What the heck is Ptosis anyway?

What is ptosis? Ptosis (pronounced “toe-sis”) refers to a drooping of the upper eyelid. The lid may droop only slightly or it may droop enough to partially or completely cover the pupil, restricting or obscuring vision. I got this definition from a very good article...click here if you want to read it.

I have been doing my homework on this for a while now. I knew the minute, the second actually, that AJ was born that something wasn't right with his eye..his left eye. At 12 days old I took him to see Dr. Laby. Dr Weiskopf didn't see anything wrong...most likely he'll outgrow it is what she told me but my gut told me something different. Dr. Laby is wonderful. At such a young age baby Allen had to have an MRI to rule out a tumor or fluid behind the eye. During his first and second visits to Dr. Laby we decided that it was more of a wait and see type of thing. As long as the little lid didn't obscure his eyesight we'd be ok, and surgery was something we wouldn't have to think about until his late teens or early 20s...or unless it because a social issue (meaning kids would be mean). Well, at his last visit Dr. Laby didn't like what he saw...AJ has developed an astigmatism in his eye and also he is definitely tilting his head back to see under the eyelid...neither were what I wanted to hear. The astigmatism, if left alone, could lead to legal blindness in his eye and the tilting of the head could be bad because his little spine would not develop correctly. Also, i had noticed that his eye was often misaligned...or what i described as lazy or wandering.

Where does all of this leave us? We are going to Mass Eye and Ear tomorrow to see Dr. Fay to discuss surgery. I'm not sure i'll get any sleep tonight...i haven't slept that past 2 nights at all. As Dr. Laby mentioned, in the grand scheme of things, there are surgeries that are much worse and more serious, but in my life, right now, in the life of little AJ this is huge. Say a little (or big) prayer for our little Allen...

I will update this blog tomorrow to let you know what the doctor said.