Conference moira::parenting_v3

I'm not really an expert on this, but I do know that my nephew (on my husbands
side) had a lazy eye.  He was operated on at 3 years old.  He was taken into
hospital in the morning, and was out by the evening.  He had to have the muscle
in the eye cut and then stitched up.  He had about three stitches, with an awful
amount of blood, but other than looking bad, he did'nt seem to have any 
discomfort!

So looking on the worst side, you will probably go through alot more than you
child will (mentally speaking!!)

I doubt very much if it will come to an operation, most can be done with patches
etc. so try to relax!

    I'm also not an expert on lazy eyes, but my eyes have been operated on
    twice for this condition.  Once when I was four years old and again
    when I was fourteen.  The reason why I had to have the corrective
    surgery repeated at the age of 14 was because they had "slipped back". 
    The doctor over corrected my eyes the second time around to allow for
    the slippage and I had to wear what they called prisms for a year,
    constantly at first and then gradually until they were no longer needed.
    I was considered legally blind before I had the first operation because 
    of the fact that I had no control over the muscles in my eyes and they 
    would wonder constantly.  At times they would roll completely and you'd 
    see only white.  Both times I was hospitalized overnight (I don't
    remember the exact length of stay, but it wasn't more then a couple of
    days) and I never received any stitches (I won't get into the procedure
    cause it's kind of gross).  I wasn't in much pain after the surgery (I
    don't remember too much about the first surgery) but I did have to wear
    a patch over my eye for a while, about a week or so if I remember
    correctly.
    
    Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about this.  It's quite common from
    what I understand.  Wait until you see the doctor before getting upset
    about it.
    
    Lori B.  

    Now I'm really worried.  It never occurred to me that the slight
    wandering might require surgery.  I hope there's someone out there who
    knows of this being corrected with something less drastic.

    I just entered a note under "child's surgery" about Christopher's
    surgery for this.  The name you're looking for, I believe, is
    Strabismus.  Along with strabismus (lazy eye) usually goes Amblyopia,
    which simply means that the vision is not equal in both eyes.  This is
    a concern in children because their eyes/vision is still developing. 
    The brain eventually ignores the input from one eye (the weaker one),
    to the point that the vision discontinues development, and eventually
    all vision is lost in that eye.
    
    Chris was diagnosed with this when he was about 2 1/2.  He's 6 1/2 now.
    He wears an eye patch every day, for two hours, over his GOOD eye, to
    encourage his weak eye to develop normal vision.  According to his Dr.
    this is something that MUST be followed religiously until he's about
    10, which is when the vision is pretty much developed, and loss of
    sight is no longer a concern in the weaker eye.  Eyeglasses have never
    been suggested for him.  His vision at last check was 20/25 and 20/35. 
    The idea is not so much to strive for 20/20 as it is to make sure that
    WHATever the vision is, it's equal in both eyes.
    
    For his initial appointment, he was dilated and the Dr. examined his
    eyes physically.  Before this they did a vision test (using pictures of
    a b.day cake, phone, horse etc).  They determined that he has small
    optical nerves (a result of a diabetic mom - but no problem), and that
    his left eye wanders, greater than 30 degrees when straight, greater
    than 60 degrees when looking up, and less than 30 degrees looking down.
    The appointment was pretty simple - remember to bring sunglasses as
    being dilated can make even normal light seem *QUITE* bright.
    
    Corrective surgery was done when he was ~4yrs old.  It helped but did
    not fix things completely.  There's speculation that it will need to be
    repeated as his upwards-looking drift has gotten much worse since
    surgery.  Sigh.
    
    More than anything, it's a nuisance.  It's slightly uncomfortable for
    him to wear the eye patches, but after 4 years of this, he's used to
    it.  We don't even think about it, and sometimes we'll go out when his
    eye is patched, and the reactions from people are really amazing!! 
    OHMIGOD!!!!!!!! WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!?!????  Once in a while his little
    brother will ask to wear a patch, or we'll have to patch up a stuffed
    animal (-;  For the most part, it's no problem.
    
    NOTE: Be careful about what your Dr says, ASK QUESTIONS, and make sure
    they do something!!  We had taken Chris to my eye Drs at first, and
    they weren't going to do anything about it - just let time go by and
    see what happened.  Since it was getting worse, rapidly, we insisted on
    a second opinion, and were sent to Lexington Eye Assoc., where they
    decided that patching was necessary to save the vision in his wandering
    eye, and surgery was inevitable.  So, if you don't feel comfortable
    with what your doctor says, seek a second opinion - we're glad we did!
    
    Incidentally, this is a life-long problem, and they said that he will
    ALWAYS need to be aware of his eyes and any wandering that could crop
    up ANY time in his life.
    
    Not to scare you, but a friend of mine's wife had a wandering eye as a
    child.  They operated on it, it got better, but not perfect.  In Jr.
    High it started wandering much worse, but no one did anything about it. 
    She is now legally blind in that eye - all she sees is shadows.  Please
    don't ignore this!
    
    Good Luck!
    Patty

    
    I've got 2 kids (1 boy, 1 girl) with "Lazy eye"/ Amblyopia. First of
    all you need to know that this is most likely genetic and inherited.
    Second, I'm assuming that this child is around a year old. That's 
    good. The earlier they catch it the less chance surgery even becomes
    a consideration.  The treatment is usually patches or drops. Glasses
    are only a consideration if the vision is significantly impaired. 
    Both of my kids required glasses. My son wore them from 6 months. He's
    very farsighted. My duaghter wore them from about a year but her eyes
    weren't as bad and she no longer requires them. BTW my kids are now
    12 and 11 years old and both show no effects of the lazy eye. Glasses
    can make controlling the eye easier. The patching or drops are done
    to the good eye to make the lazy eye work harder and develop the
    muscles to a point where the eyes are equalized. If a patch can be
    placed on the glasses that prevents the good eye from focusing
    and the child is willing to wear the glasses it's easier than
    taking a patch on and off the poor kid's skin all the time. The younger
    they are the better off they'll be with their peers too. My kids never
    really had a hard time about their glasses since all their peers never
    saw them without them. By the time they got to school the patches were
    over and done with. We still used drops on my son for about a year
    while he was in Kindergarten but he was, well frankly, uncooperative
    about the patches. My sister-in-law had laser surgery about 3 years ago
    to correct her lazy eye (she's in her mid-30's). The risk associated
    with the surgery is that they have to move the muscle and if they move
    it to far the eye will simply go in the other direction. Her surgery
    was successful but her doctor did say that he didn't recommend it
    except in cases where the muscles were fully developed.
    

    I think the most important piece of advice from all these notes is get
    a second opinion at least!

    
    My younger brother had "lazy eye", and his experience was the same 
    as the last few. From around first grade and for a few years, 
    he had to wear a patch and do eye excercises everyday. The excercises
    consisted of coloring, tracing, etc, to get the eye to focus and work
    correctly. He did not have to have surgury and has nearly perfect
    vision today (28 yrs old).