13 year old with "lazy eye"

[Barbara-Staford]

  In July 98 my daughter (13 yrs old) had an eye exam, the only complaint was sometimes seeing double. We bought new glasses with prisms (1 in each). In September 98 she could not see the board or the overhead at school. We went back and got new lens with more prism (2 in each). (she can see 20/20 when eyes are dialated) Things worsened, she could not see to read because there wasn't any spacing between letters (everything smeared together). She could turn the book upside down and the words spaced out but still upside down.  She learned to read this way. She had a diabetic & thyroid (?) test they both came back normal. In Nov. 98 We were told to see a neurologist. Dec 21 we had a MRI and this came back normal. The neurologist said she is just a 13 year old female and said this is a trauma now days. We went to another eye specialist. She was tested for almost 3 hours. The only thing that was found was her lazy eye (right) and nearsighted. When she reads her right eye drifts off. We got stronger lens this time without the prisms. When her eyes were still dialated she could read fine but after they returned to normal it got harder to read. It has been 2 weeks with these lens and she able to read some but even the print on the computer is too small for her to read. Most typed papers she has to hold 5 or 6 inches from her eyes to see, and this isn't clear as it should be. She can see some colors better than others, but is not color blind. She is also still having bad headaches by the afternoon.
  Ok this is my daughter:  13 1/2 years old, large frame, 220 lbs.,
  5'6", Very active in school, A & B student, mostly high scores on SAT's, CAT's, loved to read until this happened.
  Any suggests about how we can help her we would greatly appreciate it.
barbara-
i will try to assist. my suspicion is that you daughter has what is called an exophoria or exotropia- this is a tendency for one eye to drift out. if it drifts out enough it can cause headaches and discomfort- the official word = asthenopia.  this occurs because as your child tries to fuse her eyes, especially to read, she is unable to and this effort to do so can cause headaches and make it difficult to read. the answer for this can be prisms, but it also may require surgery.  my suggestion is that she sees a pediatric ophthalmologist to insure her eyes are fusing properly in all situations. i hope this helps.
key words: exotropia, asthenopia
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