My DS4 has a "lazy eye"...

[hrh_disney_queen]

Anyone else have experience with this? About a month ago, DS6 poked DS4 in his left eye with a broom handle. I took DS4 into the pediatrician to make sure there was no damage to his eye, which there wasn't. They did an eye chart test, and he was having trouble reading it with his right eye (the unpoked one). We made an appointment with a pediatric opthamologist, and he said not only is he farsighted, but his right eye is a "lazy eye"-amblyopia! He said this accident was a blessing in disguise because who knows how long this could have gone undiagnosed...DS4 has to wear a patch over his good eye for an hour a day to force the "lazy eye" to work harder. AND he has to wear glasses, probably forever. We don't know how long the "lazy eye" will take to correct!

Boy, if it isn't one thing, it's another...I guess there a lot worse things that could happen..And he looks doggone cute in his little glasses, which he doesn't mind wearing...Poor thing, he hasn't been able to see! I feel bad about that...


Would love to hear about others experiences with this..

 

[piglet too]

No personal experiance, but I do know of a lot of kids that the patch helped.

 

[Meriweather]

Yep...been there, done that.
DS started patching and wearing glasses when he was 21 months old. It's been a LONG time, but I think he wore the patch for severl months and then had eye surgery.
Still wears glasses.....but has gone from farsighted to nearsighted.
Nothing more fun than a toddler with peanut butter smeared all over his glasses

 

[PRINCESS VIJA]

We had to do this for DS. I thought it would be the end of the world, but we made it through! DS wasn't diagnosed until kindergarten so he had to wear the patch in school.

couple of quick hints. they have the sticky kind of patch, that can be painful as you try and pull of the patch. On a website they had mentioned putting a line of Milk of magnesia where the adhesive goes, to protect the skin.

check out different types of patches. They also have felt patches that go over glasses. DS didn't like those, because the felt was itchy, but you can check out different styles on the internet.

DS wore the traditional "pirate patch" He thought he was cool! LOL!

We had to patch all day long.

He might have some difficulty with navigating around at first until he gets used to it. One mom suggested I walk around for a short amount of time with a patch on so I can understand how the world view "changes" and remember the other eye will cause everything to look fuzzy at first, so make sure the environment is very safe. Doors to basement closed, etc.

There is a great website forum. It think it was called lazy eye, lots of great information.

We also ended up going to see a vision therapist after he was done trying to correct it from the opthalmologist. Word of warning, opthalmologists do not generally believe that vision therapy is worth it, but it was! For us even though the eyesight was similar in numbers, the eyes still needed to learn work together. Vision therapy really helped him read. However your son is young, so he probably will be able to conquer it easier. Just mentioning it in case you are looking for more info.

Good luck!
PS if you want, pm me with any other questions you might have!

 

[Cantw8]

Same thing with my son. He was diagnosed at age 3. We started with the patch which he would rip off and cry about wearing. Then we went to Atropine, this is a liquid drug, had to put one drop in his good eye which would dialate the pupil causing the vision in the good eye to be blurred which would force him to use the bad eye. We went through this for about two years with regular eye doctor visits in between. Nothing helped. He was always complaining that he couldn't see...go figure, he either had a patch on his seeing eye or it was totally blurred!!The last resort, at age 7 was surgery. Trust me, I had to think long and hard about this. Just the thought of a knife going into my son's eye had me up for nights at a time. I totally trusted the doctor and all was well. The surgery consisted of going into the eye muscle, cutting it and pulling it into place which causes the eye to be positioned straighter. David now has 20/40 vision in the good eye and 20/60 (20/200 before the surgery)in the bad eye. He wears glasses, although not as much as he should. He has been begging for contacts but needs to demonstrate more responsibility before I will let him have them. Good luck with your son, ask lots of questions and don't be afraid to get a second opinion. BTW, back when my son was going through this, the doctor recommended lots of puzzles and "where's Waldo" books. Lots of eye movement needed.

 

[hoosll]

I had lazy eye as a child (50 years ago and I wore glasses unitl I was 10. Then I was able to go without glasses until I was about 25. At 40, I started getting headaches, the doctor found that I had a natural monovision which was probably established when I was young - the glases were forcing my eyes to work together when they did not want to. Now I have had monovision for 13 years - one lens for distance and one for computer and reading (a bifocal) and my brain is perfectly happy.

Yes, lazy eye can be "corrected" and both eyes strengthened but there may be a brain legacy that will appear later.

Downside of monvision - I cannot enjoy WDW 3-D movies like others can and when it is raining my brain "argues" whether to watch the road or the windshield wipers!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! (LOL hoosll, about your "brain arguments" with the windshield wipers!) Luckily for me, my little guy is very easy going, so even though he doesn't want to wear the patch, he will. And sometimes he wants to take his glasses off, but I can talk him into wearing them..They don't seem to bother him at all. Hoping there is no surgery in our future, Meriweather and Cantw8. I would be a wreck about that like you were.

