Exotropia-16 Month Old Diagnosis-anyone Familiar?

well, our son had surgery at seven months. i'd started to notice one of his eyes a couple months after birth. then my husband noticed. then our ped noticed and referred us to dr. stager. we did patching for a while (he HATED IT). but ultimately stager said surgery. we were very hesitant even though I HAD THE SAME SURGERY three different times when i was a baby and young child -- and dh's older brother did as well. i was upset about general anesthesia, so dr. stager gave us a phone number of a pediatric anesthesiologist to call and talk to. we thought for a while ... then decided to go through with the surgery.

everything went as smoothly as it could have. soren charmed the pants off all the nurses at the surgery center. he slept in the recovery room, wimpered a couple of times, puked just once, then slept for 4 hours at home, woke up and it was like nothing had ever happened. his eyes weren't even red and they were perfect.

NOW, dr. stager did note before the first surgery that there is a 50% chance of needing a follow-up. his horizontal problems were fixed, but now he has a bit of vertical issues. we are going to have to do that follow-up this summer. that's upsetting, but we did know it going in ... and that's exactly what happened with me, too.

i HATED the thought of doing surgery, especially since i was very into a midwife birth, no vax, delayed solids, using a chiro, etc., all that "alternative" stuff ... but he needed the surgery to ensure proper development of his vision. in the end i think we made the right decision, but it's hard ... and you'll be nervous the day of the surgery, but thankfully it's incredibly short and kids do so much better with surgery than adults.

btw, soren had esotropia ...

Wow surgery?! I was able to fix mine with patching. Only when I am tired does my eye wander. I had a patch on my good eye so that I would strengthen the weaker one. Best of luck to you and your daughter.

I had a friend in town, who has since moved. But her son had this and did the surgery and then a follow-up surgery. He is now absolutely perfect. His dad had the problem when he was a kid. You can actually still see a little bit of an issue in the dad, but not in the child. I think that modern techniques must just be so much better. Good luck!

Hi A.,

I have information that may help and avoid surgery, let me know if you are open. The body can repair and heal itself given the right balance nutrition.

Happy Easter!

Hi A.,

My daughter had this and Dr. Stager did her 1st 2 surgery too. We started with the patching to see if it would help but surgery was her best option. Your daughter is not too young. The best time to correct eye sight is by 4 yrs old. After that it becomes a harder proceedure. In my daughter's case she ended up with 5 surgeries. She had the correction and a follow up, then about a yr later we noticed it again and went back to correct and she had to have the 4th because she ended up with the 1 in million chance issue that they had to fix, then she ended with 1 more surgery when she started with some vertical movement. Her last surgery was at 5 yrs old and I can tell you it never gets easier but I'm glad we started when we did. Now I will also mention that my mother and I both had it and my daughter's case was very severe. We shouldn't have even bothered wasting the time with patching to begin with. I know its hard to think about putting your baby through this but you will be glad you did it. She will be back to her normal self in a day! (minus the brusing around her eyes) And they have been doing this surgery for a long time! I had it 26 yrs ago so you know they have had to pefect it in that time. Also just a side note, I don't know who you're taking your daughter to, but Dr. Stager Sr. trained with the Dr. who did my surgery 26 yrs ago and the Dr. we see now Dr. Moody also worked with the dr who did my surgery. These guys are good. If you have any other questions I can help with let me know. Good luck.

My daughter had a wandering eye when she was very tired. She had 2 surgeries. Piece of cake for her. I was totally stressed, but it took about 20 minutes. He compared it to surgery to get tubes put in their ears. I think the patches, drops, etc. would be much more difficult on the child. If the doctor is recommending surgery, I would do it. Her doctor told us that there would be a 20% chance of needing a second surgery, and 20% of that need a third, and so on. Fortunately, she only needed 2.

16 months seems really young for eye therapies that involve exercise, but you might call Dr. Charles Shidlofsky (in Plano) or Dr. David Spivey (in Keller). They both do different things with eye therapies in an effort to avoid surgery. With that said, however, listen well to what the doctors say (after getting everyone's opinion) and don't let your fear make your decision. If it becomes clear that surgery is the best option, don't waste time because sight is a sense that really impacts a child's development. As the mom of a child with vision problems (which have been treated, off and on, with therapies and 3 surgeries), I've often wished there was a black-and-white instruction booklet I could use for making decisions like this!! What has served us well is (1) gathering as much information from as many sources as we could, (2) following logic rather than emotion and (3) praying like crazy!!

