what do you think................. Please

[anniebear]

Sorry, after your free advice again!!!!

Ellie has a very strong turn in her eye. She will have surgery at some stage, but just for cosmetic reasons.

I don't know when to have the surgery done???????

We say when!

She has just turned 4 and wouldn't know what was going on.

The hospital suggested that with her starting School it may be best to have it done in case any one was horrible about it.

But she is mainly at SN School and won't get skitted at there.

But she does do a session at Mainstream

I just don't know when to have it done.

My Husband doesn't think we should put her through it, but I want her to look nice on her School Photo!!!!!!!!! And think she has enough problems without anyone thinking 'uggh' at her wonky eye.

What would you do?

Its a very personal decision, but for me personally, I would rather my daughter had any surgery as soon as possible to avoid the problem getting any worse.

Jess has her first appointment with a specialist next monday about a horrible squinty eye and she's 13 months, and if anything needs doing, i would rather it done asap.

Anniebear - horrible decision, but yes, I would have it done asap. As you say, the more 'advantages' you can give her (in the eyes of other kids that is), the better.

dd has a dermoid on her eye and although it doesn't actually affect her sight it is fairly visible as it overlaps her iris. We have been advised to wait until at least 7 before considering surgery as the eye doesn't fully develop until then and risks of it affecting her sight, though very slight, would be reduced. I can understand early intervention for a condition which will get worse or cause visual problems but less so for purely cosmetic reasons. dd starts school this week but hitherto no other child has commented, even older ones.

they do keep a good eye on her (excuse the pun!!!) we are seen very regularly, and they are certain that she is using both eyes the same.

One mentioned leaving it towards 7 and others have suggested it now.

Just been though so much and I know a simple eye surgery is going to bring back memories of two lots of brain surgery and not recovering well from the anaesthetic

anniebear, it's highly possible that the other children just wouldn't notice - especially at reception age. My ds who is starting reception tomorrow hasn't noticed that one of his friends who he sees very regularly is autistic, and spends a lot of time with no clothes on - he just accepts it! I've also heard of children having things corrected and the other children just not noticing a difference at all. I think I would leave it until she's a bit older. Is there any medical preference for now or later?

No medical preference, purely cosmetic at the moment

Obviously there is a chance the eye could get worse and she could stop using it, then it could be too late

But they do see her regulary

No it is n't a straightforward decision. Our advice came from an opthamologist in Switzerland and we have yet to get a referral in UK who may well give a differing opinion. If dd's new classmates do make an issue of it (it is the sort of school where that would be greatly frowned upon btw) we might feel more motivated to think about it sooner. As it doesn't affect her everyday life we would prefer to let her to choose whether to "correct" it or not, and if so when. However given the complexiites of Ellie's problems I could well understand why you may consider it sooner rather than later.

I had the same operation done for a 'lazy eye' when I was 5 years old although it was done for medical not cosmetic reasons. I'm now 39 and only have a vague recollection of being in hospital. I'm very aware of my 'wonky eye' in my childhood photos but now its not so noticeable.

My 3 year old ds has Nystagmus and a squint and if the orthoptist thinks that an operation will straighten out his squint when he's older (even for cosmetic reasons) then I will have it done.

It is a very personal decision but its one that I would certainly do sooner rather than later

We had it done with ds2, on the basis that he had enough on his plate to cope with as he got older, so we wanted to minimise anything people could use to have a pop at him.

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