The other day, while DS4 was with my mom, she noticed him trying to reach for a flower. She said it took him 3 tries. DH (who is skeptical of everything) says basically my mom is making something out of nothing, but I wonder if there was something to it? (DS4 had his glasses on, was not patched at the time.) I bet he is having depth perception problems because of this? What do think? I am going to ask the opthamologist about it...

Before this, the only kid I ever knew who had amblyopia was Linus from Peanuts...Anyone remember that story line? He had to wear it all the time...I'm dating myself, as that was over 30 years ago....

 

[want2retire]

Our son, who is now age 18, was diagnosed with amblyopia at age 5. He wore the patch over his "lazy" right eye with glasses for months and then went through a series of exercises at home and in the office to strengthen the eye muscles for many months. Unfortunately, he still can't see very well out of that eye without his glasses or contacts. They eye is not noticeably "lazy". Hope the patch and any other treatment your doctor recommend improve your son's condition. Good luck!

 

[Jcricket Fan]

When I was a little girl (over 35 yrs. ago) I was diagnosed with a "lazy eye". When you look back at pictures from before I was diagnosed you can see that there was something different with my right eye. I don't remember that I ever thought I had a problem the school nurse found it and told my mom.

I had to wear my patch all day which was very tuff as the kids in school would call me "4 eyes" to which I remember saying "how stupid I have 3 eyes not 4!" I know I went to a special Dr. for several years until it was decided I no longer needed the patch. I did/do not wear glasses.

A big thanks to Nurse Lawson who took the time to find my problem!

Colleen

 

[Lisa L from MI]

My dd (now 11) was diagnosed with amblyopia at age 4. She had to get glasses and also wear a patch over her good eye.....all in time for kindergarten!!

She was good at wearing the glasses...and still is....but she had a problem with wearing a patch directly over her eye. Our ped opthalmologist said we could just "patch" her glasses....which worked out much better. I think she had to wear that patch for about 6-8 months.

 

[m&m's mom]

I have a LOT of experience with patching.
My DD had to patch for a few years. She started when she was a baby and had to continue until she was 4.
We tried all of the kinds mentioned but I would say none worked for any length of time. It was a constant battle.
Let me tell you why it is so important to do this. The neuro passageways to the brain can only be developed until around 9 years of age. If one eye is much stronger than the other, the "better" eye will completely take over and never send the weaker eyes message to the brain. In other words, the brain does not interpert the message as an image and if it does not by age 9 there is not anything that can be done later.
My DD had 3 separate eye Dr's. One was ony concerned w/ her retina- was it going to detach or not. The second Dr. was only concerned w/ the physical aspect of her eye- is the eye able to send data to the brain. Third Dr. was only concerned w/ how her brain interperted the eyes signal.
The funny thing is for 6 years we went to one of these Dr's every 3-6 months and you could never tell the difference in her when she had her glasses on or not. She is now 8 and she spent most of the weekend w/out having her glasses on and I never once saw any difference and her prescription is 20/850!

Just thought of something else. My DD's Pediatric Opthamologist had literature about an eye patching club when we were in there last. Looked like cute posters and little prizes you could get. Might want to ask your eye Dr.

 

[pkasbohm]

my dd had a lazy eye. she had surgery on it last march. it was that or have her over time lose her eye sight because her eyes were not working together anymore. We did the patch and drops and nothing worked for her. Now i am going to take her back in a couple of weeks because she is starting to tip her head up when she is trying to see things for away. Where does it end!

I am glad that you found his lazy eye! Some kids it is very detectible but not in others.

 

[Lanshark]

Ds diagnosed at 14 months and DD at 3.5 years. One is now 18 and the other 14. We did the patch, the glasses, vision therapy and surgery for DS. It never slowed them down one bit and they are now both in contacts. The kids handled it without a problem.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

DS was diagnosed at age 2. I noticed in a picture that his right eye looked turned in. His pediatrician referred us to a very good pediatric opthamologist here in town. He was farsighted with amblyopia, and when he tried to see close up it turned more, so he actually has bifocals.
His prescription has changed a few times, sometimes better, sometimes worse. He also had surgery when he was 4 (he is now 6). He had it on both eyes. His doctor explained that his little eyes try to correct themselves. Eventually he would start growing out of it, and since his eyes would have tried so hard to correct for so long, his eyes would turn out the OTHER way! YUK! So we did the surgery. He also has been patched, but the last time it was only a month, and we did it over his glasses.
From May to August he wore a "smear patch " on his good eye lense--it is like the little plastic that goes on a watch face. We had to get two since we lost the first one on the slide at Ron Jons! But it was hardly noticeable and we were able to discontinue it when school started. He had a checkup today and his eyesight is good (with glasses of course). He goes back in 4 months. All is covered by medical rather than vision insurance--a good thing, because it is much more inclusive.
I worry about his reading slower than my other kids, and if it's associated with the eyesight, but vision therapy is about $100 a session here and NOT covered by insurance, so I will just keep working with him myself. The Waldo books are a good idea!
Robin M.