Hope things turn out very well for you and your daughter!

My daughter had lazy eye-we did the patching for a year and it did help a lot but didn't correct it all the way so at 3yrs she had eye surgery and then the eye stayed more in thatn out(which does happen in 30% of the cases) and she had another surgery at 3 1/2. Now her eye is completely fine.
Maybe this next dr will want to try patch therapy first to see if that'll help. I know that it's important to correct eye issues young because after the age of 6 the eyes are done maturing. Good luck.

Our little one is 5 1/2 now, she had 2 surgeries and is now fine, she was 3 & 4 at the time.

They don't actually operate on the eyes they operate on the muscles, there are no scars and they heal fast. She wore a patch on the strong eye to help the weak eye work harder. The worst part for the parents is them coming out of the "goofy juice" they give them to relax them before surgery. She had hers done @ Childrens.

I am an ophthalmic technician that has suffered from esotropia (same thing, but opposite direction) my whole life. I had 4 eye surgeries, 3 of which where very successful. The fourth one was when I was 5 and I was too old for it to help that much. By the time you are 5 or 6 your brain has developed and adapted to your eyes. If you do need surgery, you will want to get it done in the early years, otherwise your brain will supress the eye that is not focusing, which can lead to amblyopia. Amblyopia simply means you will not correct to 20/20. My son also has the same thing, but his is not as bad and we are not doing surgery. If we do surgery on him, as he grows he could become overcorrected. I suggest seeing a doctor from Pediatric Eye Specialists in Fort
Worth. My son sees Dr. Hunt but I know Dr. Packwood is very good also. Good Luck!

My now 16yrold daughter had crossed eyes when she was born. We have had 5 surgeries since and her eyes are still beautiful but more aligned. We had Dr do patching, drops and surgery. I think the surgery did the most.
She is still a slow reader because her eyes do not work normal, so school can sometimes be a problem, we have to ask for more time to do assignments, this may have been caused by a delay in surgery and doing patching until about 3rd grade, during that reading period that taught her to read.
Dr we saw was Marvelli in Mansfield, Collyville and Ft Worth. and also Dr Stager in Dallas.

Before I allowed surgery, I would consult a vision therapy specialist. Don't know where you live, but there is one in Plano. Dr. Charles Shidofsky. He's on Parker Road.

Hi, my daughter also had the surgery at about 6mos and again for a slight adjustment when she was about 18mos. We tried the patching also, but it didn't help. The deciding factor for us was to give our daughter the best chance at good vision. I had the same condition as a child, but my parents didn't take me to the optometrist until I was 6 years old. Well, by then it was too late, my brain had already stopped using my left eye for vision because it was always turned and not focusing on anything. As a result, I only have one eye that I can use for vision, the other eye is just used for my peripheral vision. I did not want this to happen to my child. Dr. Stager also performed her surgeries and everything went smoothly. Her eyes were a little red after the surgery, but she was her normal self after a few hours. Today, she is a happy 7 yr old with the most beautiful eyes you ever want to see!

If you are worried that the surgery is a little extreme given your childs age then try the non surgical options first. That said, I believe the surgery is probably very safe. I had this same surgery back in the late 60's and I have never had a complication. Since medicine has improved so much in 40 years I would imagine that it is even better now. Also I have better than 20/20 vision. I'm sure it concerned my parents back then but I'm really glad they had the surgery on me.

A.,
It's good that you getting a second opinion. My 2 1/2 year old has intermittent exotropia. The first doctor we went to, Dr. Beauchamp in Grapevine, told us to expect for her to end up having surgery when she was around 4 years old. He said we could patch in the meantime, but that studies have shown that it doesn't really help in the long run.

Well, that wasn't good enough for us, so we took her to Dr. Packwood in Fort Worth. He did not know that he was a second opinion. He diagnosed her with the same issue, However, he believes that with proper treatment, she will not need surgery, and will most likely grow out of it by 8 or 9 years old. She currently wears glasses, and within the first week of wearing them, we saw a drastic improvement in the stability of her eye, and at this time, we never see the eye deviate. It feels so wonderful to be doing something productive for our daughter instead of waiting around for surgery. Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you want to discuss anything further with me.
A.

