Perfect Vision!

For as long as I can remember one of Sam’s eyes would cross in photographs – but apparently in newborns its very common so I didn’t worry about it. However, here we are at 9 months and it’s still doing it. I read a lot about lazy eye and they say if you catch it early it can usually be corrected with a patch or surgery, so I made an appointment with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with a pediatric ophthalmologist.


First let me start by saying the waiting room had THE coolest toys! Sammy had so much fun! We get back in the exam room and Sam is on my lap – you know that paper that they put on the table to make it “clean” for each new person…. Well…..Sam proceeds to unroll it – it’s fun, its crinkly, and makes noise…..ha-ha…. I roll it back up and he quickly unrolls it – time to move the chair =)

Dr Arrington comes in and Sam of course gives him a big smile. He has lots of great toys and lights to occupy Sam while he checks his eyes. I brought some pictures in as well so he could see how his eyes turn in toward his nose. After the exam he tells me Sam has Pseudoesotropia, which is when it looks like your child’s eyes are crossed, but they really are not. The false appearance of crossed eyes is caused by the combination of a wide nasal bridge and a fold of skin on the inside corner of the eye. He will outgrow by the age of 4. If you look at the picture below you will notice that the light reflecting in his pupil is in the exact same spot even though one eye is turned in – if he truly had a crossed eye the light in the pupil would be in a different spot on each eye.

I knew this was a possibility but I was trying to not get my hopes up in case it was worse. Since we were there he wanted to go ahead and dilate his eyes and do a full exam. I had heard that this can be very painful for kids and was worried for Sam – Dr Arrington said it would not be. They put one drop in each eye (Sam fussed for about 5 seconds) and then we waited for his eyes to dilate (about 25 mins). He did an exam and Sam sat there so still – I was amazed since he is such a squiggly worm these days! Dr Arrington said his vision was perfect and he had no concerns – whew!