Eyes-just some questions

[crazycanuck]

THanks for all your replies.

We found out about the corrective patch for my left eye about 2yrs too late..

I'll see what info i can dig up round here.

I'd be going to the Lions Eye institute here in Perth...

C

[Jolt]

When caught early (before 9 years of age?), like in your sister's case, the "good" eye is covered so that the lazy eye is retrained. My case was caught relatively late, when I was in primary school, and I cheated (removing the patch) to read... In adults, there is some controversy -- most ophtalmologists will tell you there is no chance of retraining, a few suggest that it might be possible, after a long time. I guess it may also depend on the cause of amblyopia. Many cases are due to strabismus, some are caused by other problems. In my case, it seems my left eye was farsighted. There is some ongoing research about retraining in adults, e.g. professor Zhong-Lin Lu, in USC's Laboratory of Brain Processes (LOBES).

The reason I have not had LASIK is that I don't like even the low risk it presents -- I rely on the one eye that would get the surgery.

Yeah, amblyopia is something that needs to be caught early--the age that seems to stick in my mind is 7. I had/have it as well, due to strabismus. At least in the case of strabismus it is very obvious so it was caught very early (I was totally cross-eyed as a baby) and I had eye muscle surgery at the age of 10 months, as well as having to do the patch thing off and on for a number of years to make my left eye do its share of the work; I also wore glasses all the time from the age of 10 months until I was in high school. I still do not have normal binocular vision (brain doesn't fuse the images from both eyes properly, so the right eye is definitely the dominant one) but the vision in the left eye is about 20/50 and the right is 20/25 or 20/30 so I only wear my glasses now for driving (and legally I don't have to). However, I seem to compensate well for my rotten depth perception other than the fact that I have always been horrendous at sports that involve catching, hitting something out of the air or throwing!!!

[crazycanuck]

Jolt-I think binocular vision is what I am looking for...I can relate to what you said in your post.


C

[Crankin]

I know several people who have had the surgery and it was very successful. But, they had simple nearsightedness. I am nearsighted, with a pretty significant astigmatism in my left eye, and now, of course, i need reading glasses. I started wearing contacts at age 24 after getting glasses when I was 8 (which I didn't wear full time until my early twenties). At first, i had a lot of trouble with the soft lenses, but they have improved so much that I don't even know they are in. I wear the kind that last for 2 weeks and then i put a new pair in. I do take them out at night for sleeping. Also, I was not able to wear the toric lenses that correct the astigmatism, so the vision in my left eye is a bit less than 20/20, but i deal with it. I wear reading glasses over my contacts and I have a pair of bifocals for emergency,or at night if i am reading in bed. So, I don't think any surgery would help me! I also have absolutely no depth perception, which has precluded any career that involves mechanical ability, or any sport that requires eye hand coordination. In fact, it has affected my cycling in that I still cannot judge corners well, especially at high speed, so hence, I often am the slug descending, even though i can climb fairly well compared to the others I ride with. I just started using my drops last year and i still can't descend in the drops, not because I can't reach the brakes, but because everything looks and feels different and if I combine that with terrain that I am not sure about (hills with twisty descents), and speed, it totally scares me.
I wish there was a surgery for depth perception. I would love to be able to look at something and understand how it works, how something is put together, or how to fix something.

[crazycanuck]

I visited my optometrist last night and asked him what the possibilities were for eye surgery etc. I was told the following.

1-I have a turned eye, not a lazy eye!

2-A patch or even behavioral optometry wouldn't be a best option for me.

3-This one's a bit more complex. If i wanted to improve the eyesight & turned eye, two surgeries would have to be done. Also, lazer surgery would be first, then the muscle surgery on my left eye. He stated that the vision would change even more if the muscle is operated on first.(or soemthing like that!)

There's only one surgeon in Perth that does the muscle surgery so this should be interesting!

The optometrist is referring me to the clinics & i shall find out more...DOn't know anything about the cost...

I shall keep you updated

C

[annie]

Yikes! Good luck, CC. Anything with the eyes is so scary, as we only have two to start with!
I've had glasses/contacts for 40+ years now. Can't even imagine what it'd be like to see with unaided eyes.
Eye surgery has come a long ways. Just be sure you find an experienced and trusted surgeon before you do anything.

Annie