She's cross eyed.
So there's really a couple of things that could be going on here. One it could be a lazy eye. This is less likely because the doctor says that both eyes are turning in toward her nose.
The other thing that it could be is her eye muscles with a condition known as medial rectus recession. This is much more likely. The doctor says he is 80% sure it is this condition. Basically here's what it is:
There are 6 muscles in each eye:
Here's what I interpret for what each eye muscle does
- Superior Oblique-Stabilizer rotationally
- Inferior Oblique-Opposite stabalizer
- Superior Rectus-Look up
- Inferior Rectus-Look down
- Lateral Rectus-Look away from nose
- Medial Rectus-Look toward nose
So basically, the last muscle, the "medial rectus" is the culprit. The problem is that it is too tight. The problem is in BOTH eyes, not just one. When you look at her or many other kids with the same problem, they favor one eye (in Anna's case the right). So when she looks at you, she looks with her right eye, but the left can't quite make it there because the muscle is pulling too tight.
One thing that you'll notice is that if you are standing to Anna's right, she'll usually turn her head to look at you. Whereas if you stand to her left she'll turn her eyes to look at you. This is one of the indicators apparently.
So both eyes are turned in toward her nose, and this makes her look cross eyed. So what? So my kid looks funny, no big deal right? She could have inherited more of her daddy's looks and then she would look really funny. Things could be worse.
The real issue is that if we don't take action, she may eventually lose vision in her "unfavored" eye, aka her left eye.
At our visit with the doctor on Thursday (July 25th), he said he wanted us to patch her eye for 2 hours each day for one month. It's really sad (particularly the cry after we pull it off).
The patch will help keep the vision in her left eye up to snuff, and also will rule out any other miscellaneous causes of her eyes being crossed. If in one month, we do not see any improvement in her eyes, we will have to go forward with surgery.
So what do they do then? The doctor described a relatively simple surgery to counteract the effects. He said that the surgery takes place thousands of times per day in the US, and takes under an hour to complete. Basically it is moving the attachment point of the muscle, or weakening the muscle in such a way to allow more outward movement.
The surgery is supposed to turn this:
So I've been fishing through resources online to learn more about this surgery, the condition, and how we can help. Honestly, the biggest concern for me is the anesthesia.
If you're interested, here's a link to a text/picture description of how the procedure is performed: Text Description
The doctor said that older children (3-4) say that the only pain they feel afterward is sort of a "muscle soreness" in their eyes. Her eyes will be a little red for 7 to 10 days after the surgery, but other than that, in, out and done.
Overall, we're really concerned about our little girl. We want her to get better, and if it requires this surgery, so be it. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
