Template

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Opthamologist Visit

On May 5th I took Santiago to a Pediatric Opthamologist for an eye exam. Our surgeon for craniosynostosis recommended us to get Santi's eyes checked - not because he suspected anything to be wrong - but because coronal cranio sometimes affects a child's eyes. This appointment lasted about 2 and half hours due to the usual wait in the waiting room, dilating Santi's eyes and then more waiting in the waiting room before being examined by the doctor. This was not a fun visit. Santiago was all happy playing with the toys in the waiting room and talking with everyone else there until the nurse had to put the eye drops in his eyes to dilate them. He hated that. All was good again until we were called back into the exam room and the doctor asked me to sit in the examination chair with Santiago in my lap. After I shared with the doctor why we were there and our history of cranio, he began to examine Santi's eyes by holding little discs in front of his eyes and shining a light in them. It was a battle and it took quite a while to get it all done because Santiago was not happy at all with the situation. Poor baby was tired because he hadn't slept that afternoon yet and he did not like what was going on. I pretty much had to restrain him in my lap in order to get the examination completed.

Dr. Miller had left a couple of lenses out so I knew he had found something wrong with his eyes or that is what I thought anyways. He informed me that Santiago's vision was a little different in each eye but not where he would need glasses as of now. He also said that he had astigmatisms in both eyes - one eye has a horizontal one and the other eye has a vertical one. Dr. Miller explained to me that most people have some sort of astigmatism (I have it in both eyes) and that we shouldn't be worried about it right now. He said what is unique about Santiago's eyes is that the astigmatisms are in different directions. I always ask for worst-case scenarios with doctors and he informed me that Santiago could develop amblyopia which is lazy eye. This happens when one eye is trying to overcompensate for the other eye. Worst case scenario is Santiago may need glasses at some point and/or an eye patch. He does not think we will need either but we are going back in four months for a follow up. He said by age 2 or 3 is when he can give better answers. I asked a lot of questions about all this because I wanted to know if he thought this could be caused by the cranio or simply vision genetics. He explained that the asymmetry in Santiago's orbital rims and bone structure due to the coronal craniosynostosis is most likely the cause. When eyes are not lined up, sometimes this causes one eye to become more dominant over the other one.

I honestly left this doctor appointment a little confused about everything he told me. I was relieved that Santiago didn't have anything wrong right now but a little worried what we may have to face in the future. Glasses are not a big deal and it won't be bad if Santiago has to wear them, but I hope that he doesn't at this young of an age.

No comments:

Post a Comment