Anisonmetropic Amblyopia

Earlier this week Kim took Karlee to the pediatrician for her 2 year well check up.  Karlee's doctor realized that something was wrong with her left eye (namely, she believed there to be too much white on Karlee's fundus at certain angles).  She referred us to a pediatric optometrist. Yesterday as a family we went in to find out just what was going on with Karlee.  After shooting down any abnormalities with Karlee's fundus and discussing the asymmetric nature of my face and drawing conclusions that Karlee and I share some cosmetic deficiencies in the alignment of our eyes we moved on to an explanation of how the eyes develop and what problems could exist.  They dilated Karlee's eyes then we returned to the chair for some more determination of what is going on. 

Our Doctor determined that what Karlee has is Anisonmetropic Amblyopia which in English basically means that Karlee has an imbalance in the focus that both eyes exhibit.  Where one eye is normal or close thereto and the other is abnormal in it's vision.  The discrepancy between the functioning and focus of the eyes causes the brain to focus on the dominant or good eye and ignore the blurry images that the bad eye produces.  Over time the part of the brain that controls the weaker eye will completely give up so to speak leaving the individual with an eye that has slower reaction time and a complete lack of visual clarity.  The good news. . . while this happens in less than 2% of children, it is beatable and can be overcome with treatment. Complete development of the eye and vision does not take place till age 6 or 7, and the brain can be trained to overcome deficiencies.  Also the earlier this is caught and treated the better chance of 20/20 vision by age 10.

Karlee will soon be the proud owner of the cutest Pink glasses we can find and will have to wear those permanently (or atleast until her left eye catches up the far more superior right eye (5-8 yrs). We will also have to "penalize" or patch the good eye for a few hours a day in order to make her brain focus on the development of the weaker eye.  We are trying our best to make Karlee excited about wearing glasses, although the varying prescription will make her eyes appear as different sizes it will help her to reach a manageable visual condition later in life. I have decided to take up wearing glasses much more frequently just so she can see how cool it is. Because we all know if Dad does it, then it must be cool.

Trials never come to any of us when we expect them. However with the right perspective and faith that in the end all will be okay we can overcome the fears that can consume our souls. Karlee's trial though undeserved at such an age will be with her for years and will likely play a role in all aspects of her development.  The battle for our family now becomes overcoming together the unexpected bumps in the road.  Wait that has always been our battle. . . as it is for all of you.  Here's to success for all of us.