Eye Patch

I noticed for about 6 months that Carter has one eye that seems to wander. I brought it up to my pediatrician and he gave us a referral to the Pediatric Opthamologist. We went last month and they saw right away what I was talking about. They diagnosed him with Exotropia.

They said the unusual thing about Carter's eye was that it unfocused and walked away while Carter was attempting to focus on something. The closer an object got, the more the eye said - "Too much work, I'm out of here". They told me that it is not normally like that. In a typical exotropia case, the eye will wander when tired or bored. Carter has an unusual form of exotropia called "convergence insufficiency". They told me that muscle exercises are usually pretty helpful in treating this.

So, we bought a box of eye patches, and are using them to strengthen Carter's eye. He thinks they are great. The first time I used them I told him we were going to watch Blue's Clues. He begs to watch it now. It is his favoritest thing to do. He is so engrossed in it. I couldn't get his attention for anything. He got all of his balls out and put them on the couch with him to watch. Today, we watched one episode, and then played with toys to get him to use his eye more. He really likes eye patch time, but it is probably because he gets to watch Blue's Clues.