I gave birth to my baby girl on 4/7/2010. I noticed that she can barely open her right eye. Her left eye will open all the way but the right one will not and sometimes she doesn't even open it. Whenever she would cry, tears only came out of the left eye then days later it started to get mucousy. The pediatrician gave me a prescription to get some ointment for it but it got better on its own. They also told me that she probably has a blocked tear duct (in the right eye) and to massage it. I looked some stuff up online and read about ptosis, which some people call "lazy eye". I'm trying to figure out if her right eye will eventually open.
So on Monday the doctor decided to go ahead and schedule my baby for surgery. She has been diagnosed as having ptosis. The doctor said she wanted to have the surgery because her eye wasn't getting any better and that it would later impede her vision. One procedure they could do would be to strengthen/tighten her eyelid muscle but that would be unsuccessful being that hers is currently not working at all. She has learned to make herself use that eye by raising her chin to see thru both eyes equally. The doctor also said unlike some people she has learned to only raise one eyebrow when trying to see, which I thought was a plus but she quickly said it wasn't. So they have decided to do the levator sling operation where they would put incisions above her eyebrow and top eyelash then insert slings (like rubberbands) to make those muscles work. I've been told that its better to do the surgery while she's young and to keep her from having vision problems but a part of me is hoping that it would get better on its own. Its just hard for me to imagine my 8 month having surgery which is outpatient btw.
My son had a blocked tear duct when he was an infant, had the stuff to put on it , I used it and it got better , no more mucus etc, her right eye may be stuck closed with gunk. Try a warm clothe on it
You need to take her ASAP to a Osteopath to have him do cranial sacral work to get her adjusted to ensure the eye is optimal positioning. I am willing to bet this alone would help get it to open...
Then you need to start doing excersizes with her to get her to move her eye.
The Osteopath will give you some great reccomendations. If you need some let me know I can help you with some as we went through this with my daughter.
Call if you need reccomendations
www.trulyhealthybaby.com
H.
my oldest son, now 2 1/2, had a clogged ter duct at bith. it would get better some days and then it would get all yucky and almost be clogged shut other days. i went to the pediatrician numerous times and he told me that it hurt me worse than him and to just get a warm washcloth and massage it. he said it just had to run its course and most babies grew out of it by the time they were 1. we ended up going to an eye doctor and he confirmed that it was a clgged tear duct and that he could have an out patient surgery to fix it. my pedi recommended we wait until he was a year to see if it cleared up and it did...right after his 1 yr bday. some docs will tell u to get the surgery done sooner bc when they get older it is harder to fix. just talk to your pedi about the procedure and see what he says. sorry i know how u feel...i hope it works out~
My first son had a similar issue, although it was not a clogged tear duct - it never got mucusy. His left eye was closed more than his right eye - always, and when he was tired it would close almost all the way. Our pediatrician said it was from the way he was laying in utero, that there was pressure on that side that made his eye not open all the way. He said it should resolve itself, that if by 6 months it wasn't getting better that we should see a specialist. It did get better on its own. Still today (21 months) that eye closes a teeny bit more than his other eye when he is tired. But, like I said, in the end we didn't need to do anything about it.
I'm not sure about the lazy eye, but my son had severe blocked tear ducts. He couldn't open his eyes at all and the ointment/massage didn't help.
Usually they will though, so keep doing it! We had to have the procedure done when he was about 9 months to clear the blockage and we haven't had any problems since.
Are you breastfeeding? If so you may want to try massaging a little breast milk under her eye every time you nurse. I know it sounds weird but it has natural antibiotics. The ped suggested it to me with my daughter.
Take her to an optometrist. The InfantSEE program provides a free exam to infants birth to 12 months. Only an optometrist or pediatric ophthalmologist can ensure there are no problems.
This is a great program. Good luck.
BTW, I work for an optometrist, so I have seen great results with this program.
Both my kids had the same thing and my daughter had it worse. Our pediatrician told us the same thing ointment and massage, she did warn us it would take weeks if not months to clear out. She was right it did. It didn't stop me from worrying about it, I know exactly how you feel. Keep following up on it with doctors to satisfy your concern, but now that I have two kids I realize how easy it was to care for one and I spent a lot of time looking for things to worry about. Good luck and hope it clears up sooner than later and enjoy your baby :)
My daughter now 9 months had this problem. It is really not a huge deal just a blocked tear duct. If massaging it does not work within a couple weeks take her to a pediatric opthamologist and they will most likely surgicaly clear it for her. It is not an actual surgery it is done in office and only takes a couple minutes.
