Toddler not wanting to look through his glasses

[LillyMaria]

My son who is 23 months (born 10 weeks premature) started to have a lazy eye about 4 months ago. We eventually got an appointment with a pediatric opthalmologist last month. By then his right eye had become more noticeable lazy but his left eye had also started to every now and then seem lazy. He was diagnosed as longsighted on both eyes +2.5 and +3.0 and was prescribed glasses. He has now worn his glasses for two and a half weeks. The first 10 days he seemed very happy to wear them but for the last week he has started to bend his head backwards so that he can look underneath the glasses instead of through them when looking at things at a distance. He is doing this more and more by the day. Can this be a sign of his vision having changed since he saw the opthalmologist or what could it be? Should we go back to have his vision checked up again before his next appointment?

[mom0309]

I just found out that my daughter has Strabisum. The doctor i went to see said the only way to fix it is surgery and nothing else. I am going to get a second and third opinion. I was just wondering how often can you dilate a childs pupils in 3 weeks? Is it dangerous in any way to do this 3 times in 3 weeks?

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

I would at least call the ophthalmologist and discuss what's happening. In some cases drops to keep the pupil dilated (homatropine) is used to help the child accept the farsighted correction. Often the eye pulls in because the child has to focus to see and the focus effort simulates the convergence reflex.

JCH III MD