TTMA - Strabismus

[chickypoo2468]

My son has extropia. He also has other issues but this is what I know.

Some kids can wear glasses to correct it. Patching is good because it strengthens the eye. We would do that but my son has nystagmus and it will make it worse. If you don't want to do surgery then I would ask about glasses and do the patching.

[chickypoo2468]

Also, I have a niece and a nephew that were both patched. It worked just fine.

And the patching isn't all day. It's like so long per day, sometimes you can split it up. It's something you can always just try, it's not like a commitment or anything. But you want to do something.

[toastie]

Have you seen a neuro-ophthalmologist? With your child's neuro issues it may be helpful to get a 2nd opinion. My oldest has ONH and it definitely affects his perception.

My youngest seemed to have severe esotropia, but turns out he's severely farsighted. He's been in glasses since 10 months and his eyes are straight. Patching may not work if the cause of strabismus is neuro versus muscular. There are so many levels to the eyes it's crazy how the eyes can work fine but the brain doesn't and vice verse.

[akafred]

I had/have strabismus (exotropia) and amblyopia. When I was very young the opthalmologist said I needed surgery but wanted to wait until I was closer to puberty age. At some point they did try patching but it was not successful. I did not get glasses until about a year after I developed nearsightedness (my mom never believed me that I couldn't see the board and thought I just wanted to sit closer to the teacher so they just moved me) when I was 10. At that time the optometrist we saw suggested vision therapy, and it completely corrected it.

Meanwhile my BFF in high school had had surgery for hypertropia and it failed. He had a big ugly scar on his eye which still turned upward. Of course, what worked for me might not work for your child. And surgery might work great. But personally I would seek a second opinion including a *reputable* dr who does VT.

[Captain Serious]

My son had/has strabismus.  Instead of patching, we tried drops that make your stronger eye blurry, in the hopes that your weaker eye aligns and "helps out."  Same idea as patching, but it doesn't require the child to wear something they might think is annoying, uncomfortable, or drawing attention to them.

Unfortunately, it didn't work, and he did have eye muscle surgery at 7 or 8 years old.  His left eye was pulling out and up.  The surgeon nicked the muscles that were pulling it in that direction to weaken them.  It has made a dramatic improvement.  He is now 10, and most the time, you can't tell, but from time to time, when he is really tired or overwhelmed, I do notice his eye tends to float up a bit.  Still, it's nothing like before, and I do consider the surgery a success.

The surgery was an outpatient procedure.  We were only there for the morning.  The most unsettling thing for J was that he couldn't see for several hours afterward (we weren't expecting that, but it apparently is normal), and then his vision remained blurry for several days.  He also said his eyes felt scratchy, like they had sand in them, and he wasn't allowed to rub them, so it was uncomfortable for several days afterward.

I was nervous, but am glad we did it.  He still seems to have a visual processing issue, but at least now his eyes are working more together than apart.