OT: Eye surgery on 4 year old

[mom2alix]

DD (soon to be 4) has worn glasses since she was 2 1/2, when we first noticed that her left eye was turning in. She has amblyopia and strabismus. The pediatric opthalmalogist also had us patch her "good" eye for all but 2-3 hours each day. Without the patch on the good eye, her left eye is always turned in now. Now DD has started to have periods where her "good" is turning in at times and the PO has advised that we will probably need to have surgery soon which will adjust the muscles in her eye to make it straight. Has anyone else been through this? I know I posted about advice on the patches when she first got that and there were some really nice posters here with great advice. TIA!

 

[mhaley]

My goddaughter had this surgery when she was 6yrs old. I when fantastic. Her eye turned in quite a bit and it was completely fixed. You would never know that anything was ever wrong. She still wears glass, but for other reasons. It was a day surgery so she did not have to stay overnight. Her doctor had her stay home from school for the rest of the week to rest.

 

[mickeymousemom]

mom2alix,

I'm an Ophthalmic Tech and am pretty familiar with this type of problem/surgery. Strabismus surgery is pretty common, and the doctor that I used to work for(I'm a SAHM/student right now) has even sent adults with this problem to pediatric ophthalmologists because they do this all the time. The "good" eye was patched to try to get the amblyopic eye to work for itself and get stronger. I'm not exactly sure what makes an ophthalmologist decide to do surgery over the continuance of patching, but I'm sure there are good medical reasons for it. Oddly enough, once the surgery is done and you go in for your postop visit, you will hardly be able to tell anything was even done(except for the straight eye)...there might be alittle bit of redness, but that wil go away in no time and you'll be so glad you did it! Best of luck to you and your DD. Let us know how things turn out!

 

[DisneyTeacher]

My son had this same surgery when he was 5. The surgery was pretty easy on him. Four hours after he was out of recovery we were home and he was jumping around the house eating chips. Other than some redness one would never have known he had just had surgery. He never once said his eyes hurt and we didn't give him anything for the pain.

It was the best decision we could have made for him, I haven't once regretted it. My DS's crossing would never have improved with patching, it was just too bad. He also had some problems because of it; double vision and no depth perception so we really didn't have a choice.

 

[james'mommy]

I would recommend you do the surgery as soon as possible. I was crossed eyed as a child and had surgery at age three. Unfortunately it didn't take. Apparently I made my mom promise never to do that to me again. She took me at my word and just relied on glasses to fix the problem. I finally had surgery again at 21 and this time it worked. My eyesight in my left eye is pretty bad since my brain and both of my eyes don't communicate well together (makes using a viewmaster really hard!) After the surgery I understood why I made my mom promise not to do it to me again the first surgery but it really only hurt for a few days and the benefits far outweighed the pain.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

DS has had 4 or 5 eye surgeries and they tend to go very well and kids bounce back quicky. One thing they sometimes forget to tell you is that eye surgery can make get quite sick on their tummies. DS had a very simular surgery about 4 and they sent us home too soon. He was sick throwing up for the next 8 hours. I called and they ordered him something for it and he was fine the next day. He also had the same issues as a baby when he had surgery. Parents tend to think it is from going to sleep but in reality eye surgery really does a number on balance and equalibrium and that causes kids to be sick. Be sure to ask the dr for something in case you need it, or at least be sure you can get a hold of them in case you need to.
Good luck! I missed the patch post. We patched 23 hours a day for a whole year after doing part time for several years!!! DS has a very poor vision eye but it gave us some vision in it which we would not have had with out the patch!!

Jordan's mom

 

[Mandabella]

I went through this at ages 3 and 4, with my surgery at age 4.

Honestly, I don't remember much at all...just the bifocals that were too big for me! So, I think that is a good sign. I had zero vision problems throughout my childhood, teens, and early-mid 20s. Now in my late 20s, I am wearing Rx glasses for night time driving....but that's it.

Best wishes to your DD!

 

[DisneyTeacher]

Parents tend to think it is from going to sleep but in reality eye surgery really does a number on balance and equalibrium and that causes kids to be sick.

We were warned about that but thankfully my DS didn't have any problems.

 

[DeeCeeSW]

I had Strabismus Surgery 33 years ago. Back then it required an overnight stay at the hospital, and I distinctly remember my arms being put in casts to prevent me from touching my eyes. I also remember having an IV hookup.

Sounds like this procedure has come a long way since then. I have not had any problems with my vision/eyes, and from all accounts, my surgery went well and was a success. Apparently, I was seeing double and knocking into walls!

I recommend the surgery.

 

[pixiepower1971]

Both of my daughters have accomadative esotropia(same family of eye problems.) It is visable on my oldest. It is correctable with glasses and now contacts. The doc chose no surgery due to increased risk of other problems down the road. My other daughter it is not visable. She patched and also did eyedrops(they are great! they just blur the vision in the good eye....so much better then patching!) She wears glasses and can get contacts if she chooses to. Make sure you get a second opinion and be as aggressive as you can before surgery. Good Luck! Make sure you see a pediatric opthamalogist!

