My daughter has the right eye bigger than the left eye.

My daughter is 11 years old, healthy and we had taken her to optometrists examinations every year because my husband and I needed glasses since elementary. Her checkups came back great. This is the question: Very early in her life, around 6 months old, I started noticing that she has the right eye bigger than the left. I talked to her pediatrician and at that time he said she was fine. Well, we have lived these 11 years thinking she was ok until one day she noticed (she is at that age of spending time in front of a mirror!!) the difference and came and told me she noticed too!. I said I knew about it and then she said she wanted to know why the difference.  I started looking on the internet for an answer and I started worrying "for all that could be wrong" specially the malignancies. Should I really worry? I don't think at this point the difference is "progressing" and surely one day when she uses make-up nobody will ever know. Other than that she is very active in gymnastics, PE, music. Happy and balanced and her physical development according to her age.
Thank you for your time.

[James J Salz, M.D.]

It is definitely possible to have one eye larger than the other.  If the eye is really larger it will usually be more nearsighted compared to the other eye.  The danger is that the eye could be a lazy (amblyopic) eye.  If her vision corrects normally with her current prescription and each eye has equal corrected vision then she is not amblyopic and she should be able to have good vision with proper correction.  Once the difference in the two eyes gets to be more than 3 Diopters, it is difficult to fuse the images with glasses and she would then be a candidate for contact lenses.  It would not hurt to get another opinion by asking your pediatrician to refer her to an Eye MD  (ophthalmologist)

[SDEY]

Thank you so much for your response. Eventhough my daughter has no need for prescription lenses at this time, my husband and I are proceeding to schedule an appointment with an ophtalmologist, as you mentioned "it would not hurt" to get another opinion and it would give us peace of mind. Thank you again!