Re: Crossed eyes

Posted By Linda on May 08, 1999 at 19:14:46
My 20 month old recently crossed her eyes.  The eye doctor prescribed glasses for her.  She is only mildly farsighted (+1.50).  She would not wear her glasses.  We have tried many different things. I know it is critical to have her eyes straightened right away.  Is it true that if children are only slightly farsighted there is a chance that they may outgrow it, providing the eyes are straight?  Do children cross their eyes because they are farsighted?  If she won't wear her glasses what should we do?  How long should we wait?

[hfhs md ke]

Posted By hfhs md ke on May 08, 1999 at 23:11:34
you are describing a condition called strabismus,  which is a diagnosis made when a patient, child or adult, has one eye out of line with the other, ie "crossed"-  in children there can be many reasons for strabismus, including being farsighted.  however, typically a child is more farsighted then your child if that is the cause of the strabismus.  in fact, at 20 months a correction of +1.50 is just about normal-  most infants are farsighted.  now there are many other causes of strabismus, some of them requiring serious attention. further more, a constant deviated eye may cause one eye or both to not see well,a condition called amblyopia. if left untreated this could be permanent.  my very strong advice for you is to have your child seen by an ophthalmologist, maybe even a pediatric ophthalmologist, to properly sort out the cause of the strabismus and to determine a treatment, if one is necessary. i do not believe that correcting such a low amount of farsightedness will do much.  good luck.
key words: amblyopia, strabismus

[Linda__0__0]

Posted By Linda on May 09, 1999 at 12:39:47
Could you name a few causes for this eye crossing that happens at 20 months?  She was not born with this condition and there is no family history of Strabismus.  We are seeing a pediatric ophthalmoloist and he also is skeptical about the glasses but thought we should give it a try before we move on to the next step, which is surgery as he implied.  We are trying to learn more about this problem so we can make a decision as to what to do next.  What is the percentage of children getting cured when they start receiving treatment at preschool age.  Thank you very much for the prompt reply.










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