T.L.
Hi B.,
My daughter was about the same age when we started noticing her eyes turning in. In pictures, she would get a crazy 'red-eye' in most of them so I knew something was up. I took her to see one dr and he gave her glasses. That was it. So there she was, barely three wearing glasses. So I went to see a Pediatric Opthamologist (Dr. Antinone in FW, surgery ____@____.com was my daughter's second surgery there and we couldn't ask for a better staff!) We were told she had esotropia in both eyes, & far-sighted in her left and recommended a stronger prescription. Needless to say her eyes were rapidly declining. So he recommended patching her dominant eye, to strengthen the weaker one. Well, that didn't work and the brain was basically starting to 'shut-off' the one eye. So we had the surgery on both, last year and it's AMAZING how well my daughter is doing. The symetry is awesome and now we're just working on improving her vision. Glasses are the last resort, so we were patching (2 hours a day, 3 days a week) and for the last 6 weeks, we've been putting drops in her good eye to make her vision blurry so she'll use the 'bad' eye. In just 6 weeks, her vision went from 20/60 to 20/40 which is almost unheard of!! We couldn't believe it! So, in my opinion, try the glasses, and the patching and if it doesn't work, or show signs of improving fast enough...have the surgery. The recovery is quick and our only problem was the arm braces they have to wear for a week after the surgery (so they don't rub their eyes when they're sleeping). My DD sucks her thumb at night so when she couldn't do that, it was all out war!! But we got through it and now she's SOOO much better. If you'd like, I can send you before, during, and after pictures so you can see what you're in for. Like I said, I wouldn't wait. The younger the better, and it does tend to effect their vision VERY rapidly. Feel free to email me with any questions as we're still having follow-up visits with our Dr. and it's almost been a year to the day after surgery!