Cosmetic drooping eye surgery

amother

Wed, Oct 27 2010, 9:28 pm

my 5 yr old dd, has a slightly drooping eye. its not enough to affect her vision, but it does look different than her other eye.
her eye dr. said around age 6 we can consider surgery.

I dont know if its worth it to do it now, so she wont ever come to me as a teen crying that she looks ugly.
or if its not enough to be worth putting her under surgery, which I dont even know if it will leave a scar, and/or be completely successful at making her eyes identical

please advise me. I dont know what to do.

ididit

Wed, Oct 27 2010, 9:58 pm

I wonder why she has this, does it exist in other family members (grandparents/aunts?) did the doctor say what he thinks was causing it?

if it's hereditary, as in several of your relatives have it, you can look at them and see if it gets worse or better as the person ages. I would put off surgery if there was chance the problem would get worse, and necessitate repeating the surgery at a later date.

I think that surgery is a major undertaking and there is no such thing as "simple surgery". if it interferes with her vision, it would be necessary.

we have drooping eyelids in our family. there is a rare form of MS that only affects the eyelid muscles, nothing else. and the drooping interferes with vision around the age of 40. that's when my mom her cousins got the eyelid surgery. since it had a "medical reason", it was covered by insurance.....something to consider. my second DS has it, and he is not concerned with how it makes him look. no one outside of our family has ever commented on it...

hope I gave you more to think about. it's not a simple question.

good luck!

amother

Wed, Oct 27 2010, 10:04 pm

thats interesting what you said, my MIL has this thing with her eyes that she blinks alot and cant drive b/c she blinks for too long and her eyes are closed for too long.
but in my dd its only in one eye.

does this make sense?

ididit

Wed, Oct 27 2010, 11:00 pm

well, it could just be that your MIL has hypotonia in her eyelid muscles, or something more neurologically based. and your dd could have hypotonia in her one eyelid muscles. you can tell your pediatrician about your MIL. did you ever ask her about her condition? was it diagnosed? if yes, then you have something to work with as far as prognosis is concerned.

a doctor can only give you a full diagnosis if he has all the facts. and knowing your family's medical history is extremely important for your children's healthcare.

good luck.