Eye Crossing in a toddler with Spina Bifida

[award1223]

My 3 year old daughter has spina bifida, Chiari malformation & shunted hydrocephalus.  A few days ago, she was complaining of headaches, so her neurosurgeon ordered a CT scan which showed that the shunt was fine.  She hasn't been complaining of headaches anymore.  Today we noticed that her eyes are crossing.  One eye is much worse than the other.  They seem to correct when she blinks, then slowly drift inward.  She looks like she's looking a couple feet to the side when you tell her to look at something.  Any ideas on what could be causing this?  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

-

[dmayer]

P.s. Has your childs neuro surgeron taught you about arnold chari malformation? It makes your child one of the one in a million. Meaning the things that most spina bifida children dont go thru yours will. My sons neuro taught me that it means the middle part of my sons brain is closer to his neck and when his shunt messes up the brain starts filling up with fluid and the brain stems get stretched and the 1st thing they are gonna damage is his respiratory system. When my son was 4 months old his shunt messed up and paralized his vocal cords and he had to have a trach for a year. It seems your childs eyes are what is being affected. It took 3 months of going to our local er and them telling me it was just croup to go home and quit worrying i finally called his neuro in the middle of the night and he told me what was wrong just listening to my son over the phone. So make sure you got a good neurosurgeon who teaches you so you can tell the docs what is wrong. Denise

[dmayer]

my son is 25. born with spina bifida, hydroceplalus and arnold chari malformation also. i agree with the other comment. treat as an emergency. i would suggest the eye crossing is fluid building up in the brain. normally you can flash a flash light in there eyes and if one pupil is larger than the other it is fluid buildup. once my son turned 2 he had no shunt problems for 10 years then all of a sudden he had shunt revisions every few months and i didnt understand it. thankfully we had a Very good neurosurgeon who taught me well. my son was getting constipated and the tubing in stomach was getting clogged up. {i had started using fat free foods and there are very constipating} i do and have used healthy foods to regulate his diet now. healthy balance of salad, veggies, dark chocolates etc. be carefull. chocolate made with milk chocolate is constipating. I keep bakers chocloate that is full of cocoa incase of him getting a headache i can quickly melt a brick of it in some milk and add a lil sugar if needed and that makes him go immediately and headache goes! i used to use the fleet liquid u drink  in emergency situations but they took it off the market because of kidney damage. So, i hope this helps. Denise

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Call your pediatrician IMMEDIATELY or your Neurologist/neurosurgeon IMMEDIATELY.

JCH MD