A., I had a lazy eye when I was little. My Dr and parents tried everything even putting a patch over the good to try and strengthen my muscle. I eventually had my first pair of eye glasses at the age of 18 months old and I did have to have surgery later. I had it when I was in my twenties. i thought my son had a lazy eye last year and I took him the same pediatric specialist I went to when I was little and he said he had a very small case. I figure my son to will have to have glasses. I would get a second opionion becasue you never know. I will be more than happy to give you a very good Dr.s number. He is in the Dallas and Plano area. Good luck and everything wil be just fine. God bless.

I am not familiar with pediatric exotropia but I cab share a story with you. My mother had exotropia, Her sisters have it and their father had it and it goes back many generation in our family. My mother had the surgery many years ago, I would guess at least 12 years ago and she was very anxious post op, she said "you go in with sight and leave blind" because your eyes are bandaged and you depend on others for so much. But she always said she wished she had the surgery much sooner in life. Now one of her eyes is beginning to "drift" again and she is mentally prepared to have the surgery again. I will aske her to post and share some personal feelings with you that I may not remember or that she did not share with me or anyone else.

A.,
I have to agree with Amy who did a second opinion with Dr. Packwood. My almost 3 year old has the very same thing. I took him to a pediatric eye specialist...Dr. Alan Norman who is an associate of Dr. Packwood's. They are wonderfuuuullllll. Can't say enough good about Dr. Norman. He, too, prescribed glasses as one of the other moms mentioned and said that we have a really high chance of success without the surgery but it is a slow process and can take up to 5 years to correct with glasses. If it doesn't correct than we can discuss surgery at a later time.
Please get a second opinion with a pediatric eye specialist. They know what they are doing and Dr. Norman as well as Dr. Packwood I'm sure, are conservative and try the non invasive treatment first. They will know pretty quickly (in a few months) if the glasses will do the trick.
We saw them in Arlington but I believe they have 3 offices, one of which I think is in Fort Worth, but not for sure.

B.

I would try to find a vision therapist that you can see what they would recommend. I had a vision disorder from birth and I had to go to a vision therapist to help me. If nothing else it would be another opinion.

Good luck and God bless!

I have 11 children and 3 have had lazy eyes/crossedeyes. We have done the patching and also my now 9 year old had eye surgery on both eyes (tightening the muscles) when she was 3. The surgery was in and out the same day. The worst part of the whole thing was waking up from the surgery. The surgery went very well and was harder on me than it was on her. The patching worked on my other two children. The only problem with that is other children staring at them and the questions or comments but my children handled this with no problem. If you have any other questions, you can e-mail me at ____@____.com care and I hope everything goes well for you.

A.

I just wanted to say as someone who has this - when I was little we had it checked out and we did alternative treatments but it never really fixed everything. My mom didn't want to do surgery for me and all my life I have wished that she did. I have great eyesight, no need at all for glasses and the majority of the time, you can't tell I have it. But every once in a while, when I am tired or just in a stare, you see it happen. And I have been self-conscious about it since I was a teen! So moral of the story, yes get a second opinion, try alternative treatments, but if that doesn't all work, then please, please for your kid's sake, get the surgery. It would be a bigger deal for them to do it when they grow up than it would be for a young child.

my name is V. my daughter had a weak muscles in her eye at birth she had surgery at 5mo. She is 12yr old now and I'm happy I did it when I did because she don't even remember it. By the was you can't even tell she had surgery.

Firstly, surgery is much more dangerous than the actual eye problem, much more dangerous.
There is an optometrist in Allen that is all-natural and does "vision correction therapy" to correct these kinds of problems. Please, at the least, consult him before continuing. He does have a dull personality, but if you can get past that, he could possibly correct your daughter's eye ailment without harmful surgery. He's different than 99% of optometrists, so his opinion is well worth it!
His contact info is at...
http://www.denitochiropractic.com/resource/optometry.php and his website is...
http://www.optometrists.org/Dallas/
Let me know if you check him out!