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alisonann15
member
Had a bad day....
alisonann15
member
At Farrah's PT today for torticollis her therapist pointed out that Farrah's left eye is not tracking objects evenly. She wants us to see an opthamologist. She also brought up the possibility of her having surgery if we don't get any improvement through PT. She has been in therapy since 4 months old and is now 7 1/2. We are not seeing improvement. I am so worried about my baby. She was 6 weeks preemie and it was so hard seeing her in the NICU. I can't imagine having to see my baby having surgery. I don't know if we should be seeing a specialist or what. So far she has only seen her pedi who referred us to the PT at the Children's hospital.
Alison & Britten-Married April 16, 2011 in Miami Beach
Farrah Ann arrived May 4, 2012- 6 weeks early! 5 lbs 6 oz. and 19 1/4 inches
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Had a bad day....
I would speak to a developmental pediatrician or any specialist you can. I have found that you have to be an aggressive advocate for your child because if you don't do it, no one else will.
My DD sees a pediatric Opthamologist because both of her eye's cross periodically. It is important to note that there are other interventions that you can try before surgery... glasses, patching and vision therapy. Some of them are not right for all cases, and are not as affective as surgery. But, there are risk and failure factors when it comes to surgery too.
Before you start to freak out, meet with the opthamologist. He'll be able to evaluate and identify what is best for your daughter.
Finally, I just want to say, even if your doctor does think your daughter will need surgery one day, it probably won't be until she is much older. My DD is almost 2 and her doctor is still talking about holding off on surgery. He reminds me, every six months, that as children grow, their eyesight improves... and it is possible that as Lily grows, she will grow out of her cross eyes.
P.S. My daughter was also a preemie, though admittedly much earlier than yours was. I just want to tell you to be careful this winter. Our first winter was a doozie. We were in the ER every month August through April, and we were admitted 3 times during that time.
My DD had eye surgery in July on both eyes for crossing. She's doing great. We patched for several months before doing the surgery. And even now we patch an hour a day to maintain the results. Honestly, it's one of the easiest surgeries to recovery from.
Our Optho (pediatric neurologica ophthalmologist - how's that for a sub specialty?) felt that DD's eye crossing had to do with the brain damage she'd suffered so he wanted to correct the muscular issue with the eyes since he couldn't fix her brain. Now that the muscles have been moved and she sees better, you can actually see when the eyes starts to cross that she consciously moves it back into place. It's pretty cool.
DD also has made leaps in her fine motor skills since having her surgery.
The take away is that surgery is scary, but the benefits, more often than not, outweigh the fears and good things come of the surgical improvements.
Hugs.
I think a pedi ophthalmologist is the right move to make. Getting her to focus equally with both eyes may also help with the torticollis. She may be tilting her head so things come together to see.
We patched Nate for about 6 months and that fixed his esotropia. Surgery was not required. Most doctor's like to try other things as well as wait until the child is older so they don't have to do a repeat procedure. You have options before surgery! Keep us posted and Good Luck!