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 ??.

that's great TCD. DS1 is just about to turn 2 and 3 months ago his eyes started crossing - left one more than right one. he is long sighted and 6 in right eye and 7 in left! has glasses that really help but sympathise with the keeping them on battle! he broke them last friday and just going to get new pair today - since not wearing them he has been shouting for them whenever he sees the case!

hope it all goes well with the glasses and just echoing others - see an orthoptist whenever they think she should to make sure one eye is not taking over or anything like that

Hello, good news about the seeing the specialist early and getting the right prescription. ALWAYS SEE A SPECIALIST.

My squint wasn't corrected early enough and I have 50% visual loss in my right eye and also have had two operations to correct the squint. I met an elderly lady who also had a squnit and she had 90% visual loss so things are improving all the time.

I would watch out not just for a squint but also lack of co-ordination when catching balls etc.. as this means that the vision isn't equal through both eyes. Children don't realise that their vision is abnormal as it is normal to them.

To be honest the only difficulties I have are driving on the left hand side, using binoculars (I can't) and occasionaly having double vision if really tired.

Hi have just seen this thread as it is on the Home page. I posted about this exact thing a few months ago. Ds2 woke up on Good Friday with a complete squint in his left eye. Had had no squint whatsoever before this date, not even when tired. I panicked and spent the day in A&E (GP closed as Good Friday) who kept him there for the day to be sure it was not caused by pressure from the brain (he had had a fall in the previous week).

We followed this up with private appts, opthamology and Orthoptist - diagnosis is slight long sightedness in right eye, more extreme long sightedness in left eye, so he has to wear glasses. Squint was caused by brain thinking it wouldn't bother with that eye anymore, and just use the right one - if we hadn't caught it before too long the brain would have given up on that eye altogether apparently, and just let the nerve endings atrophy. Also did you know the squint is caused by the bad eye trying to join forces with the good eye? Isn't the human body amazing....

Anyway as well as spex DS2 wears a patch, it was for 6 hours a day, now because of improvement it is down to 3 and should be able to do away with the patch altogether in a few months, although the squint is still there. Howvever that eye does now move to a fixed position, always when the patch is on his good eye and sometimes without the patch being on, so it has done it's job. He will almost certainly have to have an op to correct it cosmetically however in about a year. He will probably have to wear glasses into his teens. This condition is genetic and my younger sister had exactly the same thing when she was 2 which was treated exactly the same way. DS2 is 22 months.

HTH.

Bloss

oh and will be going to Specsavers next time. We are on our second pair of Adidas spex (first pair got lobbed out of the car window whilst moving!)

hi there, DT2 has specs for a squint. He is 3.5. Age 3 no squint, a few months later right eye turned right in. I got him referred privately (luckily at work we have cover), and he was long sighted (+3.75 in each eye).

I could be wrong, so don't quote me, but i think a squint is a result of long sight and not short sight. The eye (or eyes) turn in to defract the light entering the eye onto the correct place on the retina - basically the lens itself isn't working hard enough on it's own. Glasses correct that and thus no more squint. However if you have a lazy eye (diff to a squint) such as myself, one eye is stronger than other and glasses won't always correct the squint and an op is required to shorten the muscle.

I would say the only way to truly test a childs sight is using the drops otherwise you are taling a childs word for it that they can see.

my lazy eye is also genetic, passed down by my father so I knew one twin or the other would inherit it. I had the op also to correct it and my eyes are perfectly straight with glasses on. My left eye is still significantly more long sighted than the right (+6.25 left and +4.75 right). Doc has told me that DT2 has equal strength so far, so fingers crossed no op required and glasses will just help him keep his eyes straight. If he still has to wear them when older, oh well, Gok Wan has made them so trendy, people are now faking bad eye sight!

For what it's worth, this happened to my DD . Luckily I have a cousin who's an ophthalmologist, so I rang her immediately for advice. Apart from reassuring me,she told me to take her straight to the Eye Clinic, rather than going through own ophthalmologist (who would then refer to GP, who then refers to the hospital eye clinic etc).So I called the eye clinic the next morning, she was seen that afternoon (Friday!), and we had a Consultant Clinic appointment the following Tuesday. I also rang Moorfields who have an brilliant advice line and an excellent website that describes eye problems really simply. She's been under the care of the orthoptists ever since. She has had the most excellent care, all on the NHS. I begged the doctor to tell me the name of a suitable optician, because my cousin said that ideally she'd get best care from an opthalmologist who specialises in children.

however I did not have the same joy with another DD-diagnosed with possible lazy eye, went straight to orthoptics with the referal letter, with the opthalmologist's blessing, only to be told by chief receptionist, Mrs Jobsworth, that she has to go through our GP. I gather that you can self-refer to Eye Casualty, but not to orthoptics.

Twocutedarlings, when we checked old photos we could see the squint slightly in retrospect. She has had numerous prescriptions, so the main challenge is remembering to recycle the old ones. She is doing great, and DD2 is actually excited about having glasses because no doubt she has seen what a no-big-deal they are. DD1's problem is genetic, so have asked my GP to also refer my 2yo just in case.

DS was prem (27 weeks) and ended up with a double squint. Which were both, to quote the Ophthalmologist, in the severe spectrum of squints!
Because of his Cerebral Palsy (caused by being prem) they only corrected one eye, it has made such a difference. We get his glasses from spec savers, but pay the extra for the flex-on glasses which have memory so they can be re-straightened.

twocutedarlings, that's fab news about your DD's treatment. I hope things continue to improve.

Hi twocutedarlings, my DD1 was diagnosed with severe farsightedness at age 3.6, together with lazy eye. We used drops to blur good eye for 6 months and her vision went from 20/200 to 20/30. It's amazing how quickly things can improve with good treatment at a young age. (she is still on her first pair of glasses!)

I am so happy that your DD has now got the right treatment, you will see huge improvement very quickly! Let us know how she does!

Oh thankyou so much for all your replys

DD2 is doing fantastic with her new specs, no problems keeping them on atall...im so proud of her. She even forgot to take them off in the bath the other night, which i think this must be a good sign (i often do the same myself).

Her squint is almost totally corrected, with her glasses on. Its weird her glasses just seem to zapp her eye in place.

Its really encouraging to hear the improvements your DCs have had.