 

[imageid]

My DD8 had the surgery when she was 2. Her eye still turns in slightly w/o her glasses on. We have been patching for 7 yrs. She was great after surgery. She was slightly sick to her stomach for about 1 hr. One thing no one has mentioned is after surgery, the eye may have bloody tears. This is normal, and it is only disturbing to us parents who see it. My DD didn't have any pain, but the sunlight did bother her for 24 hours. We kept the shades drawn for the first afternoon. Hope this helps! Good Luck!

 

[mom2alix]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. It's really good to hear so many stories of positive results and that it wasn't a really horrible ordeal.

We are seeing a pediatric opthalmologist and he is the best in town. Our doctor and his brother are in practice together and they do the residencies for any medical student here who is studying PO. They been pacticing and teaching for 25 years, so I'm pretty comfortable with our doctor. DH will still insist on a second opinion and that's okay too. You can't be too careful with your vision.

DS(1) is actually having surgery with this same doctor on Monday to correct a tearduct that never opened. What is it with my kids and the eyes? Dr. has assured me that this procedure will be harder on me than the baby. I know I should just be grateful it's not anything more serious, but the idea of putting my babies under anesthesia and having surgery just kills me!

Keep up the good advice and pisitive stories, it really is reassuring. Thank you!

 

[Goofy Minnesotan]

My son had this surgery when he was 2! It was by far harder on me then on him! He was out of the hospital by noon, no complications! Good Luck!

 

[2poohbears]

Wow, can I relate! My son is 2 1/2 y/o and has been wearing glasses since the beginning of JAN. After a recent visit to the ped opt. we were told we have to patch his good eye 3 days, then the "bad eye" 1 day, then back to 3 days, etc...for a month. We go back to the doctor on March 24th, and he says most likely we'll have to schedule surgery for the eye muscles then. I'm dreading it.

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

I thought I would also join in, my oldest had surgery when he was four. His eye had turned in so bad that you almost couldn't the pupil. He did fine with the surgery, after having glasses for quite a few months...very thick lenses. The only thing was that he always wanted to scratch his eye, he said it felt like there was sand in there. He still has glasses, and will probably always have some type of correction. The eye doctor said heredity was a big player is his development of eye problems. My youngest is going in 2 weeks for the same problem, so it wouldn't suprise me if surgery was down the road for him.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

I'm still learning about this stuff. My dd was just diagnosed with amblyopia earlier this month. I just joined a Yahoo! group for parents of kids with amblyopia. It seems like a very supportive and informed group and I'm sure you could get alot of information on the surgery there. Just go to group.yahoo.com and search for LazyEye (name of the group). You have to have membership approved to post which takes a few days, but you can read the messages now. There is lots of before and after pictures and firsthand stories of the kids surgeries.

 

[mom2alix]

I'm still learning about this stuff. My dd was just diagnosed with amblyopia earlier this month. I just joined a Yahoo! group for parents of kids with amblyopia. It seems like a very supportive and informed group and I'm sure you could get alot of information on the surgery there. Just go to group.yahoo.com and search for LazyEye (name of the group). You have to have membership approved to post which takes a few days, but you can read the messages now. There is lots of before and after pictures and firsthand stories of the kids surgeries.

Thank you so much! I'll check it out. Don't you just love how helpful everyone is on this board. You all are great!

 

[eeyoregon]

My son is 10 and has had a stabismus in his right eye since age 2 (first noticed it 2 months after brain tumor surgery). Took him to the Casey Eye Institute because they are up on the latest research, procedures, etc. We were told by several physicians there that strabismus' ARE NOT treatable and that there is not a cure or surgery, only corrective lenses. "Lazy eye" can be fixed surgically but is different from strabismus.

Our local eye doctor's concur with the specialists at the eye hospital. So now I am very confused.

 

[Rosered]

My DD had suregery on both her eyes when she was 5. Both eyes turned out and the doctor said the best thing was to do the surgery. Of course I was nervous but we agreed and although I was in tears she was fine. The surgery was very quick, about 45 minutes and after they had her drink some juice and use the bathroom we were allowed to go home. The worst part was trying to get the eye drops in her eyes that the doctor had prescribed post-surgery. Her eyes were a little red but that went away. In fact the surgery turned out so well that in a follow-up appointment about 2 years after the surgery, the same doctor who performed the surgery couldn't tell she had had surgery. He said it how eyes were 100% fixed and praised the "surgeon" for doing such an excellent job till I reminded him he was the "surgeon" who performed the surgery.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

When DS was 5 his eye started to drift off to the side when he was tired. I mentioned it to the pediatrician, she said to go have the opthalmologist look at it. Opthalmologist said to watch and see. Well, the other eye started to drift, too, and blinking wouldn't always bring his eyes back into alignment after awhile. She he had surgery on both eyes when he was 6. No problems, and he doesn't have "drifty" eyes anymore. Sorry - I used to know the medical term for it but I have forgotten.

The one bad thing was coming out of the anesthesia. We knew from a prior surgery that he gets VERY sick. Be prepared to refuse to leave if your child is very sick afterwards. After his first surgery we took him home even though he couldn't stand up and was vomiting repeatedly. He threw up for TWELVE hours. I called the hospital and they said to call my pediatrician in the morning if it didn't stop!! So when we had his eyes done I met with the anesthesiologist before the surgery, and I was ready to dig my heels in if they tried to discharge him prematurely.