Step 1: The choice of ptosis surgery is guided mainly by the amount of LEVATOR FUNCTION. Good levator function favours levator-based procedures; poor or absent levator function does not.
Step 2: When levator function is poor (as in this child), levator resection, mullerectomy and the Fasanella-Servat procedure are inappropriate because they all depend on a working levator or are meant for minimal ptosis with good function.
Step 3: Frontalis suspension (sling) is the operation of choice for poor or absent levator function, typically in congenital ptosis. The eyelid is slung to the frontalis muscle so that raising the eyebrow lifts the lid.
Step 4: Hence, for a child with ptosis and poor levator function, the correct surgery is frontalis suspension, option (d).