4 year old with possibly lazy eye? Needs other mom's advice...?

Question

I took my son to an urgent doctor a few weeks ago on a Saturday...he's fine...but that doctor thought she saw a lazy eye. So, at my son's 4th year annual check up a couple weeks later, I asked his pediatrician about it. She looked, but didn't really see anything and I've never heard this before that urgent care doctor. His pediatrician did some exercises where she asked my son to follow the laser on the wall while she monitored his eyes and said that sometimes lazy eyes are there, but you can't really see them.

Have any of you moms ever had this? What did you do about it? If there is one, does he grow out of it, or is there some sort of treatment?

Answer 1

I kinda had that and now wear glasses since i was 5 or so.

Answer 2

Take your son to a qualified pediatric ophthalmologist. A pediatrician and urgent care physician are not qualified to make the call on this one.

IF your son does have this condition, there are exercises that can be done, some doctors use "patching" to strengthen the weaker eye, and if it's severe, then there are surgical procedures that can be done.

If it's not noticible, it must be mild, if it exists at all... so I would imagine the treatment, in his case, wouldn't be extreme. Some children this age haven't quite gotten their focusing skills perfected and often a child will still not see quite 20/20 until the age of 5 or 6. Beyond this, it's an issue... but take him to a qualified specialist to be sure.

Answer 3

My brother had a lazy eye. For a while they patched they strong eye to make the lazy eye become stronger and work harder. It didn't work on him and after several weeks they gave up on it. The only other thing that could be done was surgery but at the time he could see just fine and it wasn't in the cards for him. He had the surgery later when he was a bit older and becoming self conscious of it because kids were making fun of him. He sees much better now and you can't tell at all that there was a problem where before one eye would be forward and the other would be in another direction completely. It was a little creepy.

Answer 4

Don't give up on school! Take the GED as soon as you can. Having your tubes tied is a hard decision to make at 16...and there are many things to consider. Think about what you want for your future and the future of your children. What you choose to do affects more than just you. Never blame your mom not being there for the reason that you got pregnant. You made the decision to have sex, so you need to take responsibility for that choice. You might feel like you have done something wrong, but don't use that as an excuse to continue making poor decisions - you can change your life by changing what you do. There are programs that can help you and there is support for you to do the things that you want to do (help for school, etc.). You just need to find some people in your community to help you. Don't be afraid to talk to a teacher, a counselor, a pastor, a neighbor, or an adult in a responsible position - who could help you find the right resources. Hang in there - and remember, it is all up to you.

Answer 5

i am not a mother but i had the same problem as a child. sometimes it is normal when the child too young. however i would definitely say go to another ophthalmologist, a good one. i was taken to one around age 3 and he told my parents that i was too young to do anything. then they took me to a university doctor and he told that it is only at this young age that we can do something about it. to have a "lazy" eye means that u can not see properly with this eye (myopia, astigmatism etc.), so it is kind of left unused and loses its focus. so i guess a diagnosis should be made first to see what is wrong with it. glasses help this eye see better so that it is not left unused. i followed the treatment with patches too and the problem is almost gone. when i dont wear my glasses my eye seems to slip a little at times but the doctor told me that if i hadnt had the treatment it would be much worse, and i have really seen this happening to people. some people say that when u wear glasses your vision deteriorates, this is totally untrue!!! when u wear glasses your eyes are helped and they are not getting tired. and this also depends on the type of the desease. in my case it was minimised! and i totally believe that this is due to early treatment. take care :)

Answer 6

My niece (who has very bad vision) was diagnosed with a lazy eye when she was little...with it also being the worst eye, her Mom would dilate the eye and patch the good one forcing her to use her eye muscles to strengthen...now she is no longer legally blind and will one day be able to drive a car! Yes, her glasses are thick and it took a long time to get over this, but her case seems to be more extreme than your sons. Good luck! Have his eyes checked and decide what to do from there.

Answer 7

A lazy eye or squint is when one eye either goes out or in. Its worse when tired take it from experience with a child they would normaly patch to start with and if that did not work an operation to adjust the muscvle in the eye. An optometrist at an eye unit would test and advise. If not sure ask for a referal to an eye hospital.

Answer 8

My little girl was 3 when diagnosed with lazy eye. Patch was worn for couple of hours each day over good eye which improved the muscles in lazy eye. Definately worth patching as when I was little I had surgical operation to correct my lazy eye.

Once you find out if this is the case for your son and you have to patch tell him it's his pirates patch if you have difficulty in getting him to wear it.

Good luck and happy health to you and your son.

Answer 9

The only treatment I have heard of for lazy eye is to patch the good eye to force the lazy eye to develop better muscle tone.