Logan's 4mo appt & Esotropia

At Logan's 4mo. appt we found out several things:

a) as a little guy with very fine hair he will not harbor lice (yay -
visiting family in Oregon seems to have infected us, ICKKKKK)

b) the weird round patches on his forehead are just eczema, not ringworm
(phew - I was worried about my sister's half-hairless cat)

c) he now weighs 19 lbs 7oz and is 26.5" long! big boy. 95% all the way.

d) he appears to have some type of esotropia - need to see a specialist.

D is what kicks my butt. I'm worried like crazy now. Esotropia is when
the eyes don't align right, one or both will turn inward. Logan has it
in both, when he looks to one side or the other, the outward eye has the
appearance of turning too far inward. When he looks straight on he seems
to have mildly crossed eyes.

His pedi said it means he likely has double vision, and would need
patching or glasses to correct it or he will lose vision in one eye.

DH's dad has vision only in one eye presumably from esotropia as a child
that was never treated. He is also very farsighted, which I read can be
a cause of esotropia in *older* (over 2) children. DH and his mother
were both myopic before their Lasik surgeries which corrected it.

I've read that congenital esotropia shows up in infants and is not fully
correctable, and surgery is required because patching/glasses doesn't
help it. Considering dh's dad I'm afraid this is congenital. However
there is also psuedo-esotropia which is where the bridge of the nose is
wide enough to obscure the sides of the eyes, so that it appears the
baby is cross-eyed or esotropic when he is not. The website I read it at
states "note the glint in the eyes" that the eye-glint in an esotropic
child will be off-center in one pupil whereas in a psuedo-esotropic
child the glint is always in the same place in each eye.

I don't know if the eye glint thing holds water... I do know that in all
the pictures we have of Logan the eye glint is in the same place in each
pupil no matter how crosseyed he looks.

I'm very worried and would like to hear of any experiences anyone here
has with infant esotropia.

Shena Delian O'Brien wrote:

I'm very worried and would like to hear of any experiences anyone here
has with infant esotropia.

No experience here, but I'm wondering if you should go to an optometrist
or someone who specializes more in infant and child vision (if such a
person exists). Maybe they would be better able to differentiate
between true esotropia and the bridge of his nose throwing people off.
(and of course they would be better able to advise you about possible
surgical correction if there is indeed a problem) I'm sure you've
already thought of this but I thought I would mention it in case you
haven't, for some reason.

Shena Delian O'Brien wrote:

I'm very worried and would like to hear of any experiences anyone here
has with infant esotropia.

Hey, I guess my eye problems are called esotropia, who knew?

I had to wear an eyepatch as a child for half a day every day,
starting at age 3 or 4 when my problems were first diagnosed. I
presume that I was born this way. I saw double, and I'm farsighted.

At around age 5 I stopped wearing a patch, and haven't had to wear one
since. I would've lost vision in one eye if it weren't for the patch.
Surgery either wasn't an option, or my parents didn't want to do it.

I didn't enjoy wearing the patch, but I didn't mind it all that much.
Just one of those annoying things moms make you do when you're a kid,
you know? I wore an adhesive one, and every morning my mom would draw
a picture on it. Heh, I wish we had photos of that.

I still am cross-eyed in one eye (does that make sense?) if I focus my
eyes when I'm not wearing glasses or contacts. I can't read or drive
without lenses, but with them I'm not in the least bit cross-eyed.

I'm sure this is worrying for you, but if Logan has the same eye
problem I did, it really wasn't that big of a deal. I wish I had
perfect vision, but I can live without it.

--
Sara, accompanied by the toddling barnacle

Sara wrote:

Shena Delian O'Brien wrote:


I'm very worried and would like to hear of any experiences anyone here
has with infant esotropia.


Hey, I guess my eye problems are called esotropia, who knew?

I had to wear an eyepatch as a child for half a day every day,
starting at age 3 or 4 when my problems were first diagnosed. I
presume that I was born this way. I saw double, and I'm farsighted.

At around age 5 I stopped wearing a patch, and haven't had to wear one
since. I would've lost vision in one eye if it weren't for the patch.
Surgery either wasn't an option, or my parents didn't want to do it.

I didn't enjoy wearing the patch, but I didn't mind it all that much.
Just one of those annoying things moms make you do when you're a kid,
you know? I wore an adhesive one, and every morning my mom would draw
a picture on it. Heh, I wish we had photos of that.

I still am cross-eyed in one eye (does that make sense?) if I focus my
eyes when I'm not wearing glasses or contacts. I can't read or drive
without lenses, but with them I'm not in the least bit cross-eyed.

