Lazy Eye

Hi Delicia, I had the exact same thing as your daughter. I had surgery when I was very little, I believe it was even a little younger 6 months. I dont remember a lot obviously. I do know I had to wear a patch for a while. It helped my vision some, but I still have to wear glasses, and still have an eye that turns inward. The docs told my parents when I was like 10 that they could do another surgery to make my eyes straight, but it wouldnt improve my vision. So my parents decided not to do it since it corrects itself with glasses or contacts. Like I said I dont know alot about the surgery, but I can ask my parents if you would like some more specific information. All I can say is that I am glad they did the surgery when I was little and didnt know what was going on.

I run a daycare & one of my children has the same problem. She is wearing glasses to protect the cross eyed. The glasses make it so the cross eye gets stronger & doesnt have to work as hard. They told the mother that it is only a temp thing which is going on a yr & a half but hopefully it will be better when she hits school. All i have to say is do as the dr says. See what other options r out there besides surgery right away. The patch may work very well too. They will put it over the strong eye so the weak eye will get stronger. If your child has to wear glasses or whatever then make sure they do. When my daycare parents get home w/ their child she takes them off. She only wears them at my home because I make her. She is really good about them here. But she knows she can get away w/ it at her parents house. I wish u & your child all the luck & it will be fine. It seems like alot now but they adjust pretty well to it. Take care.

Hi! My nephew had this same kind of problem when he was an infant. I believe he too had to wear an eye patch and by the time he was between 1-2 years he was wearing glasses. He only wore glasses for about a year before his eyes corrected themselves. He never had surgery. His eyes are straight forward now and no more lazy eye. I would definitely get another opinion before having the surgery.

My mom had told me about a little boy that was born the same time as I was went through the very same thing. It was scary for the mom, but everything turned out okay. It used to be a long process, but with todays technology it should be a better recovery time.

One of my cousins was this way, I'm not sure if she needed the surgery as well, but I know she had to wear a patch, and even glasses that looped around her ears so they'd stay on as young as 6 months. In any event, she's 3 or 4 now, and perfectly fine in the vision department, barring of course, the glasses.

It sounds scary to know your baby may or will need surgery, but if they weren't confidant the results will be positive, or outweigh the risks, they wouldn't do it on a child so small. Everything will be alright.

Hi Delicia -

When I was a baby I had a lazy eye, and while surgery was an eventual possibility, the doctor recommended my parents try another, simpler and less invasive, option first. In addition to wearing a patch an hour a day, and in an attempt to pull my left eye (my left eye was the lazy one) back to center, they did everything on my left side. For example, all of my food was placed on the left side of my highchair tray, all of my toys were always placed on my left side, my parents only stood/sat on my left side when they talked to me or played with me. I know this sounds a little bit silly, but after a few months it worked and my eye regulated itself. Trying this may or may not work, but if it did work you might be able to avoid surgery.

Good luck!

Delicia,

My neice had the same problem and with surgery she no longer has a patch or glasses to fix the crossed eyes -- my suggestion is if you are worried get a second opinion and go from there

My friend's son had the same situation, and wore a patch for an hour every morning. He is 5 now, does NOT need surgery, and doesn't wear the patch anymore. I'd get a second or third opinion before jumping into surgery, especially with such a young one!

I was born with a lazy eye and what they called bug eyes. no my eyes didn't look like they were popping out of my head lol. The bug eyes were, where I use to switch what eye I would use. I wouldn't look out of both of my eyes at the same time. When i was growing up i trained myself to only use one eye every time i went to the doctors or failed the vision test at school. They told my mom that my lazy eye was the only good eye that i had and the other eye i was blind. They made me wear glasses to protect my eyes. Crazy is what i thought they were lol Anyways to make a long story short.... I didn't end up finding out about everything until i was in 8th grade. Then I had 2 eye surgeries one to fix the bug problem and the other to fix my lazy eye. Even at age 12 my parents plus me were scared about the surgery. But if i would of gotten it sooner i wouldn't of struggled in school plus i wouldn't of thought the world was crazy lol. Plus i wouldn't of trained myself to switch like i did. I can see out of both at the same time but i still find myself trained to switch. If u did want a second opinion Kelloge Eye Center in Ann Arbor is a great place plus the mott childerns hospital is right there. They were great!! Plus isn't it true that the young the patients are usually the better they recover especially for a simple surgery.

HI

It never hurts to get a second opinion and its usually a wise course. Dr. Walter Cukrowski is one of the best pediatric opthalmalogists in Michigan. He's in Royal Oak on Woodward at Normandy (13 1/2). He's wonderful with the children and an incredible doctor.

