bilateral refractive amblyopia

[kathleen16]

Hello - My daughter (age 6) was just diagnosed with bilateral refractive amblyopia.  She has a corrective prescription of +5.00 in the right eye and +7.50 in the left eye (with an astigmitism).  She is wearing corrective glasses now for the past 2 weeks.

I am hopeful and praying that there will be healing and improvement of her vision.   I feel sad I did not catch this condition earlier as I know that age plays a crucial role in vision improvement.

Any insight or suggestions or similar experiences would be great!!!!

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Good luck Mom.

JCH MD

[kathleen16]

Thank you, Thank you for your time with this matter.  I too believe my daughter's eyes will get better.  I didn't want to set myself up for a heartbreak.  She is a strong girl - and this matter just re enforces what really is important in this life and what we sometimes take for granted.

Regarding the pediatrician - there seems to be such a push for children to see the dentist and rarely any talk about getting their eyes checked by an opthamologist. So strange and sad.

I really appreciate your time!!  Kathleen

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

The lesser hyperopic eye +5.00 will likely have normal vision. The +7.50 eye will likely need patching or atropine penalization. Hopefully the vision will come up to "useful" (20/50 or better)..

Unfortunately parents are the last to know with things like this and pediatricians bear some of the blame for not asking about having the eyes checked.

JCH MD

[kathleen16]

Thank you for this response - I appreciate it.  I am very sad that I did not find this earlier for my daughters sake.  I have been doing internet research and do see clinical studies that were recently conducted that provide hope to my daughter for improvement in her sight.

Do you feel optimistic that there will be improvement in her vision????

Thank you - I will pass the info alongto my sisters to get their young children checked.

Sincerely Thank you - Kathleen

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Any blood relative of yours that has a infant child has almost a 20% chance of having the same problem and any child of yours its even higher.

Make sure that your extended family has an ophthalmologist check all kids eyes by age 2.5 to 3.0 years.

Glasses, patching or eyedrop "penalization" may be necessary.

Be sure she's under the care of an Eye MD ophthalmolgoist.

JCH MD