# Know anything about strabismus or intermittent exotropia?



## Owachi (Jan 15, 2007)

My 2.5 yr old ds has intermittent exotropia...I found it on the internet and the pictures are exactly the same. I took him to the dr a few months ago and they couldn't see anything wrong. Anyone deal with exotropia or how they got it corrected-went away on its own, surgery glasses? Or do they just wait......right now it only points outward when we start pushing him on the swings, it corrects itself after about 5 seconds or he's spinning around.....Thanks for the input


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## trancechylde (Apr 14, 2008)

I noticed my 8mo's left eye turning inwards very slightly intermittently a little while after he was born.

My DH is in denial and says he can't see it but a few of my very close friends notice it sometimes.
We took him to the Paed who ALSO said he can't see it









It's really frustrating for me because although it's not at all severe (most people don't notice it) it IS there and IMHO the earlier we do something the better right?

Anyway, the paed says that the muscles behind the eyes in young children and infants are often weak and take a while to strengthen up (?????) I am waiting until he turns 1 year and then I will take him to a paed. opthamologist.

Am also interested in hearing others experience with this.


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## alicia622 (May 8, 2005)

DS has intermittant exotropia. He is seen by a specialist every 6 months to monitor it. If it gets to a certain frequency and the angle is bigger they will do more tha monitor. I am not going to remember the %ages, but it something like half correct itself and half require intervention (I believe surgery). And then of those having surgery a portion turn back again.

When we go to the doc, he uses a special ruler that tells him the angle at which the eyes turn up close and at a distance. There are some other nifty tests he does that show if the child has depth perception and quality of vision. DS's eyes turn outward when he is looking far away and we usually only motice it when he's tired.

I'd find who is qualified to assess him- the regular ped isn't going to be able to tell what's going on if they don't know how to look for it in the office. Since they didn't offer you a referral to have him checked out find out who you should go to and then askthe doc for a referral.


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## symmetry (Jul 31, 2008)

I agree with Alicia. Take him to an ophthalmologist or orthoptist or at least optometrist. An ophthal will have all the latest treatment info and options, and an optom or orthoptist should be skilled enough to recognise whether there is a problem and refer to an ophthal if necessary.


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## gobbledegook (May 26, 2006)

DD's eyes also turn inward. I ignored it until she was about 2 1/2 thinking well maybe we were wrong it was not turning in (it graudually got worse) or that maybe it would correct on it's own. When I took her to my optometrist she had to perscribe her glasses to correct it. The sooner you go to an actual eye doc the better imho.

check out this blog it has great information. One of the ladies is a member her and helped me out a great deal.
http://toddlerglasses.wordpress.com/

on strabismus- http://www.strabismus.org/

Quote:


Originally Posted by *trancechylde* 
I noticed my 8mo's left eye turning inwards very slightly intermittently a little while after he was born.

My DH is in denial and says he can't see it but a few of my very close friends notice it sometimes.
We took him to the Paed who ALSO said he can't see it









It's really frustrating for me because although it's not at all severe (most people don't notice it) it IS there and IMHO the earlier we do something the better right?

Anyway, the paed says that the muscles behind the eyes in young children and infants are often weak and take a while to strengthen up (?????) I am waiting until he turns 1 year and then I will take him to a paed. opthamologist.

Am also interested in hearing others experience with this.


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## Just1More (Jun 19, 2008)

Yes, I'd get him in right away, and the sooner the better. I've watched my kids REALLY close since they were born because we have a rather strong history (on both dh and my sides) in our families of strabismus. DD seems fine, but ds has had trouble with symptoms of strabismus since birth. Since a lot of babies do, and self correct by 6 months, we gave him that long. After that I got a referral to an eye doctor. They dialated his eyes so they could check...they said they seemed fine for now, but to check back in 6 months. I still notice it when he's tired. I have 3 family members who have double (or even quadruple...2 in each eye) vision because of strabismus. If you catch it early there are exercises, etc. the child can do to help teach their eyes to work together, and to learn binocular depth perception. So, yeah, I'd get them in. FWIW, the whole doctor exam took about 8 minutes. 3 minutes putting in the drops to dialate his eyes, then 30 minutes or so to play while we waited for the drops to work, then 5 minutes to peer in, and he was done! Oh, and I wanted to add that my brother (who has strabismus himself) KNEW his son did, but couldn't get an eye doctor to diagnose it. (though he'd taken him to several) Finally, a lady at church who WORKED for an opthamologist saw my nephew and said, "hey...he has strabismus!" My brother said, "I know...." So, he was FINALLY able to get help!


