Update on Ethan

Recently we’ve noticed that Ethan squints one eye while focusing, as well as his left eye has been turning in. It’s been happening for a few months… at first we thought he was goofing around cuz he would do it and laugh saying he could see double. Probably in the past 2-3 weeks it’s gotten worse, his teacher at school mentioned something about it and we realized he was doing it without trying or thinking about it. Therefore we decided it was serious and needed to get it checked out. We found an Ophthalmologist and he had an appointment yesterday. Bottom line, he needs glasses. Kevin is much better at explaining things so in his words, here is Ethan’s diagnosis:

I spoke with the doctor today over the phone to answer a few of my questions. He was very pleasant and talked at length about Ethan’s condition. He seems like a very good doctor, very friendly, very knowledgeable and able to communicate it so we can understand.

It sounds like Ethan is extremely farsighted (and he has astigmatism as well). His prescription was OD: +4.00, OS: +4.25 +1.00×90. And this wasn’t the full prescription either. The full was more like OD: +4.75, OS: 5 (or something along those lines)! The doctor explained that this extreme farsightedness has caused what is called accommodative esotropia. What happens is that because of the farsightedness the eye has to work hard to focus, called “accommodation.” A side effect of this is that the eye will begin to cross (not in all cases, but in Ethan’s). This crossing of the eye has led to mild amblyopia – a condition where essentially the brain stops listening to the messages received from that eye. When the eye is crossing, it is no longer developing as it should. Eventually that could lead to loss of sight in that eye. The doctor said that both of Ethan’s eyes have this problem (both are crossing), with the left being worse than the right.

The glasses are to correct the farsighted and astigmatism so that the eye doesn’t have to work as hard to focus and can relax. This should stop the eyes from crossing. The key is to get the eyes to stop crossing with the glasses so that his eyes can develop properly. They say that by the age of 9 the eye has fully developed, so hopefully he will no longer have the condition by then. Between now and then he will have a new prescription every year at least, and most likely more than that. They say that one prescription may work well, but then the eye will start to cross again and they have to adjust it. He’s supposed to wear the glasses all the time. The doctor said to get straps and have him wear them even when he goes swimming! He believes that his farsightedness will get better over time, but it is hard to say whether or not he will still need glasses beyond this. The astigmatism could go away or remain, he called it a “wildcard.” He said that as Ethan grows taller it changes something in the vision ( i don’t recall what he said exactly) and that will change the astigmatism – could go away or remain, who knows.

The doctor also said that if he is going to have the lazy eye problem, this particular condition is the best one to have. It has the highest percentage of successful treatments. So it sounds like he should be fine, but he also said that it will be a marathon. He wants to keep on top of Ethan’s progress (he wants to see him every 3 months!) – which sounds like he is a fairly serious case of the condition.

Please keep him in your prayers… he is excited to get his glasses but I’m sure we’ll have to fight him wearing them at some point. And pray for his condition to get better over the years.