xinerevelle
04-16-2007, 08:42 PM
I'm pretty sure that my 5 month old daughter has strabismus (exotropia, to be exact) -- where her eyes don't work well together. From everything I've read about it, babies don't outgrow it, as I've been told anecdotely from friends and neighbors. Her left eye seems "off" from her right eye about 75% of the time, but only by 5 or 10 degrees.
Of course, at her 4 month checkup her eyes seemed relatively normal, but to appease me, the doc made a referral to a pediatric ophthamologist. Living in a small town, we have to wait until the travelling ped. ophth. comes to town again (and has an appt. available) so we don't see her until May 28.
In the meantime, I notice that my daughter tilts her head most of the time, rarely holding it straight up. From what I've read online, that seems to be an indication that she's having a hard time seeing correctly and is trying to compensate for it.
A concern about her vision is that if her brain detects two different images it may just shut down the message from one eye permanently, which would limit her depth perception.
Anyone else have experience with this? I did a search but didn't come up with anything.
Of course, at her 4 month checkup her eyes seemed relatively normal, but to appease me, the doc made a referral to a pediatric ophthamologist. Living in a small town, we have to wait until the travelling ped. ophth. comes to town again (and has an appt. available) so we don't see her until May 28.
In the meantime, I notice that my daughter tilts her head most of the time, rarely holding it straight up. From what I've read online, that seems to be an indication that she's having a hard time seeing correctly and is trying to compensate for it.
A concern about her vision is that if her brain detects two different images it may just shut down the message from one eye permanently, which would limit her depth perception.
Anyone else have experience with this? I did a search but didn't come up with anything.
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Kel123
05-10-2007, 06:23 PM
Hi,
I have 2 children with the exact same thing. My daughter had surgery to correct the eye muscles at 3 years old and has been wonderful since. Her eyes are perfectly aligned now and she has perfect vision. Before her surgery, she squinted whenever focusing and especially outside in sunlight. She also tilted her head a lot. My specialist said the tilting and squinting was do to the double vision she was having. My son, I noticed the eye wandering out when he was 4 mos old. His was very severe. We did a trial of patching to no avail. His brain was already starting to shut off to the eye (my dr. said if they can blink and the eye stays out during a blink, then the brain is ignoring the eye) he had surgery at 8 mos old and did great initially. Now, at his 1 year check up (we go May 14th) I am noticing his left eye is turned into his nose--the exact opposite of previously. Needless to say, I hate the thought of another surgery, but getting the eyes corrected at a young age is pertinant to them developing normal visual pathways. I have 1 week to wait and see what the dr. sais. He is now 21 mos old. My other daughter is 6 years old with no problems. The surgery is gory (very bloody eyes that are hard to look at and if you go out in public people look at you like you have beaten your child) :( The good thing is that it didn't seem very uncomfortable for either of my kids. Sorry you are having to deal with this, but please take it seriously and find a really great dr. that is Key! Any further questions, let me know.
Kelley
I have 2 children with the exact same thing. My daughter had surgery to correct the eye muscles at 3 years old and has been wonderful since. Her eyes are perfectly aligned now and she has perfect vision. Before her surgery, she squinted whenever focusing and especially outside in sunlight. She also tilted her head a lot. My specialist said the tilting and squinting was do to the double vision she was having. My son, I noticed the eye wandering out when he was 4 mos old. His was very severe. We did a trial of patching to no avail. His brain was already starting to shut off to the eye (my dr. said if they can blink and the eye stays out during a blink, then the brain is ignoring the eye) he had surgery at 8 mos old and did great initially. Now, at his 1 year check up (we go May 14th) I am noticing his left eye is turned into his nose--the exact opposite of previously. Needless to say, I hate the thought of another surgery, but getting the eyes corrected at a young age is pertinant to them developing normal visual pathways. I have 1 week to wait and see what the dr. sais. He is now 21 mos old. My other daughter is 6 years old with no problems. The surgery is gory (very bloody eyes that are hard to look at and if you go out in public people look at you like you have beaten your child) :( The good thing is that it didn't seem very uncomfortable for either of my kids. Sorry you are having to deal with this, but please take it seriously and find a really great dr. that is Key! Any further questions, let me know.
Kelley
prairie_dawn
05-11-2007, 10:14 AM
I have no advice but hope you get this sorted out fast and get the treatment that is needed soon. Good luck
xinerevelle
05-12-2007, 02:34 PM
Thanks for your replies, ladies.
Interestingly enough, after I posted this (and made the doctor's appt) I don't seem to notice the eye wandering as much... lol! Isn't that always the case??? Second guessing myself, I think.
Glad to know that I'm not the only one dealing with this (was beginning to think I was!) and that the surgery isn't too awful.
Thanks again!
Interestingly enough, after I posted this (and made the doctor's appt) I don't seem to notice the eye wandering as much... lol! Isn't that always the case??? Second guessing myself, I think.
Glad to know that I'm not the only one dealing with this (was beginning to think I was!) and that the surgery isn't too awful.
Thanks again!
Kel123
05-12-2007, 04:08 PM
Your welcome!!
It is a very serious problem that you should definitely have seen by a specialist, so I hope you follow through with your appt. It was hard to see with my son, but the dr. does specialized tests that actually make the eye wander. Good luck, and I hope she doesn't need surgery.
Kelley
It is a very serious problem that you should definitely have seen by a specialist, so I hope you follow through with your appt. It was hard to see with my son, but the dr. does specialized tests that actually make the eye wander. Good luck, and I hope she doesn't need surgery.
Kelley
xinerevelle
05-29-2007, 08:48 PM
Well, we had the appt with the Pediatric Opthamologist yesterday and she recommended surgery and patching.
