I didn't know this, but apparently eyes reflecting different colors in photos can be a sign of an eye disease. After doing some internet research and consulting family eye-expert, Uncle Steven, we decided to take Will to see an ophthalmologist for an eye exam.
We first had to meet with our pediatrician and get a referral. She did a brief exam. She told me she saw red reflex in both eyes, which put my mind more at ease. I really like our pediatrician. She called me on her day off to follow up and make sure that things went okay at the ophthalmologist appointment.
We spent a few hours getting Will's eyes examined. I was very pleased with how well he did with it all. He did feel a bit betrayed when they put drops in his eye to get them to dilate. In the end they determined that Will has an amblyopia. I have noticed that his eyes look a bit crossed, especially when he is tired or has been watching TV for awhile. He gets to wear a patch over his left eye for three hours a day for at least the next two months to help strengthen his right eye.
We're now five days into the daily patch wearing. Some days have gone better than others. As long as he is distracted, it goes pretty well. The problem is distracting him for three full hours. We've set up a series of positive reinforcements that have helped. For the time being, he gets a popsicle at the end of the three hours. After a week of successful patch-wearing he gets to pick an activity to do with mom and dad (no Lauren).
4 comments:
Glad to hear that the patch wearing is proceeding, and that he is even getting through 3 hours of patch wearing. Pretty annoying for a 3 year old to have to wear a patch (and not see as well!!)
Kudos to your mom for catching it! Why wasn't the pediatrician able to see it on her exam? According to my in-house doctor (aka Chris), checking for red reflex does not check for amblyopia. It checks primarily for retinoblastoma and cataracts. Sorry, I'm just a little fed up with pediatricians that don't know what they're doing. I swear, sometimes I want to go back to school and be a pediatrician just to prove to all the sloppy ones out there that it is possible to be a competent doctor! But I digress. :) At Clara's 1 year well-check, our pediatrician noticed some similar problems to what you mentioned with Will which is why we ended up taking her to an ophthalmologist. Luckily for her, it was one of those "pseudo" diagnoses: looks like something is wrong but everything is actually okay. She ended up growing out of it. I hope the patch wearing goes okay and that it improves. Good luck!
Wow! Great job picking up on that! You're a good mom!:)
Impressive you were able to catch it! But sorry to hear Will has to wear a patch-- poor guy. When my little sister was 3, she was diagnosed with an eye problem (can't remember what) but she had to have a patch for a little while and then she had these little glasses too. I remember my parents always putting patches and glasses back on and worrying about the glasses getting broken or lost, which happened a few times :) Hope it goes well for you guys!
Post a Comment