Question
Our 22 mo. old fraternal twins have been diagnosed by an Opthomologist. The first at 18 mos, has strabismus, esotropia, diplopia, astigmatism, and the condition in which the eye shrinks during focusing. I don't remember the name. She be! gan crossing one eye and within 3 days was crossing constantly. Her prescription is R.. +550 cyl.150 axis 107, L. +550 cyl.150 axis 70. The glasses do help with the crossing. Our other daughter was diagnosed by the same Dr. who did not find the shr! inking in her eyes but all of the other diagnosis. Her prescription is R. +425 cyl +.75 axis 105 L. +425 cyl.+75 axis 75. It is too early to see if the crossing is gone with her as it was intermitent from the onset. It is our understanding that t! he crossing is due to the farsightedness upon focusing. We can not find any family members with these conditions and am mystified about both of out girls being affected. Are there other things we can be doing for the gr! ils now and in the future? We are told that surgery is never to be an option. While purchasing the glasses the optician said severe farsightedness in children of this age can be normal and they may "grow" out of some of it. I do not believe this, but c! an it be true. We are told they will forever cross their eyes when not using lenses. What is the age when contacts can be worn and can they be used with as severe of an astigmatism as we are seeing? Are we destined in the near future to purchase bifocals! lenses? As I'm sure most parents are, we are still shocked that our girls will have to endure this throughout their lives and are encouring them as much as we can! Thank you for any information and answers to my elementary questions!
(Beth)
Answer:
I would not be so upset about your daughters squinting because of hypermetropia.
Rather be glad that some form of treatment, glasses, is available. Later they can wear contactlenses but, yes,
for the moment wearing glasses is best. Of utmost importance is the development of good vision in both eyes and to this end
correcting glasses are needed.
In addition, accommodation (focusing) and convergence (eyes towards nose) go hand in hand so that, in children with hypermetropia (farsightedness) but without glasses, the eyes squint when they try to focus. Accordingly, the squint is reduced by waering glasses. Surgery may still be necessary to align the eyes later on, however.
Finally, the optician was correct in saying that, on the average, hypermetropia decreases with age.
(Herb Simonsz, MD, PhD)
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