18 month check up - lazy eye?

[lj1977]

Hi there
we just got home from the Child health nurse check up, not the GP one which is next week so i will get this checked again. She thought Isaac's left eye was slightly lazy. He did wake at 5.30am this morn so is VERY tired and that could be a factor she said. Anyway, just wonder if you know if this is something that is common or can correct itself. She wasnt sure if it was the case but she thought so - thats why she wants me to get it checked again by someone else.
Anyone got any comments? ta!

Lisa

[madreader]

Both my eldest son and my youngest both suffer from this condition. With my eldest he to patch the good eye and have eye drops in it to try and build the strength up in the lazy eye. At the age of 5 he required surgery to correct the problem. With my youngest he is still on the waiting list toi be assessed. Did you also know that it is quite often herediatory. Good luck with your little boy.

[cwsmum]

My DS had a lazy eye at about 18mths, when he had his next checkup it had improved alot and was only really noticable when he was really tired. He's almost 4 now and has had no problems with it at all, not even when he's tired.

So, yes it can be something that corrects itself, or it could be something that needs further treatment like madreaders boys have, I guess it may depend on how severe the problem is to begin with.

Good luck at the drs :)

[Leeny]

Gwen had a lazy eye when she was very young, and she also had a turned muscle...It got better as she got older, and now i really only notice it when shes tired. Hers was never bad enough to need treatment, as its gotten better over time. She often sleeps with her eye open though.

[motherlylove]

if you are worried just cover the good eye so they gain strength in the other...good luck I had a lazy eye when i was little and this is what the doctor told my mother ot do

[our little treasures]

My daughter was born with an obvious lazy eye however it has corrected itself and they did say it would.

[Kirstlea]

Hi

My dd started getting a lazy eye around the same age and everyone told me it would fix its self but it hasn't so far and she is now 3 1/2yrs old.

I took her to an optometrist last November and will be seeing an omthologist in two weeks time (we don't have the luxury of specialists in Cairns:banghead: )

She now wears glasses which could correct the problem if she would wear them all of the time but I am struggling to get her to keep them on.

I'll let you know what comes of the specialist appointment whether they cover up one eye or what they will suggest.

Yes it can be hereditary which is almost certainly the reason for us as my mother had a lazy eye (I didn't know until she told me so obviously its all fixed:) ) and my husband also has a lazy eye which is now only noticable when he is really tired.

My dd has the problem of both of her eyes moving in at different times so with any luck it can be corrected as she is alternating which eye she wants to use.

Hope this helps, good luck with the health nurse.

Kirsten

[lj1977]

thanks for all the replies ! we have an appt tomorrow with opthamologist so i will let you know how it goes - its very slight and its encouraging to hear that some kids do grow out of it!!

[aliLou]

We have recently had a similar discovery with our 3.5year old son. The week before this Xmas I mentioned his lazy eye to the GP who sent us straight to an opthomologist. The testing showed that he is very long sighted (8 diopters) in both eyes. And as a result he had developed one lazy eye. He got glasses immediately. We have also been having to patch the good eye for 2 hours per day to try to recover its use/vision, whilst he does up close eye "work" (TV, jigsaw puzzles, drawing, block buidling).
Whilst the whole "have to get glasses" was sudden/shocking news, the great aspects out of this for us are: (1) we now know why Oliver lacked confidence in some physical areas (eg climbing) and now with the glasses his confidence and ability is improving heaps (2) he loves his glasses as he can now see! (3) With only 6 weeks of glasses + patching the lazy eye has improved from 40% to 80% and so we discovered it in time to recover useage of the lazy eye.
I hope you get good news tomorrow from the opthomologist but it is great that you are checking and checking so young as if there is a problem the sooner you get on to it the better. Good luck. Ali.

[Bibs]

We have "lazy eye" in the family so DD is getting checked next month. I'm wondering how the Opthamologist is going to check a 12month old's eye though. How in the world is she going to sit still and let him look at her eye? I'm really dreading it as DD has been really clingy and crying around strangers recently.

[aliLou]

In reply to Bibs qu of checking a 12 months olds eye.... having just discovered a problem with our eldest son (3.5yrs) eyes, we decided to get the younger one (22 months) eyes checked also... and yes they can check eyes on kids that cant sit still or speak well... its quite amazing.... they jiggle objects in front of one eye while covering the other, and with a little torch and looking through lenses they make observations (I think measuring light refraction distance??) to be able to very accuratey asses the eyes. My active 22 month old sat still enough, kept interested by what the opthamologist was doing.... and the opthamologist was able to confirm no eye problems in him - phew. As it is hereditry though we are going to get our youngest checked also when she is 6 months old. Good luck.

[lj1977]

hi there
well the appointment at the opthamologist went well! Isaac looks to be fine - he said sometimes these things can be an optical illusion esp when the little ones have a broad nose bridge it can make it look like an eye is lazy - i think he called it a "pseudo squint". He said to be sure he will see Isaac in 12 months so i am one happy mummy! if i see anything unusual in the meantime i can take him back.

He was sooo good with isaac, had heaps of toys, played with him and had to be super creative to get the tests done - i was so impressed! It was like play school!

[aliLou]

really glad it worked out so well for you - thats great to hear. cheers AliLou.

[Mum2Lucas]

my son will be 18 months next week and he has a lazy eye. I picked his up when he was 6 months old because it run's in our family and knew what i was looking for. He couldn't see a specialist until he turned one because the hospital eye people won't see a baby under that age. but i was right. They do say though that it can correct itself but sometimes it doesn't. Lucas now has to go back every 6 months to get it checked again. I've noticed it's been getting worse though. But yeah it's best to get it checked out to be on the safe side. hope it all goes well for you.

[Bibs]

In reply to Bibs qu of checking a 12 months olds eye.... having just discovered a problem with our eldest son (3.5yrs) eyes, we decided to get the younger one (22 months) eyes checked also... and yes they can check eyes on kids that cant sit still or speak well... its quite amazing.... they jiggle objects in front of one eye while covering the other, and with a little torch and looking through lenses they make observations (I think measuring light refraction distance??) to be able to very accuratey asses the eyes. My active 22 month old sat still enough, kept interested by what the opthamologist was doing.... and the opthamologist was able to confirm no eye problems in him - phew. As it is hereditry though we are going to get our youngest checked also when she is 6 months old. Good luck.
Thanks for that :). I know what to expect now.