Regarding a baby girl, 7 months old. She has congenital hydrocephalus; diagnosed at 22 wks pregnant. Although she had a rough first 4 months(shunt at 4 days old, revision 2 wks later, possible meningitis, numerous trips to the Emergency Room.
Just recently, we were told that she has strabismus(her right eye muscles are pulling in) and will need surgery. Does any one have any heads up for us or experience with a child who's had the surgery?
Gabriel's Life » Living with Hydrocephalus - Children
Eye Surgery
(7 posts)
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Posted 2 years ago #
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My daughter had to eye muscle surgeries to correct her strabismus. The first was at 13 months, and her second at 3 1/2. We had to first patch her good eye so that the turned in eye's muscles would strengthen before surgery. We patched from 4 months until 13 months, when the opthamologist felt that her muscles were strong enough.
They go in and pop out the eyeball, detatch and reattach the muscles in the proper place. It is an outpatient surgery and while the eyes look pretty bad--the "white parts" are blood red for a few weeks, then fade to yellow and back to white--and eyedrops need to be placed in each eye for a week or so to ward off infection. Other than that, however, my daughter recovered fine. The same procedure occurred when she was three.
Our opthamologist warned us that there may need to be numerous surgeries to align the eyes evenly. Claire had to be patched again until the age of 3 1/2. Her eyes still do not work togehter (i.e., she does not have binocular vision), but she has learned to compensate and nagivates her world pretty well.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hello,
My name is Katie and I had an eye muscle surgery in 2005. I was told I may need to have surgery again but I have not had to so far. My eyes are not binocular either and will probably never be. However I do drive, but I just have to watch it when I back out because I don't have depth perception. I have adjusted really well and my experience has been about the same as above.
Posted 2 years ago # -
It's possible to have eye surgery at an yage.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I had muscle damage to both eyes after having four shunt revisions over a period of three months. I had double vision because of it, so about a year later I had an operation on both eyes which was very successful. I no longer see double and the doctor said my vision is almost exactly what it was before all of the surgeries. Now I only have to wear glasses for estigmatism, but I can drive and do everything perfectly fine with no challenges.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Does anyone know if strabismus is common for children with hydrocephalus and vp shunts to develop? My daughter has hydrocephalus and was shunted at 14months of age. She has had 2 revisions - she is now 11. At a recent trip to the emergency department, a dilated eye exam showed swelling in the optic nerves of both eyes. So far her vision has been normal, but should I expect problems in the future?
Posted 6 months ago # -
My daughter has been diagnosed with CVI - Cortical Visual Impairment (at 8 months old)... the neurologist said that vision impairment is very common with Lizzy's diagnosis. Our pediatric ophthalmologist told me that Lizzy's eye anatomy is good and that he saw no swelling of the optic nerve - he indicated that swelling would mean that the shunt may not be working, that there is pressure there. I don't want to scare you unnecessarily but I thought I should post that so that you can make sure to ask your doctors.
Posted 6 months ago #
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