Cukrowski, Dr Walter S MD
4200 N Woodward Ave
Royal Oak, MI 48073-6301
###-###-####

L.

lazy eye and cross eyes is common in children.. Dr. Omalley is well known in pediatric opthamology.

The eye surgery is very quick -less than 1 hour. and is very effective

If you daughter needs surgery- it will make a big difference in her vision. If the problem is not corrected while she is young- she can lose vision in one eye- if her brain is recieving information from 2 eyes that are not working together- her brain will learn to ignor the one eye..

I wanted to add that the doctor said that she MAY need surgery, meaning that she'd be patched and then see? I don't think Dr. O'Malley would recommend surgery if she didn't need it; but get that second or third opinion, even if it's just to put your mind and heart at ease.

Your daughter is in the BEST hands! Dr. O'Malley is the best! My daughter (9) has been seeing him since she was 3. Her pre-school screening indicated lazy eyes (both). She had both eyes patched, alternate days, for 3 hours a day. We did this for many months. At that time, he said that the degree of the "drifting" (my word) was at the threshhold of what most children can tolerate without surgery, or at the smallest degree that would require surgery. Did that make sense? In other words, we had to wait til she was around 8 and see how she'd develop. It was 50/50 whether or not she'd need surgery.

Now she's 9 and he's not recommended surgery so far. The eyes still drift and now I notice it (I never could when she was little). She has a little less control over them now. However, she's just gotten glasses for nearsightedness and he said that may correct a lot of the problem too.

I'm still praying that she won't need surgery; however, if she does, I know she's in the best surgical hands with Dr. O'Malley.

Check around, you'll see that most people who's children have eye problems or whose children have been born premature and need eye care see Dr. O'Malley and they'll say he's the best too!

Plus, he is such a wonderful man. Did you notice all the pictures and stuff on his walls? He coaches kids' hockey. That's pretty demanding!

Leave it in God's hands and see what happens!

Delicia,
I use to work for an Ophthamologist and we did this kind of surgery all the time. It is better to get it done early or the child could start to lose the vision in the affected eye. It is scary to think of your baby having surgery, but the patch and the surgery will help to save your child's vision.
Good luck,
K.

My oldest daughter had to get surgery on both her eyes when she was 4, she is now almost 6 and doing fine. It is a scary thing thinking about your child having to get surgery but deep down inside you know that it is the best for them.
I was nervous all the way up to the day of my daughters surgery. My husband is the one that walk with her to the OR because I was trying to be brave for her,then i just broke down. I knew she would be ok, but it was my baby!! After the surgery she was fine except for the fact she had "devil eyes". Her eyes, including the whites, were red with blood for about a week afterward. It feel it was the best thing that we did opt for her to get it done. She could of ended up worst as the years went on.
Like I said she is now a beautiful almost 6 year old in kindergarten. She is doing great and learning wonderfully.

Your daughter will do fine. She is still young enough that she won't even remember anything. My daughter only talks about the teddy bear that she received, she went to Children's Hospital in Detroit. Just remember that is for the best. She can end up with learning disabilities as she gets older because it will affect her vision.

Any other questions about this feel free to write back!!!

my son is 6 1/2 months and we just went to a pediatriac opthomologist. He's also an M.D. and has worked with children for decades. He's an older gentleman and I think he's great. I would get a second oppinion before doing surgury and I recommend this guy hands down. His name is Dr. Cukrowski and his number is ###-###-####.

My son (although this can't be diagnoised on his 1st visit) may have bilateral duanes syndrome. Which means both of his eyes don't turn outward as far as they should.

My husband has this in his left eye, as well as his father does. So I find it odd that peter has it in both. Anyway we have another appointment in a few weeks to see how he's doign.

Please feel free to email me, my email address is ____@____.com I know how hard this is!

Hi Delicia -
I had a lazy eye when I was a child. They tried the patch with me, then glasses to help correct it. None of that worked, so I ened up having surgery to correct it. This was about 25 years ago. I am perfectly fine now! I see well and and had no negative repercussions from the surgery. And I imagine things are much simpler and more advanced with the surgery today. It may work out for you that the patch corrects it and that will be the end of it. But if not, I hope you will feel a little bit more at ease about the surgery.

If you want to talk more about it, feel free to e-mail me ____@____.com

We went through this with our son too. We went to Dr. RAO on Orchard Lake Road between 14 & 15 mile on the west side of the street. He is AWESOME. He also does the surgery and has a great bedside manner. I hope this helps you and good luck with everything. I will say a prayer for your your child.