My son was diagnosed with having a lazy eyelid since he was a few months old. He has seen a pediatric opthamologist 2 times now and will continue to see him every 6 months. My pediatrician has mentioned several times that the surgery to correct this is extremely simple and well worth it. The opthamologist has said that we will just continue to monitor it and at 3 or 4 years of age we can discuss surgery if it is affecting him psycho socially (something like that).
My question is....has anybody experienced this with their child and would they recommend surgery? I would really like the surgery, but have had several family members pipe in that they can't believe I would want to put my baby through surgery.
EDIT--Thanks, Moms! I appreciate everything. Every one of you has said exactly what I have been thinking. School is hard enough without something extra to be picked on about. I feel better knowing that I'm not a bad mom for wanting the surgery.
Here is my opinion, take it for what it is worth. I would definitely do the surgery, but not yet. I would definitely do it because it is so easily fixed, but if it is not fixed it would end up causing him a lot of hurt, difficulty and unneccesary emotional problems later on. However I would not do it as a baby. I would wait until the child is atleast able to tell you that they are in pain. The reason that I say this is that if after the surgery if the child is hurting, as a baby they cannot tell you and cannot communicate that to you in anyway. However, if you wait until they are talking some, enough to tell you ouch and you can give them medicine when they tell you it hurts, you will atleast know whether they are hurting and be able to distract them from the pain, even if it takes a scoop of ice cream or their favorite cartoon! I think that as a baby they will be extremely fussy and it will just make you all miserable for way too long. But a toddler who you can keep busy, may be easier. I would definitely do it before they get too old. When I say too old, I mean old enough to have to explain that they are going to have surgery and old enough to be afraid of having a surgery. If they are old enough that you have to sit them down and talk to them about what is going to happen, that is much harder than with a toddler who doesn't need to know what is going to happen. I know they will be somewhat scared, but they will put the child under so quickly and you will be there when they do it, making it fairly simple. Another reason I say to wait is because of the eating issue. As with any surgery, the baby/child will not be able to eat. A baby will be incredibly fussy, confused and cry if they have not gotten to eat in over 12 hours, however a toddler as I said can be distracted. A baby will be crying as you are taking him into the hospital starving and you will feel horrible about doing it to a starved confused baby, a toddler however can be redirected. I think I would wait until they are a toddler, but do it before they would be considered a preschooler. Just my two cents. Please give an update once you make your decision!
My daughter was 6 months old when they first diagnosed her with a lazy lid. They then did a little injecton, and discovered that it was actuallly a blood vessel tumor that rested right on top of her eyelid. They did mri's and she also saw the pediatric opthamologist along with other specialist's. They also recommmended surgery and your right the surgery was very simple and was over in just about 30 minute's. She is now 13 and we have never had any problem's since. The surgery is not as bad as it may sound.
It is very safe.
Well, I don't have a child who has experienced but have a husband who had the surgery as a child and then again as an adult. First of all,the surgery has improved significantly over the years. Secondly from a self esteem stanpoint, the surgery will defininately improve your child's appearance. When my husband had his second surgery a few years ago, the recovery was quick and painless. Before his second surgery, my husband wore tinted glasses to try to disquise his droopy lid. All of this is to say,I would recommend correcting the problem early on to avoid potential self esteem issues.
My 11 year old daughter was born with a droopy eyelid. It's called a Ptosis. She had her first corrective surgery when she was 4 and it was a botched mess. It was done by a pediatric opthamologist that came highly recommended. She came out of it very bruised and the surgery didn't take. Maybe it was just a fluke. Any way, we went to another doctor several months later and she went through a second surgery. It was like night and day compared to the first time. She recovered very quickly and there was a lot of improvement with her eyelid...unless you knew she had a droopy lid it was unnoticeable. Unfortunately, we have recently started noticing that the lid is starting to droop again so she will probably have corrective surgery in the future. However, we will wait until she says she is ready for it.
We went ahead with the surgery when my daughter was 4 because she was becoming self conscious about it since other kids (and some adults) were always asking her if she was tired or why her eye was like that. We didn't want to take a chance at her getting a low self esteem.
Other than the first botched surgery, we have no regrets. We didnt' even start looking for corrective action though until she was 3. Good luck!
Do the surgery. It's probably day surgery anyway which is minor surgery. When he starts school, believe me, it will be an issue for him as kids don't have well developed social skills and can make comments that are hurtful.
My son was also born with a Ptosis. He was such a cute little kid, but I have no decent pictures of him, because it was more prominent in photos. My sister thought it was cute and just part of his personal look, but I hated it because he looked sleepy all the time. We went to Dr. James Merritt. He was highly recommended. The Ptosis was not severe enough to affect his eyesight, but it was something that other people noticed and commented on. "Is he sleepy?"
