Eye Surgery???

Have you also asked about exercises? My dad has a lazy eye - he's had it for years. he finally went to an eye doctor who did exercises for eyes. They helped him a lot. He does still wear glasses (also for reading...he's in his 50s). He can control the lazy eye better now. Just wanted to pass it along. Good Luck.

I had lazy eye as a child and went to therapy a few times a week to strengthen my eyes. It entailed looking far, then near, shifting eyes left, right, up, down, following a pencil back and forth...this went on for about one year.
This method is taught in yoga classes as well. I must wear glasses, though. The thought of surgery is one that requires a few pediatric opthamologists opinions; and hopefully you will make a choice that you are confident about. Blessings

My cousin's 3YO just had surgery to correct his lazy eye. He does not need glasses becasue his vision is normal otherwise. If you son is near-sighted or far-sighted, the lazy eye surgery will not correct that, and he will still need glasses. There is always a risk associated with any surgery, mostly because of the anesthesia. My son was under anesthesia for an MRI at 13 months, and he did not have any problems, but you may want to consider that.

3 of my cousins had the surgery. Two of them needed repeated surgeries to correct the problem. One of them still needs more surgery and he has already undergone three procedures. The one who only had one surgery does not wear glasses. The other two both wear glasses.
Om the other side, I had lazy eye that went unnoticed until 5 years ago. It corrected itself recently without surgery.
Keep up with the patch if you can.

My daughter had surgury to correct her lazy eye when she was 3. It was nearly painless. All she asked for was a cool cloth to put on her eyes that day. She was up and back to her normal self within 2 days. My daughter still had to wear glasses because her vision is poor. The doctor said that vision correction surgury can't be done until she is 17 or 18.
Good Luck,
S.

I would trust the opinion of the ophthalmologist. He or she is the expert. They would not put your child through surgery unless they expect a good outcome. I would trust your doctor more than the advice of lay people who are strangers to you and your son. They have years of training and they perform surgery on children every day.

Dear Carmela,

I am 37 and was born with strabismus, also sometimes called lazy eye. Lazy eye is not a medical diagnosis though and there are several things that are commonly called lazy eye. I had the patch and surgery on both eyes. I wore glasses from about age 3 until the present day (started wearing contacts when I was 12). I was told about 2 years ago (right after the birth of my son) that my eyes seemed to have self-corrected and I didn't have to wear the glasses but my parents and I have been through so much that I consider them a safety net and choose to wear them.

If your doctor is not recommending surgery, then maybe you want a second opinion. It could be that surgery won't be as helpful or not worth the risks.

Surgery is uncomfortable, frightening (I have very clear, bad memories of it from when I was 4), and you do have the stitches and a patch afterwards. And it doesn't mean you won't end up needing the glasses afterall!!

I would read up on your son's actual condition, ask the doctor questions and get a second opinion, if you haven't already.

Good luck! C.

Hi, Carmela.

My son had that same eye surgery when he was 3 years old. It worked wonderfully. Through the years (he's 20 now), he did have to wear glasses for a short period (as the muscle can become weak again). He will probably have to have the surgery again at some point as it appears he is having similar problems now. But we were told that from the start. I have no regrets about having the surgery done. (One of my friends didn't have the surgery as a child and has lost the eyesight in that eye - ask your doctor about that. Your brain can actually "turn off" the signal to that eye and the other eye will take over. Of course those are my words - the doctor can explain it better to you. I believe that's because the eyes look in different directions and your brain can't process two different visions at the same time so it adjusts.)
Anyway, my son had great results from the surgery. Best of luck to you.
*Just FYI... we had his surgery done at Nemour's Children's Hospital in Jacksonville.

Good evening,

My son Kevin (now almost 6) was diagnosed at 4 yrs old with not only 1 lazy eye, but both turned inward. By the time we noticed it, he had lost almost all sight in one of them. We did the patch for over a year & bifocals on top of that. It was just not helping, so about 4 months ago, we did the corrective surgery for the turning in problem, which also helps with the lazy eye thing. It worked great for one eye & almost fixed the problem in the real bad eye. We are still in glasses, but hopefull that over time this will not be needed. The surgery is kind of hard on them, I mean it's your eyes. It was the hardest thing to make him understand wy he could not rub his eye (stiches and all) when they hurt or itch. All the drops and creams & bleeding was kind of gross, but well worth it in the end.

His eye doctor, Dr. Hand (the best known pediatric eye doctor in Orlando - you can look him up) (whom I would recomend you take your child to)told me that if he starts to complain (Kevin has always been real good about wearing his glasses also) that we should bring him back in. This could mean the lenses need to be changed or really any number of things. So if your normally tolerant child is now not so tolerant. Do not ignore the sings. Just to be sure he is not uncomfortable I would take him back for a check up.

Could you imagine if he is having a hard time seeing with the current set of glasses, how uncomfortable. They would not understand to tell you, I mean Kevin was practically blind and he did not seem to realize that he could not see. So maybe he just does not realize to tell you, but knows the glasses are uncomfortable.

Hi Carmela,

Before you get too far into this decision make sure there is nothing else going on with his glasses. At 5 sometimes kids leave out information because it doesn't seem relevant to them or they don't understand what kinds of decisions we have to make. It could be something as simple as the glasses are bent and they're uncomfortable. I was blessed/cursed with an incredibly good memory and I remember not knowing to tell my mom things and her responding to the wrong need. Just a thought....

M.

my daughter had surgery for her lazy eye and it worked great! However, usually when kids wear glasses it is for a different problem....like nearsightedness for example. So I don't think the surgery would mean he could stop wearing glasses, because these sound like 2 separate problems. Why don't you just ask the doctor? I think he could explain it all to you.