How was your baby's squint treated?

[aloha]

My ds is now 10 months and still has a mild squint in his left eye, particularly when he is tired. I am supposed to have a hospital appointment but so far no sign of one coming up. I am a bit concerned as I thought he should be seen before he turns one. Also, I don't know what treatment options there are. Does anyone have experience of this? I would be grateful for any advice.
BTW he was born by c-section but they had to use forceps and afterwards he didn't open his left eye for several days, and when he did, his eyelid really drooped and he had a squint. I read on another post that squints might be caused by birth trauma and wondered if that might apply to my ds's case. Any thoughts?

[lou33]

Aloha my son has a squint and is now 17 months old. It developed when he was about 8 months old, and unfortunately it took a lot of persuading to get anyone to take notice. When he was eventually seen by a chidren's eye unit, they agreed with me that he did have a quite pronounced squint. After doing some initial assessments they booked him in for a specialised eye test, where drops are put into the eye 1 hour before the appointment to make the pupils enlarge. The doctor said he needed glasses, gave a prescription and my son now wears glasses all the time. He is checked regularly (yesterday was the last time) and his eyesight has improved although the squint has not. So now the squint seems to be affecting him only cosmetically because he is "swapping" the squint from eye to eye when he needs to (therefore using both eyes equally), the decision is whether or not to perform surgery to starighten it before he starts school to avoid any possible hassle he might get.

The route they were possibly going to take until his sight improved was, glasses, patching then an operation if necessary. I was told that it is important to get the squint sorted before the age of 7 if it affecting his vision because after that age the child will start seeing in double vision, because the brain cannot cope.

If you have been waiting a while then I would get on the phone and ask where the appointment is. The earlier he gets seen the better chance of success with his treatment. Don't know if this makes sense but I hope this has helped!

[tufty]

"/3 of my sons developed a squint before age 1 but after 6mths and have been diagnosed as long sighted and have to wear glassess all the time. I had to push for the elder to be referred as the squint was internittent as it related to focussing and so the Dr never saw it... but when we saw the consultant he said it was v extreme long sight and would have enedein loss of sight in one eye if not treated... so push for a date and don't let anyonr put you off! good luck.

[Tinker]

My daughter's eyesight sounds similar to your eldest's Tufty. The patching is a real problem though because there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get it done in the evening alone - 'they' don't encouage patching during school time. I was alarmed at her last hospital check when they said that the sight in her poorer eye was below driving standard now though.

So yes, aloha, bets to get it seen to sooner rather than later. My daughter's squint only became obvious once she started to wear glasses.

[tufty]

I don't think that sounds too fair , not having patches at school... is it the school who aren't keen? If so you need to educate them! Despite appalllingly bad long sight patching did prevent my sons left eye from weakening further and now his eyes are almost equal and you only notice if he's v tired. Don't ever give in if people don't cooperate... its your childs future! ( SORRY I've had to fight for so much I'm really intolerant now when others are obstructive to a childs wellbeing...)

[aloha]

Thanks for this advice, everyone. I think it is time to nag the dr again about the referral.

[nics1stbaby]

Dear Aloha,

My brother had a squint which was corrected by 2 eye operations when he was younger. His squint was spotted when he was about 10 months, and back then (he is 28 now) the doctors were really into the patch idea. He had to wear a patch over one side of his glassed from about the age for 4 to 6. This didn't work at all.... His eyes basically work independently of one another, and always will. He had one eye op when he was an early teen. This op unfortunately over corrected his squint, so he had another successful op when he was about 15. He doesn't wear glasses as his eyesight is perfect...

[niceglasses]

I had 2 ops on a squint when I was very young - 6 months and 2 I think. I think my Mum had to fight quite hard to get them to take it seriously.

My eyes have gradually deteriorated over the years - I'm now 33 and they are like spinning tops in all different directions. Its quite embarrassing and I would encourage you to get that appt. It actually dents my confidence a bit & I do notice pple really trying to work out where I'm looking. I've devised all sorts of things to avoid looking at pple I'm sure they sometimes think me rude....

I think the ops aren't as successful the older you get, so good luck.