Back from the Eye Doctor…

I haven’t posted in a long time and I need to upload a few pictures of Maysa now who just turned 3.5, but for now, I’ll just give an update on our visit to the eye doctor today.

It was short and sweet.  Maysa’s vision is still great and while she still exhibits signs of exotropia, she seems to be more aware of it and as a result, seems to think about it first.  I cannot say that it has gotten worse at all.  In fact, it seems to be a tiny bit better.  Again, I am not sure if it is because we fuss at her each time she does it and therefore tries to not do it or if it is because it is getting better on its own.  We go back in 6 months.

I do want to add though that her eye doctor said that a lot of the kids he sees have a history of skull deformation and that it is very possible that Maysa’s exotropia is related to her plagio, though he cannot confirm without looking at the results of CT scan.  I told him that I was a bit concerned about a vertical ridge down Maysa’s forehead that wasn’t there at graduation but that is now a bit prominent.  He wrote a note to her ped…

I’ll write more about what I think that prominent metopic suture is when I can post some pictures of her now.

Exotropia, Strabismus, and Plagiocephaly

We often read on plagio boards how plagiocephaly and brachycephaly can affect vision among other things. Has anyone noticed such problems in their child? While Maysa’s eye doctor doesn’t seem too alarmed yet, I can’t help but think that her exotropia might in some way be linked to her plagio/brachy history.

For those of you who don’t know what exotropia is, it is a form of strabismus where one or both eyes tend to look outward away from the nose. Maysa does that on occasion, if she is looking away, day dreaming, or thinking about something. Maysa is not one to look at you in the eye if she is talking to you. She will get your attention and once she has it will start talking to you without looking at you. Often, when she does that, she will show signs of exotropia.

I never gave it too much thought. We all day dream, right? And I often see people with the same look on their face (especially during long meetings or while waiting in a waiting room…). However, her daycare provider brought it up to my attention, so I took her to the eye doctor for a consult.

He was able to see what I see and said that she seems to do it more with her left eye over her right one, but that if prompted to, she could easily refocus on one object. He didn’t see any weak nerve or reduced vision. Heck! She could identify pictures that I couldn’t during the examination. He let us go without any treatment (yet) but wants to see her in another 3 or 4 months.

There seems to be some studies out there that link plagiocephaly to strabismus. Anyone out here with a child who is showing signs of it? One I read says that since by 6 months most of babies vision is developed, skull malformation at that age could be a contributor to strabismus.

There will be a follow-up on this one…