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Entry tags:
Nystagmus, professional opinion
A couple days ago my mother and wife took out wiggly-eyed daughter to a doctor who had seen her once before. Although they spent some time there, they returned with few questions answered, in many ways more confused than before.
During the previous visit, the same doctor recommended quaternary recession surgery. This shifts the four motion muscles back so that the amplitude of nystagmus becomes less. She even gave us a paper to read on the subject. My questions were, does this affect all motion, restricting eye movement, and what are the statistics on improvement/complications? These questions went unanswered, because like all doctors this one took control of the discussion.
This time she recommended K-A surgery, where the side to side muscles are shifted to another position. This moves the "base" location of the eye so that the null point is moved to center. During the visit, Anya displayed a null point on the right. The doctor did not believe my mother who told her the null point can shift. She did not ask them to make records or observations of the child's behavior. She reached her conclusion based on one observation of one activity - reading the letters - which for any nystagmus patient is difficult and unusual. When I have to do it at the optometrist, my null point also shifts to the extreme of one side so that I can no longer use that weird eye thing they make you use.
My mother might take her to Ohio where the purveyors of this surgery are headquartered. I will make detailed records of her daily activities, complete with photos etc. We are going to do this properly. Over the past two days, preliminary data indicate that she uses both sides about equally, but favors different sides during different activities. This would not make her a candidate for null point shifting surgery.
During the previous visit, the same doctor recommended quaternary recession surgery. This shifts the four motion muscles back so that the amplitude of nystagmus becomes less. She even gave us a paper to read on the subject. My questions were, does this affect all motion, restricting eye movement, and what are the statistics on improvement/complications? These questions went unanswered, because like all doctors this one took control of the discussion.
This time she recommended K-A surgery, where the side to side muscles are shifted to another position. This moves the "base" location of the eye so that the null point is moved to center. During the visit, Anya displayed a null point on the right. The doctor did not believe my mother who told her the null point can shift. She did not ask them to make records or observations of the child's behavior. She reached her conclusion based on one observation of one activity - reading the letters - which for any nystagmus patient is difficult and unusual. When I have to do it at the optometrist, my null point also shifts to the extreme of one side so that I can no longer use that weird eye thing they make you use.
My mother might take her to Ohio where the purveyors of this surgery are headquartered. I will make detailed records of her daily activities, complete with photos etc. We are going to do this properly. Over the past two days, preliminary data indicate that she uses both sides about equally, but favors different sides during different activities. This would not make her a candidate for null point shifting surgery.