Back to patching (another intermittent exotropia update)

Alivia had her Ophthalmologist appointment on Tuesday.  This time, however, I was able to prepare her for it.  I talked to her about it in advance hoping it would make her more comfortable with taking the eye tests.  I had always talked to her in advance before her other appointments but, this time at almost 2 and half years old, she was finally old enough to understand.  As I put my makeup on at the bathroom sink her repetitive “no mama, no doctor” soon turned to “doctor check Livi’s eyes” and “doctor make eyes better”!  I can’t believe how much she was getting it!  And just incase the talk in advance wasn’t enough, I had another trick up my sleeve.  This time, Auntie Lola would accompany us to the appointment.  I knew Livi would be happy about this.  Before I go into detail about the appointment, you may want to get caught up HERE about Livi’s intermittent exotropia also know as strabismus.

The last time I had written about this we were not treating Livi’s eye at all due to the deviation occurring in her right eye as well.  Quick recap: we were patching her right eye as treatment for her left eye (the one diagnosed with intermittent exotropia). At the time I thought that patching her right eye is what caused it to start to deviating but apparently that was incorrect.  The patch does not cause the eyes to deviate and even if we had never patched at all, Livi’s other eye would have eventually deviated on it’s own anyway.  With that said, we are back to patching her right eye to exercise her left eye muscles. 

Not only was Livi cooperative for the eye tests, but she actually enjoyed them!  I couldn’t have asked for the appointment to go any better!  Together, Livi’s eyes are working great.  She can see even small objects across the room (shapes like a circle, square, house, heart, etc.).  After her eyes were tested together, they tested each eye individually.  The right eye was patched first than the left.  I’m happy to report that her right eye is seeing beautifully.  We did discover that her left was struggling a bit more to make out the same objects that her right eye could see effortlessly.  She had trouble making out the the house and the heart, but could see the circle and square. 

According to her doctor, up until the age of around 8, the vision may be improved with treatment like patching.  Apparently, after the age of 8 years old, the vision has matured and can no longer be improved.  This is why conditions like this are important to catch early in life.  So now the plan is to patch the stronger eye (her right) up to 2 hours every day.  Thank heavens Livi is quite comfortable wearing the patch.  We’ve already started patching the past three nights and she has been so great!  I swear I have the BEST kid in the whole world!

As for the outward deviation of her eyes, that can only be fixed with surgery and I’m still not sold on it!  Especially since it only has a 70% succession rate.  The problem with not doing the surgery is that if the eyes continue to deviate (especially if it has become more frequent) than the vision can deteriorate permanently.  I can’t let that happen!  It’s a good thing, we have a good amount of time to think about it.

In the meantime, it’ll be patching and follow-up appointments to test her eyes every 3 months.  I’ll continue to post updates as she visits with the Ophthalmologist.  I’ve gotten quite a few comments on these particular posts although most are being received by emails which I’m unable to reply to.  I’d hate to think that anyone out there would think I am just being unresponsive especially where I could be of some help.  If you’d like a response, I’d recommend sending a private email which you can do one of two ways.  You can click on the ‘Email Me’ or ‘Facebook’ button in the sidebar to the right (towards the top of my page under my picture). 

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On a different note, here are some pictures of Livi.  I can’t believe the last time I posted something was in October of last year.  Yikes!  I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t picked up a camera since then either with the exception of these few images I’m sharing today.  I can’t believe how BIG she is getting!  She is such a little person now.  No more baby.