Pre-School and Daycare
Tootermi
member
"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"--Harry, When Harry Met Sally
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Strabismus
Tootermi
member
Anyone's little one have surgery for this?
"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"--Harry, When Harry Met Sally
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Re: Strabismus
Yes!
I believe strabismus was the general term for it.
My daughter's specific issue was called intermittent exotropia.
Her right eye would sort of drift/wander outward sometimes.
I had noticed something when she was a baby, and it wasn't very prominent, I wrote it off as her just looking in different directions. Then all of a sudden, when she was....I forget how old honestly........9 months maybe? It got very noticeable. I had noticed it happening a lot more frequently, and more obvious, and 2 days later my mom and husband said something.
We took her to her primary care doctor, who agreed it was an issue, and referred us to an ophthalmologist. He checked her out, gave us info, and informed us it was an eye muscle issue.
She had her eye surgery in May 2012. It was definitely rough, especially since she was only 15 months old.
She recovered pretty well though. We go back every 3 months for a checkup, and he says there is a definite possibility that she may need a follow up surgery in the future (but for now he likes the way everything looks).
He also said that she needs to be monitored fairly closely for the next 7 years (Why 7? I don't really remember).
She goes every 3 months now, then I think the second year maybe just every 6 months, then eventually just once a year I think (as long as everything looks good).
How old is yours and what's going on?
I'm Tiffany by the way :-)
Hi Tiffany. I'm Lisa. My daughter has the same problem as yours!! We didn't notice until she was older though, around 2. We saw the ophthalmologist when she was 2.5 (it took forever to get an appt!) and we decided to try Atropine drop therapy first. We avoided patching because we didn't think it would benefit her since the doctor was recommending 3 hours a day for 6-8 weeks. There's NO way I would have gotten her to cooperate for that amount of time! She turned 3 on Jan 10th. Her surgery was this past Wednesday and we had her first follow up this morning. Her eyes are still crossed and she's having some double vision, but the doctor reassures us this is all normal. It's just hard to see her like this, but I'm sure you know that already means your daughter was only 15 months when she had it done. I definitely think it's harder on us then on them right now!
Does your daughter have any vision problems? Right now my DD has great vision and no need for glasses. She hasn't told us how often we will need to follow up in the next few years. We go back in 3 weeks now and I'm guessing she will tell us then what the plan will be from here on out. She did tell us before the surgery she might require an additional surgery in the future, but I'm hoping for the best!
ETA: my daughter's left eye was the bad one, though. You can kinda notice it in the current picture I have in my siggy.
"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"--Harry, When Harry Met Sally
Our situation has been a rough one.
Because she was so young when she had the surgery, she really couldn't communicate anything to us!!
They did the surgery on a Monday, and had us come into the office for a follow up the next day. After that is when they started us on the 3 month appt. cycle. We actually just had an appt. like a week ago.
So far he just keeps telling us that he likes the way everything looks right now.
UNFORTUNATELY, my daughter is only 23 months, and also has a pretty substantial speech delay :-(
So this still makes communication hard, and I don't even know how we would know if something in her vision is bothering her!
How do you really do an eye exam on someone who can't talk to you? It worries me a lot.
Our ophth. did tell us that after the surgery the eye may be turned in a little, but would go straighter as the muscles like loosened or whatever. Well it wasn't like that. It looked great right after surgery! Totally straight.
Then a couple months went by. And I started noticing it turning in a little sometimes. And that frightened me! He told me it might do that at the beginning, but then relax and go straight. To me, it was doing the opposite of what he said! That was in like August/September, and we brought it to his attention, he said it was fine for now.
My parents and my husband don't think the turning in as significant as it was back in the fall, so maybe that's another good sign.
I do have to be honest, I hate this waiting game. Never knowing if the next appointment will be the one where he tells us she needs another surgery.
She was just my little baby with the first one, and I'm sure it's always bad having a child get surgery but I was a pretty big mess about it. She was so little, and looked so miserable, she was just SCREAMING, and couldn't tell us what to do.
I think I'm scared to ever go through it again, even though she's older!!
I'm sorry it's been rough for you. My daughter also had a speech delay! Have you called Early Intervention yet? I waited until my daughter was a little over 2 before I called thinking it would get better, but it didn't. EI helped SO much. Her speech started to improve pretty quickly and it got SO much better. It's not perfect, but we are able to understand most of what she's saying now. She's starting preschool next week and I hope it continues to improve.
When we saw the ophth. for her first follow up and she says everything looks great right now. Her left eye is still a little crossed, but she says it's normal although it's hard to see her like that. We go back in a few weeks, so I'm hoping for good news, although I'm also scared she's going to tell us she needs another surgery
I'm going to PM you my email address if you want to chat. Sounds like our girls have a lot in common and it's always nice to have some support. Take care!
"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible"--Harry, When Harry Met Sally