Preemies

Glasses?

So we had our first follow up eye exam since his initial ROP exams (Griffin is 9 mos actual / 6 mos adjusted) - the doctor was a little concerned about his eyes, she said she doesn't want to put him in glasses quite yet but we need to follow up again in six months. She said there's a chance that the problem could correct itself but that we should watch for him crossing his eyes and if we see that to go back and see her sooner. Of course now I'm scrutinizing every little look trying to figure out if he's got a lazy eye or not. Has anyone dealt with this / have any advice? I guess I'm not really sure what I'm looking for...
Hoping this one stays put a little longer
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Re: Glasses?

  • M did not have ROP, but she had some other eye things and we discovered during the course of appointments that M is very nearsighted.  We have had eye appts every 6 months and she is 14 months.  We were also told, like you were, to watch for eye crossing and come back sooner if she does it.  No glasses yet, but soon if it doesn't get much better.  If you notice delays in fine motor, you might ask for an appt sooner--being farsighted can have consequences for a lot of developmental things since if you can't see something, you may not want to crawl for it, reach for it, manipulate it.  I think you would notice if his eyes were doing something unusual.  I would call for any weird eye movements that you noticed at least few times.  I didn't want glasses because they can be expensive and I didn't want the battle over wearing them.  But a lot of kids like wearing glasses because they can see better.  Now I am really wishing we had them because now that she's walking, I'm really bummed that she can't see things outdoors and seems more likely to trip.  I know there are a few ROP moms on here, so perhaps someone else has more insight.  
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  • @brachysira‌, thank you so much! He doesn't actually have ROP, we just had to continue the exams after discharge. We'll definitely continue to watch and see if anything develops...
    Hoping this one stays put a little longer
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  • Lily's eyes cross.  I don't know how much of that is a result of being farsighted, or how much of it is a result of her CP.  We have tried glasses (she wouldn't keep them on) and patching (she kept it on, but it didn't make a difference).  We may be moving to surgery.  But, now that Lily is in a wheelchair, I think her eyesight has improved, so we are having it checked again.
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  • We had a very similar experience with our 30 weeker. He was born in May and discharged in July. We saw the ophthalmologist in December to follow up on his ROP that had resolved before discharge.

    We were told that from a ROP/preemie standpoint he looked great but that he was severely farsighted. We are to go back this summer to recheck and decide about glasses but told to come in immediately if we notice crossing as well. If there is crossing they want to get glasses going ASAP.

    We had a follow up EI eval last week and they brought in a visual therapist who said he looked pretty good but again just keep and eye on him (no pun intended). So if you have any involvement with EI you could ask about that option just for peice of mind. I know it helped us break up the 6 month wait to follow up and make sure we are not missing anything.

    Also as a side note I was a full term baby and had a lazy eye. I had two surgeries, one at a year and another in 4th grade. At 31 years old you would never know!

    Sorry this ended up being so long and good luck!
  • Thanks so much for the replies ladies! I really appreciate it. We haven't had any involvement with EI yet, we need to schedule something but of course it involves going back to Denver (4hrs away)... Anyway, I appreciate you all sharing your experiences!
    Hoping this one stays put a little longer
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  • DS2 (4.5yr with CP) has worn glasses since he was 10mos old.  No ROP but both his eyes were crossing intermittently and he is really near sighted.  Patching was not an option for us because both of his eyes crossed (not at the same time - had to do with focusing).  He had eye surgery 2yr ago this coming July to correct the crossing (the glasses did not resolve the crossing issue) and he still wears glasses due to his near sightedness. 
  • direy25 said:
    Thanks so much for the replies ladies! I really appreciate it. We haven't had any involvement with EI yet, we need to schedule something but of course it involves going back to Denver (4hrs away)... Anyway, I appreciate you all sharing your experiences!


    I don't recall your exact situation, but usually you can just call your town's EI people yourself and you don't need a referral or a large city to get an evaluation.
  • direy25 said:
    Thanks so much for the replies ladies! I really appreciate it. We haven't had any involvement with EI yet, we need to schedule something but of course it involves going back to Denver (4hrs away)... Anyway, I appreciate you all sharing your experiences!


    I don't recall your exact situation, but usually you can just call your town's EI people yourself and you don't need a referral or a large city to get an evaluation.
    Thank you, I'll have to look into that - my pedi had asked us at our last appointment if we had scheduled a screening in Denver so not sure if that means there isn't anything out here, or if she just assumed that's where we'd go back to.
    Hoping this one stays put a little longer
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  • amgaryamgary member
    edited June 2014
    We just had our 6 month follow up at the optometrist and we have to get glasses. Apparently his eyes are turning in to focus as well....I feel terrible that I hadn't even noticed!

    Hopefully he will tolerate them. I don't know why but this was especially hard for me to take and resulted in a break down at the doctor office. As a preemie mom I feel like we take one step forward and then five steps back some days....

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