Infant crossing eyes

[Kristen Clayton]

My 20 month old son has just been diagnosed with enotropia (sp?) crossed
eyes. We have received two opinions on this. We will be picking up his
glasses tomorrow... first of all any wonderful ideas on getting a child to
wear their glasses???? He seems to see fine... but he crosses his eyes..
what is he seeing? Double.? Also, one Dr. told us that it could be
correctable by age 5 - 6 and the other said he will be wearing glasses his
whole life for this... He is farsighted...
I am having a really hard time with this whole thing, mainly because he is
just a baby!!!

Thanks in advance for any messages!

[William Stacy]

In <01bb88db.3f44a7e0$0118...@ckristen.admn.712.nebo.edu> Kristen

Clayton <CKri...@Admn.712.nebo.edu> writes:
>
>My 20 month old son has just been diagnosed with enotropia (sp?)
crossed
>eyes. We have received two opinions on this. We will be picking up
his
>glasses tomorrow... first of all any wonderful ideas on getting a
child to
>wear their glasses???? He seems to see fine... but he crosses his
eyes..
>what is he seeing? Double.? Also, one Dr. told us that it could be
>correctable by age 5 - 6 and the other said he will be wearing glasses
his
>whole life for this... He is farsighted...

If he's significantly hyperopic, I don't think it will go away
(without, say refractive surgery). It may be a struggle at first, but
kids take to glasses well, ususally. Keep him in them if you can. Make
sure they correct the esotropia. (His eyes should be straight when
wearing them).

Bill

[Nick Jones]

Kristen Clayton <CKri...@Admn.712.nebo.edu> wrote:
>
> My 20 month old son has just been diagnosed with enotropia (sp?) crossed
> eyes. We have received two opinions on this. We will be picking up his
> glasses tomorrow... first of all any wonderful ideas on getting a child to
> wear their glasses???? He seems to see fine... but he crosses his eyes..
> what is he seeing? Double.? Also, one Dr. told us that it could be
> correctable by age 5 - 6 and the other said he will be wearing glasses his
> whole life for this... He is farsighted...

> I am having a really hard time with this whole thing, mainly because he is
> just a baby!!!
>
> Thanks in advance for any messages!
>

Your child has an esotropia. Children become more short-sighted as they
get older. As your child is far-sighted (hypermetropic), you could expect
the strength of his glasses to decrease, however whether he reaches the
stage where glasses are no longer necessary depends on the strength of
his current glasses. He may also reach an intermediate stage where
glasses are only necessary for close work.

It is important to ascertain whether your child's esotropia completely
disappears when he wears the glasses. If it does not, the vision may
not develop normally in the eye that is turning (amblyopia). This is
because the brain shuts off the signals coming from the turned eye
when they are too incompatible with those from the other eye. In
answer to your question about what he can see, I would suggest he
can see everything a child his age can, although when the eye is turned
he wouldn't have any depth perception. This is a minor problem however,
as he will learn to use other cues to perceive depth. He wouldn't notice
any double vision in the turned eye due to the brain shutting down its
input as I mentioned earlier.

Hope that helped,

Nick the Orthoptist

[Mark Bell]

Kristen Clayton wrote:
>
> My 20 month old son has just been diagnosed with enotropia (sp?) crossed
> eyes. We have received two opinions on this. We will be picking up his
> glasses tomorrow... first of all any wonderful ideas on getting a child to
> wear their glasses???? He seems to see fine... but he crosses his eyes..
> what is he seeing? Double.? Also, one Dr. told us that it could be
> correctable by age 5 - 6 and the other said he will be wearing glasses his
> whole life for this... He is farsighted...
> I am having a really hard time with this whole thing, mainly because he is
> just a baby!!!
>
> Thanks in advance for any messages!

My daughter was diagnosed with the same condition your child has.

Sbe started wearing glasses at 10 months. About 3 months later we had
to get bifocals
for her.

As far as getting her to wear the glasses, at first we would get some
toys around and
one of us would distract her and the other would put the glasses on her.
We would then
attempt to keep her preoccupied as long as possible. It was a very
trying process of
replacing the glasses over and over again. When we started she would
wear them 20 - 30
seconds, and pull them off, so when we could succeed for as long as 3-5
minutes it was a
great feeling. The whole thing took only about 1 month and she would
wear them
virtually all day. Of course we still have the occasional removal, but
she is now well
aware that she can see much better with the glasses on. Be prepared to
see an increase
in the amount of eye crossing without the glasses on in the future (I'm
told this is
natural as the eyes adjust to the glasses). She is now 22 months.
Good Luck
Mark

[Alick Tsui]

Esotropia is what your child has.
A very common type of turn that develops at around 20 months old or when
he or she starts to focus things in details - accommodative in origin.
That is what you child was found to be hyperopic (far sighted).
When your doctor finds that your child is significantly hyperopic,
glasses of cause will be given to see how much of the focusing strain can
be relieved. If the significant hyperopic is corrected, your child may
not have to strain his/her eyes and would regain straight eyes and
maintain a good binocular visual behaviour and a lazy eye (or amblyopic)
eye will be developed.

However, if the turn is still there even with the glasses is on, your
child must have a non-accommodative element in the turn and this will
likely require surgery to correct it in the long run. A turn in the eye
will likely lead to suppression of the diplopia image and render the
turned eye become visually amblyopic (lazy). Treatment will then include
patching of the good eye until the vision is returned to normal at which
time surgery can be considered to restore the eye alignment or/and the
binocular status.

In summary, getting glasses for your child to correct the hyperopia
(farsighetedness) is surely on the right tract. Keep an eye on the
glasses and see if the turn can be corrected. Otherwise, keep your
follow up appointment, likely patching and repeat cyclo refraction or
(checking for stronger glasses etc...) and surgery will follow.

Hope I have not confused you too much.

Alick
Orthoptist
B.Sc., D.B.O. O.C(C), D.O.

William Stacy (w...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: In <01bb88db.3f44a7e0$0118...@ckristen.admn.712.nebo.edu> Kristen
: Clayton <CKri...@Admn.712.nebo.edu> writes:
: >
: >My 20 month old son has just been diagnosed with enotropia (sp?)

: crossed
: >eyes. We have received two opinions on this. We will be picking up
: his
: >glasses tomorrow... first of all any wonderful ideas on getting a
: child to
: >wear their glasses???? He seems to see fine... but he crosses his
: eyes..
: >what is he seeing? Double.? Also, one Dr. told us that it could be
: >correctable by age 5 - 6 and the other said he will be wearing glasses
: his
: >whole life for this... He is farsighted...

: If he's significantly hyperopic, I don't think it will go away