Diagnosis: Anisometropic Amblyopia
When Collin was four (April 2015) we took the trip of a lifetime, to Disneyworld! He was such a big boy and rode every single roller coaster at all the parks. We stayed at a rental house with some family friends. Towards the end of the trip Collin was playing in the game room (a converted garage with a very steep step). He stepped down just fine but when he turned to leave the room, he missed the step up and fell flat on his face, damaging his lip and shifting his front teeth. We thought it was odd that he missed the step, but focused on making sure his lip and teeth were okay (ER, emergency dentist visits, etc).
We were able to save his teeth and although they had shifted, it did not affect his bite. We thought everything was good. About a month later, talking on the phone with my mom- she made several comments that the photos I had been sending her from my cell phone of Collin made his eyes look “funny”. While speaking to my mom, I took multiple pictures of Collin and I looked at old photos on my cell phone. My heart sank- he had this weird glow in one eye. I tried not to cry as I remembered someone posted an article on Facebook about a child with a glow in their eye, and it was bad.
I found the site www.knowtheglow.org, and started researching. At the same time, I sent Collin’s picture to several friends who were doctors, local and afar. All suggested we get immediately get an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist. We were blessed to have a doctor friend who lives in town. She knew a pediatric ophthalmologist and via her connections we were able to get Collin an appointment the very next day!
Collin’s diagnosis was the best diagnosis we could have hoped for under the circumstances. He was diagnosed with Anisometropic Amblyopia. Eyes mature between the ages of 8-9 so we have several years to correct his left eye. As of today, Collin has 20/20 vision in one eye and 50/50 vision in the other.
He now wears glasses to help his left eye see and we patch his strong eye 4-5 hours per day. We are hoping this will trigger his bad eye to start working and help him regain sight in that eye. We believe his lack of sight contributed to his fall in Florida. Prior to his fall, he had no symptoms of lost eyesight. He had just finished a piano recital (his second), plays soccer and had started reading over a year ago. He never complained about not seeing things because it was all he had known.
We were lucky and very blessed. Please look at any and all digital photos and know the glow. Know that it means something and use your instinct and have it checked out. It could save a child’s sight.
