Vision Therapy for Strabismus or Congenital Esotropia

Hello,
My son is almost 2 and he was diagnosed with Congenital Esotropia at a young age. we have been patching since 6months of age and we did a surgery in May of this year. the improvement from the surgery was very noticeable but you can still tell that his eyes are not 100% straight. We went to the Doctor and he recommended doing a second surgery. He also told me that my son will never see from both eyes at the same time. when i did some research I found out that there is Vision Therapy for this. Has anyone tried it and does it really work? Would you recommend a good vision therapist in VA area?
Thank you
I.

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So What Happened?™

Thank you to everyone who responded.
We took him to the VT and he told us to do some exercises and that he will most likely need surgery to completely fix the deviation so then we can start having the VT to have the brain align both eyes and use them together. On monday and Tuesday i have more Dr. appointments and will let you know what happens.
Thank you

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K.A. answers from Washington DC on October 24, 2009

I had vision therapy as a young adult. I'm not sure what age groups he works with but my eye dr. at the time was Dr. Keith Smithson - he is with the Northern VA Doctors of Optometry group (locations in Falls Church and Reston that I know of). Website is http://www.novaeyedocs.com/index.php

Good luck!
K.

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A.P. answers from Washington DC on October 26, 2009

Hi both Daughters (10yr, 4yr) have stabismus.
the older one had surgery at 4yr and used glasses too, but at around 8yr the squint was back and we were referd to a VT specialist in NC, and i cant say enough about how well it has woked for her, as inspite of the surgery she was also seeing double all this time am thought that was normal, it was only during the VT sessions she discovered that was not so!!wish i knew about VT before i had her have the surgery !!
we have just moved to VA and currently see Dr, Eleftherio on leesburg pike and am quite happy wiht him, i felt his exams were very thourough, he actually diagnosed i had a slight squint too which no off my optometrists have ever mentioned and i have been using glasses since 13yr old!! apparently most dont check for it!.
But as your son is 2 he may be too young as it does involve using computer games and charts but i guess no harm in having him seen by a VT specilast before having another surgery as they dont always wrk!. My 4 yr controll with use of glasses but have another appointment in Dec so wil see what he says then.

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L.G. answers from Louisville on October 24, 2009

I did vision therapy with both my children, One for strabismus and the other for milder problems. I can say that after about 3 months of therapy my sons eye was noticeably more straight.After 6 months of therapy you could barely tell there was anything wrong with his eye! he was more well behaved, happier, and could go down steps much easier.Please dont do surgery again. Vision therapy really does work.

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S.T. answers from Washington DC on October 25, 2009

Hi There,

I don't have a particular reference but the below web sites have "Find an Optometrist" search links on them. Behavioral Optometrists are great and usually offer vision therapy. Good luck!

http://www.covd.org/
http://www.oepf.org/

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