Questions About Lazy Eye

Updated on July 12, 2010
C.T. asks from Denton, TX
7 answers

My 6 year old was diagnosed with lazy eye last year in kindergarten after he failed an eye exam at school. His is caused from a vision problem, not a muscular problem, so surgery isn't an option. We have been working with the eye doctor since last Nov. to try and strengthen his vision in his lazy eye. We started him out with glasses and patching several hours a day and have now moved to a contact for the lazy eye and dilation drops instead of the patch. He will return to the doctor before school begins to check for improvement. My questions are: Has anyone had a child who's vision did not improve and how did you deal with it? And did anyone have an experience where patching or dilating did work? Does lazy eye cause any problems at school as far as classroom learning? Also, my son wants to play soccer, but I'm nervous that an accident to his stronger eye may leave him unable to see well at all. He will have to wear some sort of protective eyewear, but I'm not sure where to go for that. Please feel free to give any other advice I may not have asked about lazy eye, too. Thanks!

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A.H.

answers from New York on

protective eye wear.. you can buy at Walmart if yours has an eye dept. or bj's where they sell glasses in front. You can also get them at the eye dr.. but you will pay top price. My daugther doesn't have a lazy eye.. so i can't help you with that//.... but she cannot even see the big E on the eye chart... and she plays basketball and dances.. and is in all excellerated classed.... so dont worry about that... she wears thick glasses and will soon be getting contacts.. I've never held her back from playing sports... and as for school.. like I said she is super smart with extremely poor eyesight. It's not an issue... she doesn't think about it.. since she wears glasses which we got her prescription filled at BJ's $$99 for eyewear... great price. .. she also wears protective eyewear that we picked up at Target in the eye dept... and it works great... though it looks really goofy.. i hope someday they make these things a little nicer.. but don't worry....!!!! ok

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D.I.

answers from Dallas on

My son (and daughter) were both diagnosed with eye issues, but neither required muscular surgery. My son patched his "weaker" eye for a couple years. His "good" eye has always been 20.20. With him, we got the weaker eye up to nearly perfect, and then were told to drop the glasses cold turkey (with my daughter we are weaning into the lowest prescription possible to avoid crossing etc). Anyway, within 18 months, his weaker eye slipped back quite a bit and he had lost depth perception. By then, he was 11 years old or so and has been in one contact ever since (he's now almost 15). It is really not an issue. Some of that vision has come back, but will never be equal to his 20/20 eye. It was by chance that we missed his eye getting worse when he was told to stop the glasses.. he was seen every 6 months, so was closely monitored. My advise is that once things are corrected, make sure there is no question about the vision getting worse.. get the eyes dilated etc to be certain... and maybe weaning from the glasses is safer then stopping wearing them completely. I was very concerned when we discovered his eye had regressed back, but this has not effected him in sports school, or anything. In fact, the doctor pointed out to me that Babe Ruth only had one functioning eye and I imagine had depth perception issues. So, all that said.... it's great that you identified this problem (many times it goes undetected until too late), so you have a great window of opportunity for his vision to improve. Closely monitor his progress and he will be great.

1 mom found this helpful

T.N.

answers from Albany on

When my son was in first grade he was dx with lazy eye too, amblyobia...with 20/20 in his good eye....we tried the drops first to avoid the patch and or surgery...I was suposed to pu t them in daily, but to be honest, I skipped a day when he had a baseball game or some other important function....he was checked once a month to see if it was working...it did, would've worked a lot faster if I put it in everyday but it was so traumatic, you know? Over all, it took about a year to get the muscles in his lazy eye up to par, about 20/25. He is now 17 and will be off to college in a month...his vision is still excellent in his good eye, and roughly 20/25 in his 'bad' eye...our doctor told us we were lucky, often times just the drops were not enough, I hope you have the same luck!

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V.B.

answers from Dallas on

I had this at age 7 and wore the patch several hours a day. Had glasses and then contacts at age 18. It improved and I loved my contacts. It did not intefere with anything and I was a straight A student for 12 years. I sew, am an artist, quilt, play piano, etc.
He should be fine.

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J.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

I lad a lazy eye when I was a child. Patching and drops worked. The only thing school wise we had to change was me to be moved up so I could see better (the teacher did this but did not annouce why she moved around several people...that way I didn't feel like an outcast). I had poor vision in both eyes though, and I wore glasses most of my childhood into my teens. Now I only need glasses for night time driving or prolonged computer usage. Other then that I am glasses free and my vision is great! You can buy protective eye gear at any sporting store like Big 5, Chick's, play it Again Sports, etc. Good Luck with your little one!

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J.S.

answers from Dallas on

My daughter has this too. Well had. She patched for several years and now has 20/20 eyesight. She started at 20/2200
We never had the drops just the patch. I don't have more to tell you other than the patches and did well. We never had learning problems at public or homeschooling.
The idea of patching is patching the good eye to make the weak one improve. That really was good for her, good luck with what you and your child choose.

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K.K.

answers from Dallas on

I have a lazy eye and they did the patch thing when I was a kid. I should have had surgery but my mom did not look into that until it was too late; so I never had that. My vision in my lazy eye is not that good and the 'good' eye has gotten worse over the years. So basically, without corrective lenses my lazy eye is stronger, but with corrective lenses my 'good' eye is stronger. I played sports as a teen with no problems once I went into contacts. The only issues I have is that I am not a candidate for lasik due to the doctors being nervous that I technically have ONE good eye and if something happened I would for all intense and purposes be blind. The other is I medically need contacts since the diameter difference between my two eyes is more than 4. I wear a negative 1.25 in my lazy eye and a negative 6.25 in my 'good' eye. Glasses are tough but I use them to read at night. Not good to wear them for normal wear---makes things spin, blurry, and that is with the top lenses I can purchase. The other thing I have learned is I can not see 3D---even with the 3D glasses on. When you only use one eye primarily, this is effected; so see if his is that bad (the doctor can do a simple test) so that he doesn't waste his time and money on trying 3D things..... Anyway, I think the drops are interesting and from the one post you got that sounds good. I also graduated with great grades and magna cum-laude in college so his learning should be fine. I know for sports I could have worn goggle type things but the contacts worked for me. He is probably too young for that so the eye wear is the way to probably go at least for now. I hope he is making progress!!!

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