Who knew?

Well, after reading this post, I can say my ophthalmologist knew.

Toothsome #2 came home with a note that said she failed her 5th grade eye test.  She had been telling me she was having a hard time with seeing things occasionally and I also knew that 5th and 6th grade is a common grade when kids start needing glasses because of the onset of puberty.  So, it was time to take her to the eye doctor.    I fully expected to learn that she would need glasses for reading the chalkboard. (Which, is actually a white board.  I haven't seen an actual chalkboard in a classroom in ages.) 

So, anyway, it was back to my favorite eye doctor with Toothsome #2.  The tech did the standard tests.  I was watching and thinking, "She can see.  What is going on?"  The tech continued to test her, and then test her again.  At this point, I kind of lost interest.  I had a good book on my Kindle and I got that out and started reading.  I got through a few chapters and realized she had been testing my daughter for quite sometime.  

At that point, she said to me, "Is there a history of lazy eye in your family?"  It was another one of those gulp moments.  I said, "Yes.  My son and I both had/have it."  

Lazy eye definition:  When an eye cannot correct to 20/20 vision.  Lazy eye is not strabismus (when one eye is not aligned with the other eye) but strabismus can cause a lazy eye. 

 (Somewhat interesting side note, Toothsome #1 had two lazy eyes in that neither corrected to 20/20 when he first got glasses.  After a year of wearing glasses, he corrected to 20/20 in both eyes.)  

So, the doctor came in and I learned that my daughter's left eye only corrects to 20/25 which technically is not "lazy" in that has to be 20/30 to have that distinction.  

However, he said, "I think we can correct this."

I was surprised to hear him say that.  I said, "Wait, everything I have read says after about ages 7-9, you cannot correct a lazy eye."  He said, "Well, that was a belief until a few years ago, but recent studies have shown, that even through high school, patching (when you patch the good eye and force the bad eye to work) has been proven to work."  

So guess what we are doing?  Patching Toothsome #2's eye for two hours a day.  She doesn't have to do it at school and she just puts it on in the morning for two hours before she leaves for school.  If it works (and he said it doesn't always work) then my daughter gets 20/20 vision in both eyes.  If not, then we at least did all we could do for her.  

As we left the eye doctor, I told my daughter, "I would have never guessed when we came here that I would be told to patch your eye!  Who knew?"  

Well, as I said above, my ophthalmologist knew. And, I am glad he did.