Exotropic Eyes...

Finnley83

Hi there,

My daughter is two years old.  Just recently I noticed that her eyes drift out occasionally when she is tired.  Usually if she blinks they go back to normal.  I have only seen this happen three times, but when I looked it up on google I found a lot of info on exotropic.  Most sites said that eye doctors may put a patch on the "good" eye to help the eye muscles on the weak eye work harder, or glasses could be used. Eye surgery was also mentioned which freaks me out!

 I am pretty sure she sees fine, and her eyes look completely normal in pictures, etc. I am the only one that saw her eyes do this. 

Does anyone have any experience with this? I put a call in to my daughter's doctor, as well as a children's eye doctor.

Thanks!!

MaxandRuby

DS2 (20mos) has strabismus with esotropia (eyes turn inward). He has been in glasses since 10mos old and he is also moderately to severely farsighted. Eyes crossing in, out, or drifting up or down is not normal and you should have it checked out by a pediatric ophthalmologist.Don't be afraid to get the eyes checked. And don't be afraid if your LO ends up needing glasses. I'd much rather have my child be seen by an eye doctor and be told that nothing was needed then to take the chance on the eyes having issues and not having those issues addressed.

For DS2, we are trying glasses first. Patching won't really work for us because both of his eyes cross intermittently (and not at the same time). Surgery is our last choice so we'll see how the glasses work.

Good luck!

Finnley83

Thanks so much for responding. Do you think I should have her pediatrician see her first, or should I just find a pediatric oph direcly?  I am pretty sure her eyes won't do it while we are in the pediatrician's office because it happens so infrequently.

If you don't mind me asking   What was the eye doctor apt like?  Did your LO's do okay?  Was it invasive at all?

Thanks again!

MaxandRuby

With my insurance we had to see our pediatrician as he is the one who has to put in a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist. So in regards to if you take your child to the pedi first may depend on your insurance. I can say that for us, the eye crossing DID happen with the pediatrician (during his 9mos well baby appt - DS2 eyes were crossing before that and it was something I brought up during that appt). The pedi basically said that since HE saw it it was an automatic referral but he would have done it anyway based on the parental report of it. 

He has had 2 opthalmology appts. The original and a follow up (which was basically the same type of appt). It was a couple hours long. We get called back, they took a history, looked in his eyes, and dilated them. Then we go back to the waiting room for 30min or so while the eyes dilate. Go back to the room and a thorough eye exam is done. The most invasive thing was him getting the drops in his eyes so nothing really invasive at all.  DS2 did fine at both appointments. He is actually having issues right now with not wanting to wear his glasses AT ALL so I'm going to have to go back to the doctor and get a new referral to make sure his eyes haven't changed since May (his last eye appt).

Eye crossing (of any direction) of any kind is not normal so it should be checked into.

Finnley83

Thanks again!

MaxandRuby

I agree with the pp about surgery. From what I've read it doesn't always fix it, sometimes you have to have a 2nd surgery, and sometimes it fixes the cosmetic part of it but not necessarily the issue.

Get the eyes checked and go from there!

Finnley83

Thanks so much!  I will make an eye appt asap.

gretchenh

DS's right eye turns outward when he is tired. I mentioned it to the pediatrician and we got a referral for a pediatric opthamologist. The turning isn't severe so we are just monitoring it. If it continues to occur vision therapy will be done to threaten it. When I called for his first appointment we got in within two weeks as that is their policy. Now we have to make the appointments 3-4 months out. After his last two appointments in the afternoon where I had to wake him from nap I made a morning appointment. They are lengthy appointments and he got too uncooperative at the end.

Finnley83

Thanks, Gretchenh

 What is the reasoning behind monitoring it before vision therapy starts? I am just curious if the doctor thought it might go away, or if it was not severe enough to do anything with? I have read that some cases correct themselves if not severe. And that patching could make it worse in some...?  I also read that in the cases where the eyes are normal for 80-90% of the time then the brain already knows how to work with the eye so surgery would not be recommended.  I have no idea if that is true...I guess I will find out more at the appt.  

I made an appointment for my daughter, but I am just wondering if your doctor thought it was a huge problem. Does your son have good vision otherwise?  Is that why glasses and/or patching was not recommended right away? 

Sorry for so many questions!