December 4, 1986 – Second Surgery at 9 months

After the first surgery, I patched and wore glasses and they watched as my eyes settled. There were huge improvements in the alignment of my eyes, but they did a second surgery to fine tune what was done in the first surgery.

After the surgeries, my eye turn measurements were great! Only 0-5 diopters of eye turn. I got used to the glasses and patching, as much as can be expected from a baby, and wore them consistently.

We started going in every six months just to recheck and adjust my prescription and basically wait for me to get older. My parents patched me, every day and kept those glasses on me.

By the time I was 2 ½ years old I started getting intermittent exotropia which is an eye turn outward instead of inward. I also had a small DVD (Dissociated Vertical Deviation) which meant that along with the side to side eye turn, I also had a vertical deviation. While this is typical, it also complicates things and lessens the chance of getting both eyes to work together.

When I wore my glasses, my eyes stayed aligned, but my right eye would wander out from time to time when the glasses were off. My prescription decreased at this time, which is pretty typical for children who are farsighted.

By the time I was 3 ½ they were able to finally check my acuity and discovered that I had 20/50 vision in my left eye and 20/100 in my right. They tested for stereo vision, but I was still too little to understand.

My parents kept on with the patching and were able to improve my acuity to 20/50 for the right eye and 20/30 for the left in just 6 months. By the time I was 6 my acuity was 20/30 for the right and 20/20 for the left and stayed there for a long time, as an adult I now have 20/25 and 20/20 so the acuity hasn’t changed much. Yay for patching!

Some visits, my eyes were straight, others I had an intermittent exotropia, measured between 0 and 30 diopters, depending on the day. My eye turn seemed to be getting worse, but at least I was seeing well out of both eyes.

I don’t remember much about the patching and glasses. I don’t remember ever being teased, and I don’t think I complained too much. I remember that there were stickers to put on the patches and I absolutely loved them! I think that it was just a way of life because I started so young, my vision wasn’t horrible so I could still function easily while I patched.

I don’t remember double vision, when I look back at learning to read I don’t ever remember seeing double or having trouble with seeing the words. I believe I was suppressing my right eye from a very young age.

I remember being in first grade and finding out that I was going to need a third surgery. I didn’t worry about my eyes and don’t remember even wondering what they were going to do, but I remember being terrified about the shots. Read here about surgery number three.