Strabismus Treatment?

Hi A.-

My son Christopher had the strabismus surgery and still requires patching. He had the surgery done around 2 years old. However, one of his eyes has reverted back to straying a little. I don't know what your daughter's issue is. My son has cerebral palsy and strabismus is very common. I will say this. He had the surgery and didn't see discomforted at all. The eyes are bloodshot after but he didn't seem to be in any pain (in case you are worrying about it). Kids are very resilient. I was patching his eyes (alternating) before the surgery. They stayed straight for a while. Only periodically does one get a little off centered but eventually finds it's way back. Honestly, it's just cosmetic when the vision is fine. My son has good vision also. If you want to talk more about it, please contact me directly.

M.

A little about me:

I love to shop and read as well as help others. I own my own business and I am a business coach providing free mentoring to individuals with stay at home businesses, teaching the skills needed for success.

I am newly married (Sept. '07) but we've been together for 5 years. I have 3 children, 1 is special needs. He's the best little boy! Christopher is 7. My other 2 are 13 (girl) and 20 (boy)

One of my best friend's used the patch with her daughter and had great success. Don't count it out yet! There is an adorable book called "The Patch" about a little ballerina that had to wear an eye patch. It is available at amazon.com. Perhaps it will help to get your daughter to wear it.

Best to you!

My daughter had this - also diagnosed around age three. It was only in one eye. To keep the patch on, I found letting her choose a fun sticker to put on the patch helped. Also a bit of bribery too - letting her do something she wanted to do after the alloted patch time was up!
The patch did not make any difference at all to the squint though. She had it to improve her vision which had been damaged by the squinting - it worked well for the first 6 weeks then plateaued and never got any better. We tried the eye drops too and they made no difference.
You may find the patching easier than we did as your child has OK vision - our child's main complaint about the patch was that as it is the good eye that is covered, she could not see well while it was on.
She went on to have surgery too. The first one made it worse - they over corrected and her eye turned out where it had turned in before. Apparently this is more common where the vision is poor. The second one made a big difference and the eye is now almost straight - though there is a slight lumpiness to the white of her eye due to scarring from having 2 surgeries close together. That was over 3 years ago and it has remained stable. She has totally adapted to have less vision in one eye and is in fact quite good at sports etc so it definitely does not hold her back.
I think this is a hugely common thing. She is in a class of 23 at school and there are 2 of them with this.
Good luck with it all!

There are colorful stick on patches available online. They have lady bug print, dalmatian print and some crazy colors. That's the only way I could get my son to wear his patch. He got to pick which one he wanted to wear every day. It was great. You can do an internet search to find patches for your daughter. Patching didn't work for my son so we ended up with surgery to correct his problem. Now both eyes are straight and he has perfect vision.

If you live near the Fishkill area in NY I would recommend Dr. Hugh Sauer. He specializes in caring for children. He brings himself down to their level and explains everything to you so you understand what he is talking about. His staff is also equally wonderful. He also checked our other son for the same condition after he was born. He would examine him every time we brought our oldest in and he did it free just because he was concerned and we were there with him already.

Good luck to you!

I do not have a child with vision problems but I was the case worker to a boy with Strabismus. He had the surgery as a teenager and it was successful at least cosmetically. It seemed like his depth perception was effected before the surgery and I am not sure this was corrected. But I suspect it had something to do with having the surgery so late. The eye doctor said it was usually done in young kids--toddlers and preschoolers--because they can adjust to it better because the brain is still developing.

A.,
My daughter had the surgery and never needed the patch. I used a doctor here in CT who is an expert in the field, unfortunately he is now in NH (or possibly VT). My daughter is planning on driving up to have him check her vision, as she won't see anyone here unless he recommends that person. Anyway the guys name is Dr. Maynard Wheeler, I know it is a ride but at the very least call him and get him to recommend someone in your area whom he trusts. By the way the surgery is not bad, my daughter did very well and luckily he corrected both the strabismus and Duane's Syndrome completely in one shot and she was the worst he had ever seen.
Also as someone who had to wear the patches, let me say they are very uncomfortable and most kids don't wear them, I faught my mother, taking it off as soon as I was out of her sight. Let me know how you make out.
Hugs,
T.

Hi A.,
I am an adult who has lived with strabismus all her life. As a little girl they tried me on red and green glasses, the patch, and as I got older they wanted to put me into lenses that gave me nausea. If your daughter's problem is not corrected by non-surgical means, she may grow up to do things like watching TV with one eye and turning her head to view things like I do. It is liveable! Anyway, good luck with your response to the problem.
L.
P.S. I hope you have a university-based pediatic ophthalmologist who gives you the honest answers.

My son also had strabismus, but in one eye. He had to wear an eye patch which worked really good. He is now 21 and you would never know he had the problem. His vision is fine. My sister's son had stabismus in both eyes and he had the surgery in both eyes. It worked great! And this was when he was a baby. He is now 24. Today the surgery is probably much more advanced and so much better. Good luck.

Hi there, A....

We tried doing patches when my son was a toddler, not three. He always pulled them off at that age (not sure how he'd do now--he's 4). We ended up with special drops that we put in one eye (switching eyes every other day). These drops did the same thing as the patch somehow. If the patch doesn't go over well with your daughter, you should ask him/her about these drops.

Good luck!

Hi A.,

I went through this myself when I was younger. Finally my parents had to resort to surgery after years of the patch. If you are thinking surgery, do it when she is younger. Don't wait. The yonger the easier.

A., I cant remember the name of the company, but we ordered cloth eye patches on line that cleverly attached to the glasses. I just googled cloth eye patch strbismus though, and preventblindness.org had a whole list of online suggestions, some run by parents of children with the same problem. My son did end up having the surgery, as it was pretty severe, but the patch did help a lot. He had to wear it all day, for months. He was fourat the time and becanme used to the cloth one, which the doctor approved, but the bandaidish one was a problem, I tried the adhesive one once with hijm to see what it was like---very sweaty especially in summer. Also cant remember hwhther you can really blink, or if you have to be in a constant wink.