[Disneycrazed]

Has anyone had their Dr. say that their child should have an eye appointment when they are around 1 year old?
Our Dr. told us to have Malea checked for a lazy eye. Told us that it is a good idea to have children checked as early as possible since it can be corrected for life if detected ealy.
Well we took Malea and all was good. That was nice to hear.
Wondering if other Dr.'s are saying this out there?

[frankiegirl]

Before Aly came home we noticed in her pictures that one eye just did not look right. We hardly notice when we looked at her face to face. We told our doc and she had her checked out at 8months. She is also has no problems. Angie

[Shoshana]

My daughter had an eye exam at our Children's Hospital when she was 2. She has significant astigmatism and is far-sighted. The opthamalogist said that 75% of the children he sees from Central America have astigmatism and that they should be tested before the typically recommended 3 years of age.

[Mom4Nicholas]

Yes, it is a good idea to have your children looked at by a pediatric opthomologist as soon as they come home. And then as frequently as the doctor recommends after that.

[Angel99]

I think it's a really good idea to have your child's eyes checked ASAP- especially if you notice any wandering. My DS never had any signs of a wandering eye or any visual issues at all until he failed a vision screening midway into his kindergarten year. After all was said and done - he has a very severe astigmatism and TWO lazy eyes!!! I wish I had him tested earlier!!! After some strong prescription lenses and some vision therapy he was good to go!- doing much better!!!

[luv2teach2]

My DD daughter had a lazy eye also and my ped said to wait to take her, but I took her to a specialist when she was 16 months old and he said it would self correct and it has.

[CEB]

Interesting - our pediatrician has a fancy contraption and did an eye test on Curtis' very first visit there. He said that he wanted to try the test on his first visit because its often hard to get babies Curtis' age at the time (9 mos) to sit for the test and so he has to keep trying with each regular visit till it works. Curtis sat for it just fine on the first attempt. It was only looking at eye motion/range not checking actual vision. Now - I just need to convince him to run titers and we will be completely happy....

[The Winns]

We just had our eye doctor appointment this week after an international adoption clinic diagnosed DS with a lazy eye. The appointment was long and difficulty (they had to dialate his eyes), but the opthamologist told us that lazy eye is often misdiagnosed in children from other countries with different facial structures. He assured us that everything was perfect!

[dspakowsky]

Even if they have a lazy eye, what can you do about it?

[Lulumom]

In some of our daughters pictures she appears to have a lazy eye. We have her pictures and updates reviewed by a Pediatrician each month when we receive them. Our Pedo said that if she does have a lazy eye it can be corrected if it is needed. She said the procedure is tidious but not difficult. It is usually done as an outpatient procedure by a specialist. We did have them take our daughter to get her eye checked in Guatemala to make sure. Her vision is fine. My DH and his father both have a lazy eye. You can barely see my DH or his fathers except when they are tired. In most of the pictures of our daughter you can barely see it. The funny thing is it is the same eye as my DH.

[ddhuab]

We did not get her home until 11 months old, but the doctor at our International Adoption Clinic at Children's Hospital advised us to have a check up, just to make sure everything is ok. Wow, it was really traumatic -- SHE SCREAMED AND SCREAMED, and they had to pry her eyes open. Anyway, she seemed to be perfect (a bit far-sighted, which the doctor said was normal for her age). the eye doctor said she wouldn't need another exam until 3 years old.

Fortunately, our community has a program for infant eye appointments, so we got to go for free. You should check around for something similar.

D.

[jbpollock]

Our son Nathan was 7 months when he came home and we noticed whenever he was tired his eye would tend to go inward. We asked our family doctor and he immediately referred him to a pediatric opthamologist. He went at 9 months old and everything was great. They said his internal structures were perfect but he wanted to continue to monitor to ensure everything is ok. We went back in 6 months and they dilate his eyes again and again everything was fine. We then went back at 2 years old and 2.5 and now I just set his appointment for his 3 year check up. The Doctor told us last time if everything looked good at 3 but we were still noticing it when he is sleepy, then we would go to annual checks. If there are probelms, depending on severity anything from therapy to surgery were options. We let him watch videos (baby Einstein) to help strengthen his eye muscles and it appears to have worked.

[Disneycrazed]

Ours was also free which was very nice. We were told that they would be up until 18 months or 2 years.
They also said Malea was a bit far sighted which was normal for her age.
Malea's exam was not bad at all and she did fine with it. Although I will say she is a pretty easy going girl unless someone is going to give her a shot. LOL

[brink]

Our son came home at 4yrs old and did have a lazy eye which also turned slightly inward when he was tired. They can correct both of these things. The concern if it truly is a lazy eye is that the brain begins to shut that eye off. At 4yrs of age, that's what was beginning to happen with our son. First they had him wear a patch on his good eye to try to strengthen the muscles in the weak eye. Then he went to drop in the good eye to blur the vision so he'd be forced to use the lazy eye. Eventually he had eye muscle surgery, an outpatient procedure. He's 11yrs old now and no signs of his eye turning in, though they say it sometimes needs to be redone. He wears glasses and has very good corrected eye sight. We're thankful he came home before his brain had stopped using the lazy eye altogether. So yes, there are many things they can do to correct children's eyes if they're have these problems.

[whereintheworld]

Our son has medical issues, and there was a concern that he was at risk for tumors in his eyes, or other problems. The pediatric ophthalmologist was awesome! (We learned that he regularly visits Guate on mission trips.) It took quite a while to dilate the little guys eyes, but everything turned out well.

If you are in Maryland and want the name of this ped. ophthalmologist, please PM me!