Miss3's eye is turning in!

Damn and bugger.

DD has been really sick for a couple of weeks and we noticed her left eye seemed a bit lazy. I put it done to her being exhausted from all the coughing (bronchitis) and the sickness in general.

She also has a side part with her hair falling in her eyes most of the time (has decided we aren't allowed to brush her hair or tie it back etc), and I also thought that was contributing. So I have been putting clips in her fringe to keep it out of her eyes (with permission of course!) and she is nearly recovered from the bronchitis...but the eye seems to be getting worse.

What is it? A "lazy eye" and does that happen all of a sudden? Do I take her to the docs or optometrist????

Lulu, take her to an optometrist to have her eyes tested. OPSM will bulk bill medicare for it so you wont have to pay. My eldest had a lazy eye since he was about 10mths old and it turned out that he is actually long sighted and the eye had to turn so he could focus etc. He now wears glases and a patch for 1hr per day (when the little bugger does wear it LOL) but he was a really extreme case. It could be that its just a combination of what you've said above and it will sort itself out, or it could be the start of eye issues for her - we didn't take DS to get them checked till he was 5.5yo because it wasn't a problem till then.

It turns right in to her nose...I can't see that helping to focus anything, I hope it sorts itself.

The poor kid - she had a stack with her brother on the trampoline a few weeks ago and now I've noticed her front tooth turning a bit grey now...she's falling apart my little angel!

Poor bugger :(

Definitely get her in to see someone.

Trill - you would be happy to know we are getting DS seen in June by a specialist about his eye - had to wait 6 months to see someone here on the coast :(

Mine does that when I am very tired. It's muscle thing for me. There are exercises that the optometrist can give to strengthen it so she won't need corrective lenses like me! :-)

If it's turning in that far, then it does sound like it's more than just hair being in her eye. It's an odd concept that they need to turn their eye in to be able to see, but that's what he was doing. He gets the poos now though because he can't do magic eye books cause his eye doesn't turn in now ROFL.

Mel, that's a really long wait. We only had to wait 6wks between the optometrists appt to the Opthamologists one.

Trill - this is for a paed opthomelogist? so not a optometrist (god these words are hard to spell)

Sorry to hijack Lulu xx

Lucy - when i was little (significantly younger than your DD) i had such a bad turn in my eye when i was trying to focus - i would essentially go cross eyed all the time! thankfully my parents were on it quickly (cos dad has dodgy eyes so were looking for it) and pushed to get me seen by someone at a young age. i can't recall now if i was long or short sighted (seeing i now have one eye that is each!), but i also had an astigmatism which can make focussing difficult. what your DD has might be a simple case of lazy eye (which, as Trillian said, patching the other eye can help cos she has no choice but to use the lazy eye and strenghthen the muscles) but it may also be a sign of something more so it's definitely worth getting it seen to. i've had glasses since i was 11 months old due to my probs with my eyes - and apparently the only time i ever touched them was when my eyes had improved to the point i needed a new script and the old one was hurting my eyes....

i would definitely get DD seen to hun - if the optometrist is unsure, get a referral to an opthamologist - most optometrists rely on your response to guage whether something is improving your vision (very hard for a youngster) but the opthamologist will actually be able to tell by the reaction of the eye to different stimulus whether there is a need for glasses. i can still remember my appts when i was your DD's age! thankfully i had a good opthamologist (had to travel to box hill though so hated that bit!)

It really feels like its come out of the blue, I will make an appt today.

thanks girlies!

Mel, Opthamologists are more specialised and can do eye surgery etc. But optometrists can still test your eyes etc. DS was referred to one because at first the optometrist throught he might need surgery to correct it etc.

If its stabismus I'd go for the opthamologist. Sam has a strabismus, got it from his dad. Had it since he was quite young and the optha basically said because he was still using both eyes equally, he was willing to wait and see if Sam would strengthen it himself. If not, he would operate after he turned 4 so it was corrected before he had to start school.

Sam is 6 now and still using both eyes equally - even though he still has the turn (not as noticable though). Rest assured they will do everything they can to avoid putting your babe through surgery - but you need one that understands how bad certain things can be at school with patches and the like. This sadly isnt just a sitch for their physical well-being, but their mental and emotional wellbeing is on the line too with how the doc handles it.

Best of luck with it all, Lu.