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Question

Dear Doctor,
My son, Ryan woke up last tues.(Sept1) with his right eye not able to move to his left, along with the left eye, which is moving normally. It also didn't open real well at first. I am taking him to an opthamologist on Tues. to be seen, He has been seen by a neurologist, after we visited the emergency room.....Then he had an MRI,MRA done and various blood work done. They found no problems in these tests. Now they are talking about doing a spinal tap. I think a opthamologist should look at it first, what do you think? Do you know what this could be?
Thanks!

(Anne)

Answer:

Dear Anne,

A child not being able to look leftward with the right eye suddenly is a rarity. A spinal tap would be a good thing to rule out brain stem disorders that may caus this. But, as you are also talking about him not being able to open the right eye, it might also be a local problem in the orbit that, indeed, an ophthalmologist should be consulted for. I understand you already made appointments for that. Let us know what came out.

Yours truly,

(Herb Simonsz, MD, PhD)

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