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## Biscuits & Gravy (Jul 17, 2008)

There is no reason to wait to see a doctor if you have concerns. Even if you don't have concerns! Have you heard of InfantSEE? It is for babies age 6-12 months. Go to the website, find an optometrist in your area and make an InfantSEE appt. It won't cost you anything!


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## AnnZ (Jun 1, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *gobbledegook* 

check out this blog it has great information. One of the ladies is a member her and helped me out a great deal.
http://toddlerglasses.wordpress.com/

on strabismus- http://www.strabismus.org/

Ah, thanks for the compliments *Gobbledegook* (the toddlerglasses.wordpress.com blog is mine).

I'll second (third?) the recommendation to get your children checked out, preferably by an ophthalmologist who specializes in pediatrics. We first noticed Zoe's eye turning in at 9 months, but only intermittently. I asked at Z's 9 month appointment, and her ped didn't see any problem, but luckily she believed us and told us to see an ophthalmologist and to bring any pictures in that showed her eyes turning in. The ophthalmologist LOVED that we did that, and it really helped to illustrate what we were seeing. If you can manage to get a photo with flash straight on of your child's eyes turning in, even if it's just a bit, it will really help the ophthalmologist in diagnosing whether or not it's strabismus or pseudostrabismus (where the eyes look like they're misaligned because of the shape of the face, but it isn't actually the case).

If it is strabismus, you definitely want to do whatever you can to get the eyes aligned. If they're misaligned (either pointing out or in), your child will see double and their brains will start tuning out the input from one of the eyes, which can lead to lazy eye (amblyopia), and can keep them from developing binocular vision. In Zoe's case, her esotropia (eyes crossed) was due in part to being farsighted, so she crossed her eyes to focus, and part to overstrengthened muscles. She has worn glasses for the farsightedness for 8 months now, and just had eye muscle surgery on Monday. It was rough, but her eyes are tracking together now, and all of a sudden, I'm seeing her look at me with both eyes. I haven't seen that in months, and hadn't realized it until it got fixed. The surgery isn't an option in many cases, and doesn't remove the need for glasses, but I wanted to give our story.

*Owachi,* I don't know what the prognosis is for intermittent exotropia, I know that surgery is indicated in some cases. If it looks like that's what your son will require, I'm happy to talk to you about it.


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## AfricanQueen99 (Jun 7, 2008)

Our Parents As Teachers Parent Educator first noticed Corbin's issue...then our Ped seconded it. We took her to a Pediatric Opthomologist who diagnosed her with psuedo strabisums (the "psuedo" means that it looks like strabismus, but it's an optical illusion based on the bridge of her nose). I'm thankful we saw an expert in pediatrics.


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## trancechylde (Apr 14, 2008)

Thanks for all the info ladies.
Am going to make an appt for an opthamologist asap.


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## AnnZ (Jun 1, 2008)

I wanted to add one more place for information, and that's the Prevent Blindness America's forum topic on children and eye problems. It's focused on strabismus and amblyopia issues, and there are a lot of great discussions with other parents who have children with the same issues. I found it really comforting when we were preparing for Zoe's surgery to be able to read others' experiences and ask questions.
http://198.170.234.66/discus/messages/20/20.html


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## Owachi (Jan 15, 2007)

Thanks everyone.....it was a ped. optamologist that we saw. He couldn't find anything. My SIL works at his office and he told her to just keep having checkups every 6 months. And we noticed yesterday that he also has it pointing inward and upwards. And when it does it it goes all the way to the outside or inside. It's not just a little rotation. It only does it when he is swinging or spinning around or tilting his head. Is it common to have it point inward and outward? So how are we supposed to get treatment if the dr's can't see it? Just pictures?


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## Owachi (Jan 15, 2007)

And thanks for the websites.....they are really helpful.


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