Importance of Taking Your Cranio Kid to the Eye Doctor

[jjmc123]

Thank you for posting this. You got me off my butt and I stopped procrastinating on this.
I have had a script from Andrew's surgeon for almost a year. I have been procrastinating because I hate the idea of dilating his eyes. He does not deal with it well. I also need to have Cheyenne's eyes checked, but based on Andrew's reactions to it, I again found it easy to keep pushing it off.
I am in the process of getting new scripts for both of them and plan on making the optho. apt. tomorrow.
This post made me remember why I can not put this off and that they may not like the fuzzy vision for a day, but that is much better than what could happen if I put it off much longer.
Thanks again!

Glad you're finally going to go!!!! Make sure to let us know how it goes!

[jjmc123]

No Doctor ever mentioned anything to us about getting his eyes checked. I do know that Gabe is SUPER sensitive to lights... I just thought it was because he was an infant and his eyes were not used to the sun. His entire body tenses up and he will wince if I have his carrier turned the wrong way and the sun hits him in the face. Should I be concerned?At his 2 month well visit his ped said his left eye wasn't tracking as well as his right but it was perfectly normal for his age. He will be 4 months old in a few days. Did anyone else notice an extreme light sensitivity?

DH is non-cranio and he has sensitivity to light. He can't go anywhere without his sunglasses. DH has light blue/green eyes. The lighter the eyes, the more likey you are to be light sensitive.

I would suggest taking Gabe to get an eye exam within the next couple months. IMO, it can never hurt to get it checked out for cranio kids.

[MollyinDC]

Our neurosurgeon insisted that we take Maria for an exam with the pediatric neuro-ophthalmologist before her surgery. His office even scheduled it for us. Her first visit with the neuro-ophthalmologist was when she was about 5 weeks old. She is now 10 months old and has continued with follow-up visits. At our most recent visit (last week) we discovered that Maria is very far sighted. She had been turning her eyes in toward her nose. She didn't do it all the time but I was able to get a picture of it and e-mail it to her doctor. Given her cranial history we've schedule a CT scan for next week just to rule out any problems with her brain. We're not worried about it -- the doctor is 99.99% sure that she's simply far sighted. But we all agreed that it would be prudent to do the CT scan.

We've ordered Maria's glasses and are eager for them to arrive in the next two weeks. She will have a lot of gear -- helmet, hearing aids and glasses -- but I think the glasses will make such a difference for her. We're especially excited that she will be able to better see us when we're using sign language with her!

To any parents out there wondering if you should get an eye exam, the answer is YES! YES! YES! It's quick, fairly easy and can give you lots of good information.

[jjmc123]

Our neurosurgeon insisted that we take Maria for an exam with the pediatric neuro-ophthalmologist before her surgery. His office even scheduled it for us. Her first visit with the neuro-ophthalmologist was when she was about 5 weeks old. She is now 10 months old and has continued with follow-up visits. At our most recent visit (last week) we discovered that Maria is very far sighted. She had been turning her eyes in toward her nose. She didn't do it all the time but I was able to get a picture of it and e-mail it to her doctor. Given her cranial history we've schedule a CT scan for next week just to rule out any problems with her brain. We're not worried about it -- the doctor is 99.99% sure that she's simply far sighted. But we all agreed that it would be prudent to do the CT scan.

We've ordered Maria's glasses and are eager for them to arrive in the next two weeks. She will have a lot of gear -- helmet, hearing aids and glasses -- but I think the glasses will make such a difference for her. We're especially excited that she will be able to better see us when we're using sign language with her!

To any parents out there wondering if you should get an eye exam, the answer is YES! YES! YES! It's quick, fairly easy and can give you lots of good information.

Thank you for sharing! Your daughter is another example of the importance of an eye exam. As much as it stinks to put her through another CT scan, kudos for getting it done to rule out any bigger issues. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[marisajo]

Wonderful thread! It bugs me so much that lots of the cranio surgeons don't automatically recommend seeing an ophthalmologist. Zack's pedi sent him at 6 months, and we've been back almost every 4-6 months since. When my opth found out I was pregnant, she told me about the infantsee program Cindy referenced. She said ALL babies should be seen between 6-12 months (her office likes to do them around 9 months) and then again prior to starting school. Luckily Miss Katie had no issues and even got a free pair of Baby Banz at the appt. If you've been procrastinating, go schedule now. The infantsee appt is FREE regardless of income. It never dawned on me to take my non-cranio babies. Liz and Zack didn't have appts until they were older.

[SamanthasDad]

My daughter (6 months) is also very sensitive to light. We recently brought this up with her pediatric opthalmologist and he said that the light sensitivity is not related to cranio. He said that some kids are just sensitive to light, and that is very common in children with and without cranio!

[*jules*]

Thanks for starting this thread. I've always wondered why some surgeons recommend eye exams and some do not. I actually questioned my son's surgeon about this and was told that unless there is cause for concern, he doesn't routinely send kids off to the eye doctor.

I read that many kids have extreme sensitivity to light. My cranio kid does too, but unlike the rest of the family, he has blue eyes. I'm curious if the others have light-color eyes as well? Alex will be 3 next mo and when he sees his ped I'll ask her for a recommendation to a good pedi eye doctor.

[outlawswifey28]

yes thanks for this post! and def make sure you do see a pediatric ophthalmologist and not just a regular eye doctor..i know you have to have a referral so it's a pain but with Brooklyn she saw the eye doc since she was 6mos and we did use the infant see program and the eye doc never caught on to her cranio or the eye doc we saw in texas. and then when we saw Dr. Staffenberg he asked who her pediatric ophthalmologist was and were like she doesn't have one so as soon as we got home she was seen by one and he changed her prescription that the regular eye doc gave her and said she need to start wearing a patch..and we never would of figured this out of if we stayed with just a regular eye doc.

[jjmc123]

yes thanks for this post! and def make sure you do see a pediatric ophthalmologist and not just a regular eye doctor..i know you have to have a referral so it's a pain but with Brooklyn she saw the eye doc since she was 6mos and we did use the infant see program and the eye doc never caught on to her cranio or the eye doc we saw in texas. and then when we saw Dr. Staffenberg he asked who her pediatric ophthalmologist was and were like she doesn't have one so as soon as we got home she was seen by one and he changed her prescription that the regular eye doc gave her and said she need to start wearing a patch..and we never would of figured this out of if we stayed with just a regular eye doc.

To add on to outlawswifey28's post, not all insurance companies require a referral to a ped ophthalmologist. Check your healthcare benefits if you plan to make an appointment.

[Bayoudancer]

So I should I take him to an opthamologist or an optomitrist?