Back when Juliette was about 8 months old, I started getting concerned that she might have a problem with her eyes crossing and her pediatrician at that time referred us to a pediatric ophthalmologist there in Monroe. He checked her out and said she had pseudostrabismus (which I had already researched and diagnosed myself before we went to see him) and a slight astigmatism and to bring her back when she was 2 for another check-up.

Pseudostrabismus is the false appearance of cross eyes (or just one cross eye) and this false impression is simply because of the way the child's facial structure is made up and because of them having a wide, flat bridge at the top of their nose that causes the skin to cover up some or all of the white part on the inside of their eyes. (Clear as mud, huh?) Anyway, they eventually grow out of it because as they grow their facial features develop more and they don't keep that flat, wide bridge. If I wasn't being so lazy tonight, I could show you a comparison of Juliette's eyes now (in which you can see the inside whites of them) and her eyes when she was younger (where there wasn't much whites).

Anyway, we took her back to the eye doctor when she was 2 and he said her eyes were still straight and that everything looked good and her astigmatism was too minor for correction and to bring her back at 4. Well, here we are at age 4 and I was REALLY concerned that her astigmatism would need correction this time around.

I asked her new pediatrician here for a reference and told him I wanted someone conservative who wasn't quick to put kids in glasses if it wasn't really necessary, so he recommended I skip the guy in Lafayette and go on to Baton Rouge to the eye doctor that he uses for his little girl. (Now, let me say here, really quickly, that if she needs glasses, then she needs glasses, and we'll get them, but I didn't want a doctor that just saw us as another "customer" to sell glasses to--since all the pediatric ophthalmologist usually sell frames and glasses in their offices--and I didn't want to have to deal with broken frames or lenses and losing glasses, etc., etc. if it wasn't absolutely necessary.)

I had told Juliette she had to go to the eye doctor for him to look at her eyes and that she may have to get glasses. She seemed to embrace that idea, as I noticed when I came home yesterday from work to take her that she had drawn glasses with a marker on Woody, Buzz and Jessie (her Toy Story figurines).

Since she was so young the last time we took her to the eye doctor, I wasn't sure how her eye exam would go and doubted it would be like an adult eye exam, however, I was wrong. They asked if she knew her letters and I told them that she knew most of them, so they did the normal test with the letters and she totally (well, pretty much) rocked it. Just like a little adult, she was naming off the letters as they got smaller and smaller! So growny! The doctor came in and double checked to make sure her eyes are still straight (they are) and then decided he wanted to dilate them, so they put eye drops in her eyes and we went back out to the waiting room to wait for about 15 minutes. During that time, Juliette wanted me to read a kids' magazine to her. There wasn't much "reading" to do, though, so I started asking her if she could count how many apples where in a picture of a family at an apple orchard. She looked at it and then said, "I can't see with these eyes." It was SO funny (because I knew it was because her pupils were dilated)! I got a big kick out of it.

We then went back in to see the doctor again and he looked at her eyes closer and then tried to get her to do the letter chart again. She told him some of the letters on most of the lines, but at that point we had been there almost 1 1/2 hours and she was tired of the whole "tell me what letter you see" thing and just started saying "O" for everything, so he just gave up. At one point, she told the doctor, "I can't see with these eyes. I just need glasses!" He told us, though, that her astigmatism was still minor and did not need correction, but we have to take her back in 2 months, as he wants to look at her eyes again without them being dilated. (I think he was rethinking the whole dilation thing and couldn't see exactly what he needed to see regarding the astigmatism.) So, anyway, we go back in 2 months and I'm sure we'll get a clearance to not return for another 2 years. Matt has an astigmatism and wears contacts and I am nearsighted and wear contacts, so I know she's going to eventually end up having to wear glasses, but neither Matt nor I were this small when we got our glasses, so I'm hoping this astigmatism stays minor until she is older.

As we were leaving, Juliette was totally bummed that she wasn't getting glasses and kept saying "But, I need glasses!" She specifically wanted the "princess" ones that she saw in a big display (complete with a big Cinderella) as we were walking out. As soon as we hit the parking lot, she was saying "The sun, the sun...it hurts my eyes...I can't see," so I gave her my sunglasses to wear. (I realize now that I could have taken quite a few pictures to illustrate this story about our trip to the eye doctor, but I left my camera at home, so you'll just have to use your imagination!)

By the time we got home, she seemed fine although her pupils were still dilated. They are still pretty big today, as well, and so I asked Dr. Google how long it would take for them to go back to normal and saw on some site that it may take 1-3 days for small children, so I'm not worried about it. Now...if they are still dilated by the end of the weekend, then I'll call Monday, but she's not complaining and she seems to be able to see fine and hasn't told me "I can't see with these eyes" today, so I'm sure she's fine.

I just realized after writing this whole post, that some of you may not know what astigmatism is and might think it's something really bad or abnormal, so click here to read more about it. It's pretty common.

Check back later this weekend for some more posts. I've got a few other things to blog about...namely, math and fishing! :)

Happy Friday!