Dr. Merritt preferred to wait until at least four years old to perform the surgery as it is more successful the older they are. He told us that it was not guaranteed to work the first time. We had it done when he was six due to our insurance, which did cover it. It was day surgery at Children's Medical Center. It was much more traumatic for me than my son. He felt fine that afternoon, but I kept him home for a few days, because I was concerned about it being bumped at school. It was black and blue and looked bad for a few days, but he felt no pain.
It did help some, but not as much as I had hoped. We had the surgery done again when he was eight and he had no fears or concerns about it. It was much easier for me the second time. It looks much better now, my only complaint is that when he is looking down, then his bad eyelid is actually open more than his normal eyelid. But he is very happy to have it done and feels much more self confident. He is now 10 and recently became interested in acting and is performing in plays. I don't think he would have been able to do this without having the surgery.
I highly recommend that you have it done. The younger they are, the less anxiety they have about surgery. But the surgery is more successful the older they are. Dr. Merritt said that we could have it done anytime after he was at least 4 years old. Ideally, he said to wait until it became an issue for him and he asked to have it done. I didn't want to wait for that and since we had insurance that would pay at the time, I wanted to go ahead and have it done. Also, it is much easier for them to miss school when they are younger. You can have it done in the summer, but they can not go swimming for three weeks, so I didn't want to do that.
Luckily for us, I don't think anyone ever teased him about it and he was not upset about it. I think it bothered me more than him. He is a happy, well-adjusted kid. So, don't stress over it and wait until he is old enough and then have it corrected.
My son had a lazy eye since he was 6 months old. At 9 months he went into glasses. I know there is a difference between an eye lid and an eye, but we did end up having surgery for his eye. They had to operate on both eyes to make them balanced. It was difficult to keep him from rubbing his eyes, but I think the most difficult part was not expecting the way he looked after surgery. His eyes were completely blood shot, because they had to reattach his eye muscles, and his tears were bloody. That was very hard for me. The healing process was quick and he was back to normal fast. After he was back to normal and our routine was normal again, the difficult thing were people. Some people just don't realize or think about what they say. They would tell me that they thought he got knocked in the head like I didn't notice anything. Or they would look at him, 2 1/2 yrs old, and ask him what happened. People were just rude. I think if he needs it corrected at whatever age the doctor says, then do it. My son was so self-concious at 1yr about his glasses and his eyes. He has always known that there is something "different" about him, but he is getting better, and may be out of glasses soon! I've seen the changes he has made socially, and I am glad we had the surgery. It was a hard decision, but I feel it was a good decision.
Just my opinion. I have gone through life with a lazy eye (so not exacly they same thing...but same concept) My parents elected to have the surgery for me when I was around 18mths. I think it was well worth it. It never really fixed the problem all the way...but it works for several years. I have had 3 other eye surgeries since I was a baby 5, 12, and 18 to try and correct the lazy eye. I would imagine that surgery for the lid would work the first time and be perminent, since there aren't the same muscles involved.
I hated, hated. hated, my eye problems as a kid. IT made me different, I was made fun of and people would whisper and stare. It still bothers me as an adult. But I have learned to live with it. It is very difficult to be different in today's world. If the surgery is not dangerous and it is soemthing your family can afford I would look into it as your little one gets older. The younger they are the less they will remember the pain and tramu of surgery.
My son turned 2 in May and this past June he had surgery to correct strabismis (sp ?) in both eyes and to lift his left eyelid. The surgery was done at the Texas Pediatric Surgery Center in Richland Hills (I think). I highly recommend that facility. His eyelid drooped just a little, but since the dr was going in to fix the eyes we decided to get it done all at once. The entire surgery for all 3 procedures lasted less than an hour and the time in the recovery room was maybe 30 minutes. Of course he was in some pain the day of the surgery after all the meds wore off. He looked like he was in a fight with Rocky for about a week because the lid was a little swollen. However, I am glad that we did it. For one, it will help with his vision and I don't want him to be picked on because his eyes crossed and a drooped eyelid.
You should probably listen more to the ped. opthamalogist. They do this all the time and waiting to your child is 2 or 3 is probably better for a variety of reasons.
Good luck! I feel that my son really did not suffer after the surgery other than a little pain. But, he slept it off all day after we got home.
better to get the lazy eye lid fixed while the child is young. though my daughter's lazy eye lid was not severe, when she got tired it was obvious. she had her eye lid repaired a week after high school graduation. no problems. she did start to wear glasses when she was in the 6th grade followed by contacts later in eighth grade now whether or not the lazy eye lid had anything to do with it...her geneology has a history of wearing glasses early. good luck.
I'm not a mom but I've had to live with this problem my whole life. I'm 18 and my parents never went through with any type of surgery..probably because they were held back by the same feelings you have. Trust me, go through with the surgery. I wish more than anything my parents had. Life will be so much better for your son