I'm sure this is worrying for you, but if Logan has the same eye
problem I did, it really wasn't that big of a deal. I wish I had
perfect vision, but I can live without it.


Is this the same as lazy eye? If so, I've got it too. I wore a
patch around 4-5 years old which really improved the vision in
the lazy eye. Then I believe my optometrist would undercorrect
my 'good' eye to make my lazy eye work harder. I've worn glasses
or contacts since. My vision is actually pretty good. I can
read/drive without glasses (not recommended, but I see pretty well).
If I am without my glasses for a long time my eye will cross, but
alot less than when I was little. I do find, even corrected, that
my depth perception isn't great (makes playing tennis a little hard),
but not terrible bad.

I also recently read that early treatment is more effective.

Mary

Mary W. wrote:


Is this the same as lazy eye?

No, I believe that is amblyopia.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Shena Delian O'Brien wrote:

At Logan's 4mo. appt we found out several things:

a) as a little guy with very fine hair he will not harbor lice (yay -
visiting family in Oregon seems to have infected us, ICKKKKK)

b) the weird round patches on his forehead are just eczema, not ringworm
(phew - I was worried about my sister's half-hairless cat)

c) he now weighs 19 lbs 7oz and is 26.5" long! big boy. 95% all the way.

d) he appears to have some type of esotropia - need to see a specialist.

D is what kicks my butt. I'm worried like crazy now. Esotropia is when
the eyes don't align right, one or both will turn inward. Logan has it
in both, when he looks to one side or the other, the outward eye has the
appearance of turning too far inward. When he looks straight on he seems
to have mildly crossed eyes.

His pedi said it means he likely has double vision, and would need
patching or glasses to correct it or he will lose vision in one eye.

DH's dad has vision only in one eye presumably from esotropia as a child
that was never treated. He is also very farsighted, which I read can be
a cause of esotropia in *older* (over 2) children. DH and his mother
were both myopic before their Lasik surgeries which corrected it.

I've read that congenital esotropia shows up in infants and is not fully
correctable, and surgery is required because patching/glasses doesn't
help it. Considering dh's dad I'm afraid this is congenital. However
there is also psuedo-esotropia which is where the bridge of the nose is
wide enough to obscure the sides of the eyes, so that it appears the
baby is cross-eyed or esotropic when he is not. The website I read it at
states "note the glint in the eyes" that the eye-glint in an esotropic
child will be off-center in one pupil whereas in a psuedo-esotropic
child the glint is always in the same place in each eye.

I don't know if the eye glint thing holds water... I do know that in all
the pictures we have of Logan the eye glint is in the same place in each
pupil no matter how crosseyed he looks.

I'm very worried and would like to hear of any experiences anyone here
has with infant esotropia.


I'm not sure of the technical term, but I think this might
be the same as what my youngest brother had. He's worn glasses
from very early on, which I guess serve to a) make his eyesight
better (so he liked them, better than 20/20 even, I think) and
b) make sure he uses both eyes. As I remember it, they thought
that the glasses would either be enough or not, and if not, he'd
get surgery around age 8. But now he's 14, still wears the
glasses, and hasn't had any surgery yet. His eyes aren't crossed
when he has the glasses on, but I think they still are if
he takes them off.

Emily

Shena Delian O'Brien wrote:
I'm very worried and would like to hear of any experiences anyone here
has with infant esotropia.

A friend's child had something like this, only he wasn't picked up till he
was quite old - 4 or 5 I think. He had been labelled developmentally
delayed, but it turned out he probably had double vision, and was really
far-sighted. Once he got glasses, he took a while to catch up, but now,
about 8 years later, apart from wearing glasses, no-one would know any
different. I'm pleased Logan's case has been picked up so early - it bodes
well for treatment.

Cathy

On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 23:44:14 GMT, Emily wrote:

His eyes aren't crossed
when he has the glasses on, but I think they still are if
he takes them off.

I think you're right. Here's an example of it -- scroll down to see
pic:
http://www.pedseye.com/EsotropiaA.htm#Signs



Carla
Mom to Victor Paul born 5.16.04
www.victorpictures.com --See him here!

"shixa" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Aug 2004 23:44:14 GMT, Emily wrote:

His eyes aren't crossed
when he has the glasses on, but I think they still are if
he takes them off.

I think you're right. Here's an example of it -- scroll down to see
pic:
http://www.pedseye.com/EsotropiaA.htm#Signs



My 4 year old has this. She's been wearing glasses for 2 years now. My 2
1/2 year old will also probably get glasses for it soon.

Denise