Anisometropic Amblyopia

Selena had her follow up with the eye doctor today. We are in the process now of not only patching Selena’s left eye but also Lamby’s. We will do this 2 hours a day for at least the next month.

The true definition for Selena’s condition is Anisometropic Ablyopia. Basically this occurs when there is an unequal focus in both eyes. The brain only wants to register what is being seen through the better of the two eyes, hence shutting off to the worse eye. The longer this condition goes undiagnosed the more the brain shuts off to the bad eye until eventually it no longer accepts any input at all from that eye leading to blindness of a healthy eye.

It is very important that these conditions are diagnosed by the time a child turns age 8. At that point it is very difficult if not impossible in many cases to correct the way the brain is reading the images from the bad eye. I can’t impress or recommend enough the importance of having your child’s vision tested by a professional very early, even if you do not feel there is a problem.

I have been told this over and over again to have my child’s eyes screened very early in life. I realize that even had we had Selena’s eyes examined earlier we still would have been facing this same condition, but the earlier caught the easier it is to treat.

Selena will always wear glasses for the rest of her life, and we pray that with this form of treatment that her right eye will improve.

Take a look at the cutest eye patch I have found and ordered for Selena, since we could not find any cute ones anywhere in Olympia.

 

I love the idea of this since it does not require a strap around the head or sticky tape on the skin. It fits right over the glasses.

Who comes up with these adorable ideas? So simple, yet something I wouldn’t have thought of.