued patching. Since then, eyes no longer turn in but we have been seeing orthoptist at local eye hospital every 3-6 months to keep an eye on things (!). The initial period from diagnosis to second consultant was just under 2 months: the turning in started after 2 weeks, we went back again 2 weeks later and then saw second specialist 3 weeks later

If I were you I would see your GP and be referred to an eye specialist and then see an orthoptist (like an eye physio) in conjunction. It's unlikely there is anything seriously wrong but cosmetically it's important not to have turned in eye... sight is a "learned" reflex and is capable of change/ improvement up to about 8 and after that it's just about managing the sight.

You don't say what age your DC is but obviously deal with it asap: don't be fobbed off but don't panic either!

They tested her with pictures, gradually making them smaller. Then he got her to follow a little man thingy on the end of pen. They didnt put drops in or anything.

DD1 is already under the eye clinic because she has server sigmatissim (sp??). But the optition said that this isnt the case with DD2.

Im going to badger the eye clinic on tuesday, im just so shocked at how bad its got in just a couple of days. Her eyes look awful .

Hi, whereabouts do you live?

My dd (now 18m) was born with a cataract in one eye, we had no family history and apparently it was just a fluke.

Anyway I am sort of an eye expert (!) after 18 months of reading all about squints, astigmatisms, glaucoma, cataracts etc (also got together with another mum on MN & started our own website www.childhoodcataracts.org.uk)...

...but having said all that, the only advice I can give is to get down to the proper eye clinic and have her eye examined by a specialist as soon as possible.

don't worry, it can be fixed, but you do need to chase that appointment. good luck - let us know how you get on.

Thanks for your reply pofaced (great name btw).

She is 3.5, your discription of what your 5 year old sounds like exactley whats happened with my DD. Her perscription is 1.50 so not very strong, well incomparison with DD1s its not anyhow.

Hi Indiemummy - im in sheffield

I will go and have a look at your site now, thanks

.

Just checking back to see if anyone replied to my geek post (no...anyone here know anything about Firefox?!) & saw your reply TCD.... good luck but be persistent. I was completely freaked out by the squint as we had only just discovered the poor child had such poor vision in one eye but it is now fine and nomatter how tired she is it doesn't drift in anymore so, as I said above, don't panic but don't delay either and maybe see your GP as well as path you are currently on.

UPDATE

Spoke to eye clinic today, and we have an urgent appointment on Monday maybe sooner if they get any cancellations.

Her eye is now almost permenantly turned inwards.

Just wanted to wish you luck.I have not got a lazy eye, but a Strabismus which presents in a very similar way, and I just wanted to reassure you that wonderful results can be achieved.

Good luck.... maybe call late afternoon each day to check about cancellations. Is she still wearing the glasses? I;d consider taking them off until you go to the clinic: maybe call optician and ask their advice.

Your DD is very young so try not to get too anxious

Your story sounds very similar to ours. We are now 6 months down the line and we are seeing a vast improvement - not just in the squint but in the eyesight itself which is vastly improved.

IMO opticians are not best placed to give prescriptions for lazy eyes or squints - you may find that your opthalmologist changes your prescription which will help with the squint

Please try not to worry, these things are very easily corrected especially at this young age.

Good luck with the appointment.

Our story is here, hope it helps

Hi,
Hope all goes well at the eye clinic. They will be much better at dealing with a squint than the optician.

My dd1 (now 5 ) developed a squint when she was 2. She is very long sighted with an astigmatism as well. The eye clinic has been great.

She was only patched for one month to get both eyes working together. She has since had both eyes operated on and is now wearing bifocals to try to get all her eye muscles working properly. (her squint was inwards and practically off the scale when they started).

My dd's squint was very slight on her second birthday, three months later her eyes had almost disappeared so it can happen very quickly.

Thankyou for your reasurance, its really helped. I have been so worried,its the rapidness of it all that alarmed me the most, like i said in my OP 4 weeks ago i first notice a very slight squint (id noticed her eye turn inwards 3 time over about a week), and of corse nobody else had noticed it DH thought it was me being nerotic.

It does seem alittle better today, but im not sure if its just me that got used to it IYKWIM.

Pofaced - i had considered not using her glasses until we have been to eye clinic, but we have had many battles with getting her to keep them on so i dont really fancy starting all over again.

Tigerfeet - Thankyou for the link to your blog, ive had a good read through it, your DD is georgious and even cuter in her patch, the thought of my DD wearing one doesnt seem so scrary now . Best of it is My older DD (5) is likely to need some patch work soon, she has server astigmatism. Bless em, they can be to little pirates princesses together .

Update

went to the eye clinic yesterday with DD2, they put drop in to get correct perscription.

They have changed it from 0.25 in her right eye to 3.00 and from 1.25 in left eye to 3.75 . This is still not the full prescription as it would be to strong for her all in one go .

Weve been this morning and got her new glasses (fab little miss sunshine ones) and her eye is now completely straight . She keeps looking at me funny, im sure that this is the first time she has ever seen properly . No need for any patch work yet, we go back again in 6 weeks.

Once again, thankyou all for all of your support.

Hello, glad to have caught you!

I'm so pleased your appointment went well and that you are feeling better about it all. Now that you have your prescription sorted I'm sure that you'll notice a good improvement as the weeks pass.

DD's eye still turns in if she doesn't wear her glasses but it's nothing like as bad as it was and at times it can be straight. I think if we ever get to dispense with the glasses she will be gutted - she gets loads of positive attention because of them and no one has ever said anything rude or mean either to me or her about them.

Be prepared though - we are on our fourth frames - they get bent and broken fairly frequently! We had one set of frames that we paid extra for but have given up on that now, if we are going to need a new pair every couple of months then we don't want to shell out £30 a time. It's worth getting a spare pair too.

Good luck with it all

Hi Tigerfeet.

My DD1 also has glasses, we are now on the 5th pair and shes only be wearing them since last december . I think the fact that DD1 and myself wear glasses this has helped her loads.

btw, specsavers do the little miss ones/barbie ect, without paying extra.

Thankfully the hospital have said that once they are sure her prescription is settled they will give us a voucher for 2 pairs.

We went to Vision Express and got a spare pair without a voucher

I might go to specsavers next time though - dd would explode with happiness if she got a little miss pair