Ptosis

My son (will be 3 on Monday) has Ptosis. We noticed his droopy left eye lid almost immediately after birth. At first, like a pp, our ped. said it would correct itself over time. By his 9month checkup when it still looked like that we were sent to an opthamologist for an evaluation. He said it was a minor case and unless it bothered his vision to leave it alone. He showed us pictures of cases MUCH worse that really made me feel better. He also told us it's either hereditary (child's father, brother, grandfather has it)..or could be from trauma during childbirth. NO ONE in my or my dh's family has this so I am certain it's from the QUACK midwife that delivered him. My son's eye is hardly noticeable but if he smiles REALLY big, that eye almost closes.

In my experience don't put your dd through unneeded surgery just for cosmetic purposes. Wait it out to see if it disrupts her vision. We go for a follow up with the opthamologist when he is 4 to check his vision. Till then we leave it alone.

If you have any other questions, please ask! You are the only other person I've found dealing with this. I was very overwhelmed at first since I felt so alone.
S. :-)

My husband developed this problem and now my brother is having a problem as well (his was from a blow to the head in the act of duty).

My husband had the surgery. It was great and unless he was extremely never noticable again.

My daughter's right eye droops, but our pediatrician said it was nerve damage caused from birth and it wouldn't hurt her vision in any way, that it was purely cosmetic. He thought it would go away after a few months, but she's a year old now and he said it's probably permanent. The right side of her mouth doesn't open quite as wide as the left either. He never mentioned ptosis, but after reading about it, I might ask him about it. Her eye doesn't shut all the way when she sleeps either. He's told us to just pull it shut to make sure it doesn't dry out. Does your daughter have the same problem, or is mine a compeltely different issue?
Secondly- you go girl, having a Mr. Mom. That's awesome!

I also have identical twins - boys . One of them was born with congenital ptosis, and the other was not. This has caused some confusion in our extended family, as well as with outsiders, as to whether or not they are truly 'identical'. I have since found a great deal of information supporting the fact that this can happen, even with identical twins. We also have an appointment with a specialist who will be performing the corrective surgery. My father in law had this procedure performed as a child as well, and his surgery went very well. It is a simple procedure, usually done on an outpatient/day surgery basis, although with children, general anesthesia is used (as opposed to local as with adults), so their reaction to the anesthesia will be a factor as to whether they are released immediately after surgery or kept under observation for a period. They simply cut a tendon in the eyelid, shorten it slightly, then re-attach. The entire process shouldn't take more than a few hours, including recovery and observation. A bandage/patch is rarely used in pediatric patients, but they will prescribe antibacterial eye drops. As far as after care, just follow normal wound care - keep the area clean and dry. This is what I have been told, anyway. I will update after the procedure.

I did read some of the other responses, and while I would normally agree that having a surgery like this for 'cosmetic' reasons is not warranted, It is a slightly different issue when you are talking about identical twins. Part of their identity, like it or not, as they grow up is going to be in the fact that they look alike. Having an identical twin brother seems to make the drooping eyelid seem that much more pronounced, and causes well meaning people to ask questions such as "What happened to his eye?", as well as causing my own family members to state that you can tell them apart because " T. is the one with the lazy/droopy eye." I know that there will be enough rivalry/competition with each other over the years because of their being twins, but I do not wish to add the stigma to little T. of being the "different" looking twin. I truly believe that if they were singletons, people probably would not notice the ptosis nearly as much as they do with there is an ALMOST (but not quite) mirror image standing next to him. Unless you have twins yourself, you couldn't really understand this.

My ex-husband had ptosis, and he had a corrective surgery when he was in his late 20s. It helped some, but I wouldn't say it was a dramatic improvement. The surgery may be more effective when it's performed at a younger age, though. Or they may have new techniques now. His surgeon used a 'trapeze' technique on him, and this was about 8 years ago. The scars weren't noticeable at all, though, and kids seem to heal even better than adults.

I would be happy to try to answer any other questions you have. Just send me a personal message.

I haven't read any responses yet, and I'm not sure what ptosis is, but I have something similar with the droopy eye lid. It's called Horner's Syndrome. They ruled out any serious causes for mine and told me there was nothing they could do for it.
Perhaps your daughter has this instead. At least it wouldn't require surgery if it is. Good luck.