 

[ahutton]

I did the patch thing, I wore and didn't wear glasses (I'm being truthful!) Something to keep in mind that I didn't learn until I was well into adult life... This can interfere with your depth perception. I always got whacked in the face playing volleyball or other sports where things came at you quickly. I had adapted in normal life, didn't walk into doorways as often as I did when I was a younger kid, didn't fall down the stairs as often, but I never could get the hang of figuring out the distance to hit the ball rather than being hit by it. This would be something to be aware of, be familliar with and see if there are any exercises as I know sports are a huge part of many kids lives, and that took a lot of the fun out of it for me!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Originally posted by ahutton
I did the patch thing, I wore and didn't wear glasses (I'm being truthful!) Something to keep in mind that I didn't learn until I was well into adult life... This can interfere with your depth perception. I always got whacked in the face playing volleyball or other sports where things came at you quickly. I had adapted in normal life, didn't walk into doorways as often as I did when I was a younger kid, didn't fall down the stairs as often, but I never could get the hang of figuring out the distance to hit the ball rather than being hit by it. This would be something to be aware of, be familliar with and see if there are any exercises as I know sports are a huge part of many kids lives, and that took a lot of the fun out of it for me!

AHA!! so maybe my mom did notice something when he tried to reach for the flower.....And come to think of it, last year his preschool called me to come and check him out because he was walking towards a wall in PE with his arms outstretched and still ran into the wall with his head!! Sounds like a depth perception problem to me....

 

[jstbcuz94]

I was diagnosed with a lazy eye at age 5. My vision in my left eye was 20/400, which is considered legally blind. We had to patch the good eye to make the bad one stronger. It was a brown stickey patch that I had to wear all day. The only time I could go without the patch was at bath/bed time.

We did this for almost 3 years. Now it is 29 years later and I have 20/40 vision in my left eye. Tho, I have had that same vision for quite some time. I have 20/15 vision in my good eye. It seems like I cant see out of the bad eye, and I am sure that is because it is so dominant. My opthamologist assures me that there are people out there that would love to have 20/40 vision.

There is hope out there and it isnt the end of the world to have a lazy eye. My biggest thing was the kids making fun of me wearing the patch.

Good luck to you.

 

[caitycaity]

i have a lazy eye, though my doctor at the time said it was too late to correct it with a patch (i was in 8th grade by the time it was diagnosed). my lazy eye is really bad. if i only had that eye, i would not be able to see at all without corrective lenses (it's so bad i can't even tell that the big e on an eye chart is an e). since my other eye is fine, i'm usually ok. i only wear glasses ocassionally for distance vision. i do have a problem with depth perception (i hate walking down stairs for this reason and i have fallen down them before!!!), and with the windshield wiper thing, but i don't feel that it really negatively impacts my life.

it is not really noticeable, but i can move my eyes so that one is looking at you and the other is looking away (NOT NORMAL and very freaky looking!!!).

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

Wow, I'm reading all of this responses and it seems like ya'll are describing me!! I had a lazy eye (the right) and had to wear a patch on my left eye for a long time. I also had two surgeries in elementary school to try to correct my problem. I was very cross-eyed and can see it now in several pictures from my childhood. I've been wearing glasses since I was in kindergarten, and one contact in my right eye since I was 7.

My left eye is near perfect, but without my contact lens in my right eye I am legally blind in that eye. Even with the contact, my vision is still not very strong. My left eye does most of my seeing for me. Suffice it to say, if I ever lost my left eye I'd be in big, big trouble.

I agree about the depth perception. I like playing softball, but I can never get the bat to meet the ball because of my eye problems. It's so frustrating!

 

[DisneyTeacher]

This all sounds so familiar. I noticed my DS (2.5 at the time) crossing his eye when he was watching TV or playing on the computer, however, I didn't get too stressed too much at the time. I took him to a local doctor thinking she would say vision therapy should correct the problem, patch it or do exercises. Nope, he couldn't see. He is farsited and was crossing his eye in order to see better.

We messed around with that first doctor for almost 2 years listening to "a little crossing in glasses is okay." I knew from the first appointment that I wasn't happy with my choice in doctors but I kept taking him back knowing deep down that something was wrong.

After one very bad appointment I decided enough was enough and changed doctors. We switched to a peds ophthalmologist and he was awesome. That "little crossing" that was okay with the first doctor was not okay, my son had double vision and no depth perception. We knew his motor skills were not the greatest but it wasn't enough to be alarmed about. A bump here and a trip there and he couldn't catch a ball, we knew he was behind but all kids develop at a different rate. We were shocked to learn the extent of his problems.

After surgery to align his eyes at 5 years old my DS (now 6) is doing better than ever. The day after his surgery he looked at me and said "Mommy, there is only one of you today." I cried right then and there. He didn't know that everyone else saw just one of everything.


Mommy guilt is powerful.