Toddler Lazy Eye

[Mummamice]

When my son was around 6 months old, we noticed he seemed to have a slightly lazy eye, it wasn't particularly noticeable unless you were watching him constantly and only seemed to happen if he was tired or looking at something far away. I called the GP who said they would refer us. A month later we got a letter to say the paediatric ophthalmology unit would be in touch and to contact them if we didn't hear back within 2 months. We didn't, so I called them and after a lot of redirecting, was told somewhat rudely that they were busy and we'd receive a letter with his appointment. We still hadn't heard anything by his first birthday, so I raised it at our one year check up with the health visitor. They said they could refer us to a sort of less high up version of paediatric opthomology (I can't remember exactly what they were called, but it was like an eye doctor at the GP rather than the hospital), who checked him and of course, on that day, his eyes were performing well and she it took a lot of tests before it happened slightly. Regardless she said she'd refer us for an appointment, but then we never heard anything, again. He's now 15 months and the lazy eye is still an issue, I think it's gotten worse, but my husband thinks it's about the same as before. We went out for the day today and almost every photo I took of him, his eyes are in different directions. Every time I Google it it says it needs to be looked at before he's 7, which is a LONG way off, but I'm getting worried about being continually dismissed and forgotten about.

Has anyone encountered anything similar? Was intervention not needed/not needed until a later age? Who am I best contacting to push for a full eye check up? Can I just take him to a standard optician? I'm worried about not speaking up enough and resulting in him having permanent issues later in life, but also not sure if I'm just over reacting.

Is it a turn in his eye?

Yes - maybe lazy eye isn't the right term? One of his eyes turns outward

Do you have videos of this? It’s Sod’s Law that everything always seems fine by the time you get an appointment.

Eye conditions are really hard to diagnose with smaller children because they can’t follow all of the instructions. My DCs lazy eye was picked up in reception and it took 3m from it flagging to an actual appointment in a hospital bloody miles away.

So my.sister was born with a turn in her eye (Google it and you'll see if it's the same). She had to have eye surgery at like age 6 but it was present 24/7 so may be completely different. Can you go for an eye test at an opticians?

Yeah I have photos/videos where I've accidentally caught it. If I can get another appointment somewhere I might start the appointment with those!

Did you get an appointment for your DC through the GP?

I would take him to an optition yourself see what they say, they might treat him with patches or maybe hurry his eye clinic appointment along.

You dont see a lazy eye as that refers to the level of sight in the eye. Your child has a squint where the eye turns outwards.

When I noticed my dd had a squint at 18 months it was my health visitor that did a referral to the hospital orthoptist. She ended up with glasses as she was long sighted. She also had patching treatment as the squinting eye had poorer sight (was lazy) and the patch over the good eye forced the other eye to work.

At age 4 she had an eye operation as her eye still squinted even with her glasses on.

My DS had a lazy eye (Amblyopia), we didn't notice until he was 9 as he didn't show any issues, he was a bit clumsy but so is DH. His eyes both move together, but one didn't send signals to the brain. It was our optician that referred us to the hospital and the referral went through very quickly.

He had patching for a few hours a night, after 6 months the brain was receiving decent signals from his eye and, with glasses, he can see fine now. He only really has difficulty with his handwriting now (he had to try and learn again once his vision was corrected- it didn't go well), and still has no depth perception without the glasses.

Do chase it or go through the optician, if DS had been treated earlier he wouldn't have the handwriting problem and growing up with no depth perception isn't easy.

A high street optician likely wont be geared towards doing eye tests on a 15 month old. Could you ask your HV if they have a referral route?

Fair @dementedpixie i took my dd at 4 so.maybe not ideal for a baby

They sent us a letter following on from the screening and then they arranged all appointments themselves. Every 3 months now we just get a letter for a check up

Thanks so much for the responses everyone - I'll reach out to the HV and see if they can get a referral to the hospital Opthalmologist, otherwise will try via the GP again.

My DD had this aged 3. GP referred to hospital and we were seen within 4 weeks. Patching for 18 months and Botox within 3 months of referral and all is well now she’s aged 7. They said it was probably caused by a virus and sometimes this can cause a turn eye/squint/ lazy eye. She did actually need glasses but they said the two were unrelated.

Keep pushing with the GP and the hospital as early intervention important. And take photos and videos as others have mentioned.

Im sorry you have to go through this, it’s so frustrating that it’s a case of luck as to how quickly you referred rather than a standard universal amount of time wherever you live.