We took our 16-month old daughter to the eye doctor because she has a *very* slight problem with one eye turning in, and suddenly they are talking glasses or surgery!

Denise - posted on 10/14/2011

my youngest son had the surgery for strabismus....the recovery time from the surgery is good. The surgery itself isn't a big deal. There really isn't much you can do with it because strabismus is very different from lazy eye and it generally isn't corrected by patching or anything like that. It isn't a quick fix, the surgery itself is supposed a permanent fix for it. So IMO I would have the surgery done and get it corrected before the age of 2. My son's wasn't detected till he was older than 2 and now he has so many eye issues he will have to wear glasses for the rest of his life.

Laura - posted on 12/15/2008

Definitely check out the website, there are pros and cons obviously of surgery and alternative treatment. It was really enlightening to read stories of people who went through it. Good luck ladies and happy holidays.

User - posted on 12/15/2008

Wow Katie your story seems almost exaclty like mine. My son is now 22mths and has been wearing glasses since he was 16mths. He is extremely farsighted as well, his eye is still turning and we need the surgery. We have been patching him for almost 6mths as well, to strengthen the vision in his right eye. So far it has not changed anything. The vision is no worse, but no better. So we keep patching and then it's surgery. They told me could be two or three surgeries before they can get it corrected. If they ever can. We did not have an MRI, I guess they didn't feel the need.



Thanks Laura for posting that website, I am gonna have to check it out. Good luck ladies with your kids!!

Laura - posted on 11/17/2008

No apologies, please ... you see how long my original post was! It's a scary scenario. Thank you for sharing, that is quite an ordeal to go through, especially when they are so young.

We had our follow up appointment since my original post and, as of now, Ella's condition is not severe enough to warrant any treatment. Of course we were relieved to learn that, but at the same time we were a little upset because the doctor gave the impression after the first visit that "no treatment" would not be one of our options.

Did you check the strabismus website? I think it is strabismus.org. There were a lot of posts by families who are going through this, some chose surgery and others chose alternative therapy. It was comforting to read so many stories.

Best of luck to you and your son. Thanks for responding.

Katie - posted on 11/17/2008

Our 16 month old was diagnosed with Strabismus at the end of August and now he has been diagnosed as having amployia (deteriorating vision in his right eye). We took our son to a pediatric opthmologist at the University Hospital and are basically starting from square one. He has glasses for his farsightedness that we are trying for 6 weeks. After that 6 week time, they are going to evaluate his vision with his glasses on to see if his eyes are still turning. If they aren't turning, we will assume he has the accomodative form of Strabusmis and glasses will correct that and most kids outgrow it by 8-9 years of age. If they are still turning, they are going to do an MRI just to rule out any issues with his brain, and he will probably have to have surgery. The surgery scares me to death.



I apologize for this being so long, but wanted to give you what he have been through.