Strabismus

I don't know where you are located but I would recommend you go to a children's opthamologist-there is a wonderful one at Children's Memorial in Chicago-her name is Marilyn Mets. She had a comprehensive and very effective method that was reasonable and my child's eye problems and vision have improved immensely over time. You can email me if you want more ____@____.com .

N.

My daugther went through this right around the same age. We did try the glasses for about 6 months when she was 2 but she would not wear them without a fight and she was always looking over them so they were not working the way they should have been. When she was a little over 2 1/2 we did the surgery and she responded really well. She has not had to wear glasses yet and it will be a year in February.

Hope that helps

S.

My six year old son's eyes starting crossing when he was 4yrs old. He was playing basketball and the ball hit him on the face and that is when his eyes first started crossing. It seems he has weak eye muscles and he got diagnosed with strabismus. They say it can be genetic. (His father's eyes crossed when he was was around the same age, but were fixed with surgery). Anyhow the doctor suggested for my son to wear glasses. He's been wearing glasses for two years to make his eyes stronger. He seems to be doing good. His doctor has said he is advancing well and hopes to have him wear glasses for only six more months. His doctor is Dr. Verderber from Pediatric Eye Associates. She's wonderful and great with kids.
Surgery in any matter can be a little scary, so that is why I opted for glasses first. Good luck with your choice!

N.-
As a pediatric chiropractor that grew up with a very mild case of this, I would bring your child to a chiropractor to get checked (www.icpa4kids.org). I know that when I am not well adjusted my vision suffers. I know that I am just presenting another option to your already full plate, but it is a very minimally invasive option. Best of luck!

Take a look on the National Eye Institute website which appears to be part of the National Institute of Health. I searched for Strabismus and found some interesting information. They don't even mention surgery for the most part. The earlier poster suggested it might be cosmetic for the most part. Patching vs drops study showed similar outcomes but patch worked faster, while drops were easier.

my daughter is doing vision therapy right now for strabismus. they believe they will be able to save the use of her eye without surgery. they are in michigan and i know you are in chicago, but i do trust them and believe what they are doing is working.

their website is www.wowvision.net

maybe they can link you to someone who can help.

Hello,

I've twin boys who just recently turned a year. One of them has strabismus. Since he is so young the opthamologist wants to keep an eye on it-so to say. He is wonderful, Dr. Mittelman out of Lutheran Gen'l Hosp. He said that if things don't improve he may have to have surgery. REcently I got some new information from my son's PT therapist. There is a Dr. Dominick Maino out of Children's Memorial who has new treatments for these specific eye issues. His website is www.nw.optometry.net His number is ###-###-####. On his site is also has exercises that you can do at home to strenghten the eyes. Good luck.

I had a son with the same thing. We opted for the surgery. It was relatively simple. In and out the same day. My son's was growing worse over time. We discovered it when he was about 2 1/2 and he had the surgery shortly before he turned 4.

My nephew has a problem with both eyes. It was pretty severe. Both eyes stayed in the corner. I don't know how the poor little guy saw anything. I found out about a Dr. in Chicago Heights/Homewood area and my sister really likes her. They used a patch on my nephews eye and that helped some. He's schedule for surgery February 14th. Dr. Yuri Kim, MD - Dr. Kim practices Ophthalmology in Chicago, Homewood, Merrionette Park, Oak Lawn, and Orland Park, Illinois. Dr. Yuri Kim graduated with an MD.

My son had the same issue. He has amblyopia, strasbismus. He is now almost 12 but at 6 months he was diagnosed with these eye problems. At 7 months he started seeing an opthlamologist and up until this year has seen one every six months. The doctor started out with patching which didn't help except to improve his vision and make sure that is was being used. Then at 10 months her had surgery. After surgery his eye was still nto correct. So we tried drops because he was now big enough to pull the patch off. At 12 months he had another surgery. This seemed to help for a little while. We still did the drops to help his vision and help strenghthen what had been done. At 2 years old he had a third surgery. This was the hardest one because he was no big enough to know what was going on. I never cried so much in my life. After three surgeries his eye that used to go in now at almost 12 goes out. My opthlamologist says surgery is no guarantee. As long as you take care of the vision they will be OK. The only problem my son has is the 6th graders who like to make fun of him because his eye goes out. I myself had surgery at 2 years old. My vision as my sons will never be as good as the right eye but I can see good. My eye after 30 years now floats up. Again no guarantee with surgery. The patching can be done up until 9 years old is what the doctor told me and after that is it useless. Hope this helps.

N.,

My son was around a year old when he was diagnosed with far sightedness and strabismus. We tried glasses w/patching, but it wasn't enough as he had moderate crossing with both eyes. And also, because he was so young, it was hard to get him to wear the patch for more than a few minutes at a time. He was constantly fighting it and we went through so many patches in such a short period of time. So when he was about 1 1/2 he had eye surgery on both eyes and has been doing great ever since. We love his eye doctor and would highly recommend him should you need a recommendation. Good luck!

In cases like this you need to find someone you really trust and then follow their advice. Two developmental optometrists in our area who are very highly regarded are Lederer and Margolis in Arlington Heights. Their number is ###-###-####. My son just started going there for eye therapy and has already improved. They can be trusted, their success stories are many. Good luck!

None of my boys had it, but my right eye started turning in when I was 20. Things got worse and worse, and I finally had surgery when I was 27. My surgeon is Dr. Marilyn Mets, who runs pediatric opthalmology at Children's Memorial Hospital. The operation was a breeze (and I had it at Children's, so I can attest to how wonderful their nursing staff is!). It was outpatient surgery with very little residual pain. That night, I was able to see with single vision for the first time in my life, which was pretty amazing.

I actually had to repeat the surgery when I was 32 or 33, because I'd taken a blow to the head in a car accident and I started seeing double again. Dr. Mets did it again (at Northwestern this time), and she did an awesome job.

I don't know if this helps you at all, but I know how scary it is to have your child go through a medical procedure -- at least you can hear from someone that it didn't hurt and the results were great!