Apparently our DD has a milder form of Brown Syndrome, which is pretty rare, but it just means that in addition to the traditional Strabismus surgery where the side muscle(s) are cut, she will also have the top muscle cut and reattached to loosen it some. It is too tight and is causing her eye to be off 45* (rotated around). That's why she tilts her head to see! Makes perfect sense to me now!
The poor thing is also taking a long time to metabolize the dilation drops... it's been about 30 hours now and both eyes are still a little dilated and her left one is more noticeably dilated than the right. I asked her pediatrician about it at her 6 month check up today, and he said not to worry about it. She's just taking awhile to metabolize the drops. And of course, we live in FL where it's BRIGHT and SUNSHINY all the time. She's been wearing her sunglasses alot the past two days.
She's also not thrilled with the patches -- crying when I put them on. I hope they help her amblyopia (the brain shutting down the poorly-working eye's messages). The ped. opth. says that it will "come back pretty quickly" since she's so young.
Surgery is scheduled for June 22, about 150 miles away. We have another pre-op visit with the doctor (Irene Ludwig) the day before, so we'll probably just stay overnight there.
I hope her surgery goes as smoothly as your daughter's did, Kel. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Apparently our DD has a milder form of Brown Syndrome, which is pretty rare, but it just means that in addition to the traditional Strabismus surgery where the side muscle(s) are cut, she will also have the top muscle cut and reattached to loosen it some. It is too tight and is causing her eye to be off 45* (rotated around). That's why she tilts her head to see! Makes perfect sense to me now!
The poor thing is also taking a long time to metabolize the dilation drops... it's been about 30 hours now and both eyes are still a little dilated and her left one is more noticeably dilated than the right. I asked her pediatrician about it at her 6 month check up today, and he said not to worry about it. She's just taking awhile to metabolize the drops. And of course, we live in FL where it's BRIGHT and SUNSHINY all the time. She's been wearing her sunglasses alot the past two days.
She's also not thrilled with the patches -- crying when I put them on. I hope they help her amblyopia (the brain shutting down the poorly-working eye's messages). The ped. opth. says that it will "come back pretty quickly" since she's so young.
Surgery is scheduled for June 22, about 150 miles away. We have another pre-op visit with the doctor (Irene Ludwig) the day before, so we'll probably just stay overnight there.
I hope her surgery goes as smoothly as your daughter's did, Kel. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Kel123
05-31-2007, 12:57 PM
Oh, I am so sorry,
We also did the patching on my son when he was 6 mos old for 3 mos. It did help a little bit with the brain thing, but he hated it, and cried and pulled at it the entire time. My son's visit checked out ok. No problems, I am just so paranoid now. He gets checked every 6 mos now for a couple years. It is hard to see your child with eyes that are a complete shade of bright red blood, but it wasn't that painful for either of my kids. Just be prepared that it is quite shocking to see. Hopefully she will do great. It has helped both of my children tremendously, and I am glad that we had the surgery done. I couldn't live myself if they had permanent eye damage. Good luck, and I will be sending little hugs to your daughter. How old is she??? There is a book called Blueberry eyes that goes over the whole procedure. We read it to our daughter a couple days before her surgery but she was 3--I just remembered yours is 6 mos like my son--good because they won't remember and don't really know what is going on, and bad because they are so little :( Take care and good luck.
Kelley
We also did the patching on my son when he was 6 mos old for 3 mos. It did help a little bit with the brain thing, but he hated it, and cried and pulled at it the entire time. My son's visit checked out ok. No problems, I am just so paranoid now. He gets checked every 6 mos now for a couple years. It is hard to see your child with eyes that are a complete shade of bright red blood, but it wasn't that painful for either of my kids. Just be prepared that it is quite shocking to see. Hopefully she will do great. It has helped both of my children tremendously, and I am glad that we had the surgery done. I couldn't live myself if they had permanent eye damage. Good luck, and I will be sending little hugs to your daughter. How old is she??? There is a book called Blueberry eyes that goes over the whole procedure. We read it to our daughter a couple days before her surgery but she was 3--I just remembered yours is 6 mos like my son--good because they won't remember and don't really know what is going on, and bad because they are so little :( Take care and good luck.
Kelley
xinerevelle
06-07-2007, 03:05 PM
Thanks for the encouragement, Kel!
It's funny how when something like this comes up, you start to notice it on lots of people. Or when we go out in public and she's wearing her patch cashiers will comment on it, mentioning family members (or even themselves!) that had to patch or had surgery or should have had surgery, etc. We also went to a wedding last weekend and sat a table with a guy who was in his 50's and desperately needed surgery for his eye -- it was REALLY off. Too bad...
I've read lots about the surgery and how it doesn't cause much pain, and I appreciate the things you've said, both on this board and posts you've made to the vision board.
For everyone else, if you think there is even a REMOTE possibility that your child has a vision problem, get it checked out!!
It's funny how when something like this comes up, you start to notice it on lots of people. Or when we go out in public and she's wearing her patch cashiers will comment on it, mentioning family members (or even themselves!) that had to patch or had surgery or should have had surgery, etc. We also went to a wedding last weekend and sat a table with a guy who was in his 50's and desperately needed surgery for his eye -- it was REALLY off. Too bad...
I've read lots about the surgery and how it doesn't cause much pain, and I appreciate the things you've said, both on this board and posts you've made to the vision board.
For everyone else, if you think there is even a REMOTE possibility that your child has a vision problem, get it checked out!!
Kel123
06-12-2007, 03:57 PM
I hope everthything goes well for your daughter. My daughter, who had a lot of visual disturbances from this, is now perfectly normal, doesn't turn her head to see, doesn't squint, and is sooo much better! Good luck!
Kelley
Kelley