3 yr old eye turning inward... estropia??

[littlelentils]

hi all!  my 3 year old daughter's right eye seems to turn inward when she is looking up close at something.  we only notice it when she is eating and has the food close to her mouth.   this started about a week or two ago and this is the 3rd time ive seen it.  i thought the first couple times i was seeing things b/c she had pink eye.  but, now that she has recovered, her eye turned inward again this morning. we are going to add her to our vision plan on monday so we can take her to the doctor to check it out...

have any of you all had something similar happen?  what did it turn out be???  im wondering if this means she is potentially far sighted and will need glasses.  but ive also read online that it can happen if they are tired or recovering from an illness (which she is, pink eye + cold) so my fam said to wait it out... but it makes me so worried of course!

[lindberg99]

I noticed one eye turning out a bit on my then 11 yo DD a couple years ago. She was already wearing glasses for being nearsighted and the eye doctor said her left eye had gotten worse and was turning a bit because it was undercorrected. She got new glasses and I don't notice it when she has her glasses on.

I would take her and get it checked out. Do you have medical insurance? Sometimes if you go to an ophthamologist (an M.D.), they can bill your medical insurance for an eye exam. Maybe look into that if you can't get her added to your vision insurance right away.

[littlelentils]

unfortunately we canceled our insurance this month temporarily after years of never using it!  bad timing.  :(   i thought the eye doctor would be open by today but i have to wait till tomorrow.  thanks! 

[Rylins mama]

I would take her in asap. My dd was 3 when we started noticing her right eye turning inward. We only noticed it a few times before I made her an appointment but it took us over a month to get in with the childrens specialist. She ended up needing glasses with a very high prescription (+6, +5) I felt so horrible that she had been living like this for years without me knowing. Shes had glasses for 6 months now and her eyesight is already improving a lot and her eye has not crossed one time in her glasses. It sure taught me to pay very close attention to any eye problems though.

[MountainMamaGC]

My daughter had this same problem. It turns out she is extremely far sighted. She wears glasses now, and her eye doesnt turn inward unless she takes her glasses off. Get them to do a retinoscopy. Its the best way to see exactly what is going on. I had to hold my DD down for when they put drops in her eyes, but it wasnt that bad.

She has no problem wearing her glasses, because she really needs them to see.

I would like to add that it took me 3 doctors to have her diagnosed properly. The first 2 said that since they could not get her eye to turn inward at their office then it must not be that bad, and sent us home. The 3rd doctor decided to the the retinoscope, and was surprised how strong her prescription had to be. (+4.00 each eye) I figure she has needed her glasses for at least a year.

[littlelentils]

thanks guys!  her appt is tomorrow.  im pretty calm about it now.....  hope it goes well!

[Lillitu]

I had this as a child and never got glasses until much later in life (30's) for nearsightedness and astigmatism.

At the time, the docs were trying to get me to agree to eye muscle surgery, and I said no way. I am glad that I did, that surgery is risky and while it is better today, back in the 70's I could have ended up permenently cross-eyed!

My eye only does it when it is tired (too much reading or computer) for the most part.

[littlelentils]

hi all! well we are back from the doctor and he said that her eye turning inward is normal at this point since it just happens for a few seconds and only randomly when she is tired.  he is a developmental optometrist and has specialized in things like this for 20 some years.  her eyesight is 2.50 in both eyes.  he said she is far sighted for her age and most doctors would prescribe her glasses...but he thinks she might outgrow it.  He wants to wait 6 months to check again unless her eye starts turning in more frequently (as in for a few minutes at a time.. right now it only lasts a few seconds). 

any thoughts?  should i get a second opinion?  he  seemed to know what he was talking about..

[MountainMamaGC]

If it gets to the point where its happening more and more, often or gets harder to resolve when it does happen, I would take her back for glasses before the 6 months. I dont think you need a second opinion as he did tell you what the prescription for each eye was. I am sure if you told him you want her to have glasses, then he would listen. 2.5 is a little strong, but not that bad.

I would like to add that glasses are expensive, and a whole new pain in the butt to deal with. Its hard to get my DD to take care of them properly.

[littlelentils]

thanks! that is totally what we are going to do!

[lindberg99]

That sounds pretty reasonable to me. I think I would only want a second opinion if he said she needed surgery or just totally blew you off and said you never had to bring her back or something.