Eye carumba: the outcome

First, the good news: the kiddo totally cowboyed up and didn't fuss one bit for any part of the exam, including the dreaded eye drops (two in each eye, no less). This eye doc did an extremely thorough exam (it lasted almost 90 minutes!) and the kiddo enjoyed the parts where she got to wear 3-D glasses and look at different pages to see what "jumped out" at her and where she got to look in the various machines, too. Plus, they had Lion King playing there, which the kiddo knows by heart and was thrilled to get to watch - we don't allow TV during the day so that was an extra treat!

Now, the frustrating news: This eye doctor immediately detected an issue with Kiddo's eyes. The same issue that we've thought we've noticed (in our admittedly inexpert opinions) since she was an infant. The same issue we've taken her repeatedly to the other eye doctor for checking for the past five years. ARGH. We had no reason to not believe what the other eye doctor was telling us, but now I wish we'd trusted his opinion less and had sought a second opinion sooner. Thank goodness the kiddo's OT suggested we get her checked out by someone else, or we still would be blindly traipsing along (pun intended) with her having vision issues.

So, the verdict is that the kiddo has exotropia in both eyes, more so the right than the left. It is intermittent, which is good, and not in both eyes simultaneously either, which is also good. Treatment options to start with were either patching or glasses. We opted for glasses, and have now ordered the kiddo her first pair. (They're PINK! With SPARKLES!) They were crazy expensive - more expensive than my own Mega-Magoo specs - but they're warrantied and the special, super-flexible and bendy kind that hopefully will withstand the kiddo's SPD sensory-seeking and klutzy behaviors. The glasses will be in next week, so she'll have time to get used to them before school starts.

The bad news to the verdict is that glasses and patching each only work 50% of the time. The eye doctor (the new one - we're NOT going back to the other one now!) will re-examine the kiddo in 3 months and will determine at that point if we need to just keep going with the glasses or if we need to look at surgery. Boy, I hope the glasses do the trick.

We're really selling the whole excitement factor on the glasses to the kiddo. So far, she is viewing it as a treat to be able to wear glasses (that are PINK! With SPARKLES!) just like Mommy and Daddy (and Grandma and Grandpa in NJ, Gramma in FL, Grandma G and Grandpa A, several of her aunts and uncles.....) and was upset that she couldn't wear the sample pair home today. We're gonna keep focusing on how cool and exciting it is, and hopefully when she gets the actual prescription lenses, she will be good about wearing them and this won't turn into a battle of wills. (Especially for the amount that these PINK! With SPARKLES! glasses are costing us............)

So please keep your fingers crossed that these glasses do the trick and no surgery will be required down the road! (Um, and that the kiddo wears the glasses without a struggle, too!)