So my daughter was diagnosed as farsighted with amblyopia and strabismus. WTF does that mean? She can’t see things up close and has a wonky (lazy) eye. The cure for the former: glasses. The cure for the latter two: an eye patch—argh!
The glasses people find adorable. Who doesn’t love a toddler with a lollypop head and glasses strapped on? The eye patch, however, is a different story. We get everything from, “My god, what happened to her eye?” to people talking to her like she will always come in last place in the Special Olympics. Seriously, people? It’s an eye patch, not a wooden leg. She even has a pretty pink felt eye patch that fits over her glasses and makes her look even more adorable.
I was born with amblyopia and strabismus in both eyes. My eyes were in-turned and 5 surgeries later (it only took one to fix my right eye) my left eye is much better than it was, but still wanders when I get tired. I wore an eye patch when I was young and it helped so much, but the kids in school did tease me a lot.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm in my twenties, my vision in my left eye isn't perfect (it's more of a focus thing) but my right eye is perfect.
So yes, both are very treatable, so good luck! I know how you feel!
Thanks, Mrs. M. Comments from people who have had it have helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteBless her heart! Please show her a picture of my boys and tell her they would think she was a ROCK STAR! Seriously. My best friend's son had to wear one for a little over a year and my older two boys spent the entire time begging to wear one too because they thought Ben was sooooo cool. People can be so rude. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that. Why do some idiots feel the need to let inconsiderate bs come flying out their mouths?? Ugggh.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog through New Mom on the Blog. My little guy wears glasses too...started at 10 months. He's now almost 20 months. He has coloboma (which we believe is separate from his need for glasses) in his eyes. Anyways, just thought I'd hop on and comment since I think all little ones in glasses are adorable :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dawn. I think they are cute too. Just a bit of a hassle sometimes. :)
ReplyDeleteMy 3 year old has a hemangioma (strawberry birthmark) on his eyelid which has caused amblyopia and astigmatism in the underlying eye. We just got glasses this week but he's been patched for an hour everyday for over 2 years while we're waiting for the birthmark to completely disappear. I was hoping he'd like the over-the-glasses patch better than the band-aid-like one, but nope, he hates them both :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes I'll just flat out tell the Nosy Nellies in Target that if this is the worst thing ever to happen to my kid in his whole entire life that I am really lucky. Often that makes them think long enough to make our escape.
oh my god. ive never met another person with a baby that had a hemangioma. i love you.
Delete"...last place at the Special Olympics" made me laugh out loud. You're a great writer! I saw a few of your comments at Rants From MommyLand and since I too love beer and babies, I had to come see for myself!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrea!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter has a hemangioma (strawberry birthmark) on her eyelid. Doctors decied to do all kind of guinea pig shit to her (put her on propanalol as an infant because there was a chance it might make it shrink) and make her wear glasses even though her vision was fine and her eye was not lazy at all because they wanted to make sure it didnt become lazy. also, she had an eyepatch that they ordered her to wear for 5 days out of the week to on her eye without the birthmark to strengthen the eye with the birthmark...this was all preventative, pretty much to discourage the formation of a lazy eye, and i allowed it to happen for about 9 months. i feel horrible for allowing them to do unnecessary things to my babies poor head and wish i hadnt ( i was also 19 and thought well the dr said so so it must be right). people always asked me dumb shit about my childs appearance. people are ignorant to customs of not being a douche so i would go places like the market, the swapmeet, fkn target, and people would be like oh whats wrong with her eye, like it was their business, which it clearly was not because they wre fkn strangers. people still do this. shes 4 now and knows wtf they are saying. as she has gotten bigger it has gotten smaller. even people who know me (her godmother) would ask shit that was just rude, like when is it gonna get betteR? are you kidding me? its a fkn birthmark. birthmarks are fine. they dont get better stupid.
ReplyDeletebut i digress...eye patches are cute and im very sorry that anyone felt that they had the right to approach oyu and ask you anything about your babies appearance. thats ridiculous. like its ok because they are a child.