Lazy Eye? - Chandler,AZ

yes! for most, a lazy eye is a relatively easy fix, but it should be done as early as possible. get this addressed ASAP.
khairete
S.

I would recommend getting her to a doctor. My brother had the same problem when he was younger and it turned out his left eye just wasn't as strong as the right. The solution was to put a patch over the right eye (the strong eye) and let him try to focus for at least an hour a day with the left eye (the lazy eye). After about a year of doing this almost every day, you can't even tell there was any problem. He just had to strengthen it.

How old is your daughter? You should have your daughter evaluated by a pediatric ophthalmologist. If you can't find one, call your local children's hospital and they should be able to help you find one. This is definitely something that they should look at now to try to correct the condition.

Yes. Take her to a pediatric ophthalmologist. They will be able to recommend a course of treatment for her to strengthen the weak eye. Lazy eye is a neurological issue as well as a visual one. If you don't seek treatment before she reaches a certain age the neurologic pathways will be laid down and you will not be able to fix it. She will essentially be blind in that eye. take her in asap.

yes, yes, yes! take her to a pediatric ophthalmologist. if she is just starting to have issues with lazy eye, there's a good chance they'll be able to correct it pretty easily (with patching... or, as in my daughter's case, surgery... because we caught it too late ): ).

if it turns out that she does need some help, maybe also look into vision therapy. (I was really skeptical, but I have a friend who put herself through graduate school as a vision therapist and have seen some of her patients' progress--impressive. if my daughter had been your daughter's age (and not a toddler), this is the route we probably would have chosen. just a thought.)

in any case, yes, get her in to the doc, and good luck!

Yes.My 8 yr old son still has lazy eye and has to wear a patch.

I did eye therapy with my daughter over 20 years ago. The best decision I ever made!

Edit - What I learned was that all the muscles are connected. Including the eye muscles. The lazy eye is a weak muscle. We started by stretching the large muscles like regular stretches we do now. Then we worked on hand/foot/eye coordination. Jumping in and out of ropes, left/right scissor type motions over a stretched rope. Then the mallet game in the arcade type exercise, but the doctor type. Then colored push pins on a yard stick. They would move the pins to different places and place the yard stick on her nose and she would have to exercise making the yard stick scissor and come back in with her eyes.

Here is the website to my daughters eye doctor that helped her. http://www.visionsofhealth.org/

My daughter was just diagnosed with exotropia (outward drifting, inward is called endotropia). It's different than Lazy Eye. I just want you to know that when you take her in, this may be the diagnosis. Unlike Lazy Eye, if she controls it pretty well already it doesn't need any treatment, in fact our pediatric ophthalmologist warned us against any "therapy" for it, because with this specific condition the treatments don't work. Chances are that if you haven't even been aware of it up until now, she doesn't have actual Lazy Eye, because a person can't control that and it responds to treatments like a patch.

Definitely take her in, they will ask you a lot of questions about when you first noticed it, if she squints with one eye in sunlight, if you see her squinting when she is tired, etc... these things point to Exotropia not Lazy Eye. My husband told me that I have an eye that drifts like that when I am really tired or have had a couple of drinks, I've never even noticed it. My father also has it, it tends to be hereditary and can go unnoticed for many years. Only in extreme cases will they use glasses or surgery to treat it.

Let us know how it goes :)

YES! The sooner the better! While she is still growing and the eye is she pliable, they can work on the muscles surrounding the eye to see if exercises or strengthening eye movements will help stop the drift and center the eye more. This condition is called Strabismus. It is common and very treatable but you want to catch this early. If patching the stronger eye and exercises do to work, or are not an option for this particular case, a simple surgery to correct the position of the eye can be done. It is totally outpatient and not a big deal at all. Please consider all the options to treat this and don't waste anymore time waiting. Kids become very self-conscious about this very quickly and other kids.....as we all know.....pick up on everything that is "different" about other children and make it an issue. She is about to go into the toughest of the teenage girl years. Trust me, with twin 19 year olds, a 17 year old, and a 16 year old, all girls, I know! This is very treatable and not a huge dilemma. I applaud you as a mom for asking about this subject and seeing what help might be offered for your daughter on this forum. It will all be fine once your daughter sees an Opthamologist and treatment begins. I am sure of it!

Yes, take her to the eye doctor. The earlier you go and younger she is, the more effective the treatment will be.

I had one as a child, and did exercises several times a day as advised by the ophthalmologist. I also wore a patch at home, over the "good" eye, to make the lazy one work harder. There are a number of techniques than can safely correct this. It probably has nothing to do with her nearsightedness. I'd see an ophthalmologist even if you say an optometrist for the glasses.