OT: Eye surgery on 4 year old

My youngest daughter also had surgery on both eyes when she was 2 to correct the same thing. Her surgery was incredibly difficult on me but she did fine. In fact by 2pm the same day she was up and running around.
 
eeyoregon said:
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. :scratchin

Maybe a confusion as to terminology? I know I had a hard time keeping stright strabismus and ambliopia (DD has both). A lot of people think Lazy Eye is the term for when the eye turns in, but that is actually strabismus. I know that confused me a lot at first. Lazy eye refers to the eye not sending signals to the brain properly and thus the brain ignores it. For example I have a lazy eye, but my eyes have always been straight. I just don't have much vision in my right eye.

Here's some info from the ophtometrist DH talked to for second opinion (he concurred with our PO and reinforced to DH that our guy is the best in town so that made us feel better.)

Strabismus

Treatment Overview


Treatment for strabismus should begin as soon after diagnosis as possible. In general, the younger the child is when treatment for strabismus begins, the better the chances are of correcting the problem.

Treatment should also address amblyopia ("lazy eye") or other vision problems to help normal vision to develop. If amblyopia has developed, aligning the eyes will not reverse it.

Although early treatment is important to correct strabismus, time is even more critical with amblyopia. Amblyopia can damage a child's vision quickly and permanently. After about age 7 to 10 years, no treatment can completely correct poor vision caused by amblyopia. For more information, see the topic Amblyopia.

Treatment for strabismus may include glasses, patching, drug treatments, eye exercises, botulinum toxin, or surgery.



Hope that helps. I am by no means an expert, but I can quote those who are! :thumbsup2
 
jackskellingtonsgirl said:
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.

I'm a little concerned about this as I know I have this reaction to anesthesia. Hopefully the kids don't have that problem. We'll see how DS reacts to his tearduct probe on Monday.

Thanks so much to everyone for sharing your experience. It's comforting to know so many of you have done this and survived. (I know the kids will surviv, it's us poor parents who stress out.)
 
... the procedure was really quick, he was in hospital for about 4 hours in total (he was home that afternoon). No pain and no care issues (the stitches fade on their own). My son is now nearly 9 years old and we have had no issues with his eyes (we go for an annual check-up each year). This is quite a common procedure from what I understand.

:thumbsup2
 

My youngest son had eye surgery for strabismus (one eye) when he was 13 months, but it didn't work, so they operated again almost one year later, when he was just 2. The second surgery was successful and his eye is straight when he's wearing his glasses and almost straight when he's not.

Patching never worked for us. When he was less than a year old, he'd just rip the patch off. He's been wearing glasses since he was about a year old and I bought fabric patches that could fit over the glasses, but then he'd rip the glasses off!! And he was always good about wearing his glasses, still is!

He didn't get sick after his first surgery, but he did get sick after the second one. The blood tears can be really disturbing, but if you're prepared for it, you'll be OK.
 
My DH and I noticed our DD had a problem with one of her eyes and mentioned it to our pediatrician at DD's check up when she was 2. She sent us to a specialist, who said she had strabismus. He had us try glasses on her first. They helped a little but didn't correct the problem completely. She had surgery when she was 2 1/2, and her eyes are fine now. :goodvibes
A couple of other posters are right - the surgery was harder on me than it was on DD!
 
DS 7 ( alomst 8) had this surgery on both eyes right before Thanksgiving of '05. It only took about 45 minutes and the only problem we had was when he finally woke up from surgery he freaked out because of some ointment they put on his eyes and he couldn't open them completely. The poor boy was screaming and crying I can't see I can't see , and he kept trying to rub his eyes (which after about 10 minutes of me trying to hold the poor child down , then nurse says oh its ok if he touches them ughhhhhhhh) . Other than that he did really really well the corner of his each eye was bloody looking for a while but eventually went away. he did say a couple of times that he felt like he had sand in them. We can still see part of the stitches , but the best part is looking at him and him truly able to focus at us, Oh and the next day he was completely bouncing off the walls :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc

He did have bloody tears for a couple of days but we were told it was ok.
 
I happened to notice that you are in Omaha. Is it Dr. Troia that you see? Based on your description of the practice it sounds like it may be. My 3.5 year old daughter just had the surgery last Wed (2/22) with Dr. Sebastian Troia at Lakeside Hospital. I was very, very pleased with his handling of it. Her surgery was at 7:30 and we left about 11. She was very sleepy most the day. She did throw up once at the hospital and again at home in the afternoon. She was able to eat some soup for dinner and keep that down. One thing I recommend is bring a change of clothes to the hospital with you. My dd threw up all over her jammy bottoms so the nurse had to find some pants for her to wear home! She did have a little of the bloddy tears that the PP mentioned. Her eyes look terrible right now, a lot of blood red in the white area but that is normal we were told. She got a shot for pain while she was still in recovery and we gave her a little Tylenol that evening but she hasn't complained since. She returned to preschool Friday and is acting totally normal. We go in on Monday for a follow up exam. I think the worst part has been putting the antibiotic eye drops in the last couple days. She HATES that!

My dd had ear tubes put in on 1/10 and she never got sick or anything from the anesthesia that time but I think she was under a little longer for the eye surgery as well as the possiblity of the eye imbalance that made her nauseous.

We have been doing the patching since July and she's had glasses with prism lenses that last month but it hasn't corrected it. So far the surgery is looking great and she will not need to wear glasses or anything anymore.

Overall I am very pleased with Dr. Troia. He even gave us his card with his home phone number on it after the surgery so we could call with any questions. He really stressed for us to call too! Haven't had to though.

Good luck!

Shelley

:wave:
 
ShelsGoingToDisney said:
I happened to notice that you are in Omaha. Is it Dr. Troia that you see? Based on your description of the practice it sounds like it may be. My 3.5 year old daughter just had the surgery last Wed (2/22) with Dr. Sebastian Troia at Lakeside Hospital. I was very, very pleased with his handling of it. Her surgery was at 7:30 and we left about 11. She was very sleepy most the day. She did throw up once at the hospital and again at home in the afternoon. She was able to eat some soup for dinner and keep that down. One thing I recommend is bring a change of clothes to the hospital with you. My dd threw up all over her jammy bottoms so the nurse had to find some pants for her to wear home! She did have a little of the bloddy tears that the PP mentioned. Her eyes look terrible right now, a lot of blood red in the white area but that is normal we were told. She got a shot for pain while she was still in recovery and we gave her a little Tylenol that evening but she hasn't complained since. She returned to preschool Friday and is acting totally normal. We go in on Monday for a follow up exam. I think the worst part has been putting the antibiotic eye drops in the last couple days. She HATES that!

My dd had ear tubes put in on 1/10 and she never got sick or anything from the anesthesia that time but I think she was under a little longer for the eye surgery as well as the possiblity of the eye imbalance that made her nauseous.

We have been doing the patching since July and she's had glasses with prism lenses that last month but it hasn't corrected it. So far the surgery is looking great and she will not need to wear glasses or anything anymore.

Overall I am very pleased with Dr. Troia. He even gave us his card with his home phone number on it after the surgery so we could call with any questions. He really stressed for us to call too! Haven't had to though.

Good luck!

Shelley

:wave:

Yes, we go to Dr. Troia and I really think he's the best in town, but it's so great to hear from someone else who's had a good experience. That's so great that your DD won't even need glasses going forward! Thanks for sharing your experience! I think it really helps to get an idea of what to expect. Thank you so much for the tip about the extra clothes! I'll definitely pack a little bag. DS is getting his tear duct fixes Monday morning, so I guess we'll see Dr. Troia shortly before you do.
 








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