We have been waiting and waiting for appointments with the orthoptist and eye specialist but they are very vague in providing us the next steps. It is as if they are not sure themselves on what to do next. They kept on mentioning corrective surgery.
It has been more than a year and the last time we saw the orthoptist the improvement was negligible and it was suggested that we extend the patch therapy to 5 hours a day.
In a way, we felt really confused as to what to do next or who to see next as it was all very vague.
Long story short, when #2 was born we had his eyes checked and the doctor saw that #1 was wearing spectacles. He introduced us to an excellent consultant optometrist who have excellent experience not only with eyes but with autism.
#2's eyes are good.
We continued to see the optometrist in Subang Jaya progressively and continued the patching therapy while forcing #1 to do eye exercises on paper. At first finding letters with bigger font size and gradually making them smaller from session to session.
During the first session we had to order a new pair of spectacles. The 2 or 3 sessions after that were free.
At the last session we had in July the optometrist confirmed that he no longer needs his patching therapy. Alhamdulillah.
Now, his eyes are fine in the sense that they are working together. He still is long sighted and has to wear his spectacles but it's improving. Next month we'll have another session with the optometrist and it's time for new spectacles.
In the meantime we still force him to look for specific numbers in a piece of paper. He hates the exercise... but thankfully Mama is trying hard to make him do it!
I am not sure how far we would have progressed if we waited for the original eye specialist and orthoptist. He might even have to go to surgery in the end...
As for the optometrist, I am not sure how she accepts her patients (since she work by appointment) but if you need to contact her please ask me via our email in the contact page. I value people's privacy. Hers and yours. I have, however included the clinic's phone number in Doctors/Specialist page.
As a conclusion, we learned that it is best to get second or third opinions especially if the office you're visiting looks like Dixon Hill's office. Go ahead, look it up :-)
- Abah
Showing posts with label amblyopia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amblyopia. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Our Patches From Patch Pizazz Has Arrived
We received a surprise in the mail on Saturday, when we were just about to go out to buy birthday presents for a birthday party on Sunday. The eye patches that we ordered has arrived.
When I looked at the declaration sticker I was amused when I saw "eye patch and confectionary", but it's true; they were nice enough to include lollipops inside. It worked to provide a little distraction. As usual there was resistance from our dear son.
When I looked at the declaration sticker I was amused when I saw "eye patch and confectionary", but it's true; they were nice enough to include lollipops inside. It worked to provide a little distraction. As usual there was resistance from our dear son.
We tried the one with the "racing car" design first. The material is soft and comfortable, and it fit perfectly on the spectacles. The leather material inside is black so it should cut off a lot of light and prevent peeking. This, is another reason for resistance as it's very hard to see with the lazy eye.
Being an Aspie, son has always been hard to try on new things but after some time he'll comply. We hope he'll like these better since the patches with adhesive does prove bad to his skin.
- Abah
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
More on Eye Patches
So the eye patches with adhesive didn't work so great after all. They irritate the skin, and are uncomfortable. The frustration from not being able to see clearly with the lazy eye is already bad enough.
Son has been very cooperative after some reassuring from us, but he does expresses his frustration a lot.
So Mama found this online shop in New Zealand that sells the nice patches that can be attached to the spectacles. They look comfortable. We ordered 2 pieces and have yet to receive them. Hopefully soon. Malaysian Customs can be a pain.
- Abah
Son has been very cooperative after some reassuring from us, but he does expresses his frustration a lot.
So Mama found this online shop in New Zealand that sells the nice patches that can be attached to the spectacles. They look comfortable. We ordered 2 pieces and have yet to receive them. Hopefully soon. Malaysian Customs can be a pain.
- Abah
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Eye Patch Therapy
We picked up son's spectacles on Saturday, and he has been wearing them during waking hours. There were minimal resistance, and we were pleased.
It was time to start his eye patch therapy. We started on Sunday, without initial resistance. The prescription is set to a maximum of 3 hours per day. However due to the hot and moist climate, his eyes became itchy and watery so at most we get so far is 1.5 hours.
There were a lot of frustration too, since he can't really see very well with his right eye. He kept on saying that he can't see, and cries which made it worst since the tears will disrupt the good eye under the patch.
The spectacles was pretty much an attempt to correct his right eye's vision and the prescribed power was +200, a lot less than the tested average of +500.
So we tried to calm him down and offer him rewards if he manages to wear the patch as long as he can.
In less than 2 weeks we should be seeing the ophthalmologist again to check on his progress.
I recently found an article in the Internet: Amblyopia treatment – Eye patching alone is no longer the standard of care, which made we wonder whether a different approach could be made or a different kind of therapy could be done.
- Abah
It was time to start his eye patch therapy. We started on Sunday, without initial resistance. The prescription is set to a maximum of 3 hours per day. However due to the hot and moist climate, his eyes became itchy and watery so at most we get so far is 1.5 hours.
There were a lot of frustration too, since he can't really see very well with his right eye. He kept on saying that he can't see, and cries which made it worst since the tears will disrupt the good eye under the patch.
The spectacles was pretty much an attempt to correct his right eye's vision and the prescribed power was +200, a lot less than the tested average of +500.
So we tried to calm him down and offer him rewards if he manages to wear the patch as long as he can.
In less than 2 weeks we should be seeing the ophthalmologist again to check on his progress.
I recently found an article in the Internet: Amblyopia treatment – Eye patching alone is no longer the standard of care, which made we wonder whether a different approach could be made or a different kind of therapy could be done.
"While the research shows that a child’s visual brain will show improvement in their amblyopic eye sight with a patching regimen, this “old school” approach (when used alone) can be very difficult and disruptive for the developing child to handle. It creates visual disorientation and confusion in spatial judgements. This in turn creates frustration and often emotional upset in the patient."I have to agree with the quote above, about the frustration and emotional upset.
"Therefore today’s “best practices” approach for the treatment of amblyopia involves a combination of monocular and binocular training of the visual brain through office-based vision therapy. This is done with a vision therapist under the direct supervision of a Doctor of Optometry along with prescribed home-oriented visual activities to complement the weekly or bi-weekly in-office procedures."Is there anyone here that can help us and provide a second opinion?
- Abah
Friday, October 26, 2012
Orthoptist Visit
Following our last visit to the eye specialist, we scheduled an appointment with Ms. Chu in Jalan Ipoh to check on his eyes. Little did we know that it would be better if we come after the spectacles are ready.
However Ms. Chu and the centre's staff were nice. I was personally surprised to see so many patients and most of them are kids.
We had to wait for some time because the sessions are quite long. Maybe about half an hour or so but the waiting area is spacey, cool, and comfortable. Son was getting quite restless and we were relieved to get our turn.
She did some tests and it's most likely amblyopia. Son would need to wear his spectacles all the time, and wear the eye patch on the good eye for two to three hours a day so that the lazy eye would work more and to tell the brain to use it more.
She wrote a report for Dr. Ranu and we bought a box of blank patches to be used once the spectacles are ready.
Son is asking for football (soccer) design patches like he saw in the lazy eye pamphlets. I'm unsure where we can get those but we'll definitely look for them.
A litte bit about the Orthoptic Centre
If you arrived at this post looking for more information about the centre, it's actually in the building next to PERKIM. The address misled us to believe that the centre is inside the big building with the UMNO logo, connected to PWTC. It is not.
I wasn't able to find any UMNO logo on the building itself. I did not take any picture but I found a picture by http://yatie-ahmad.blogspot.com/2011/06/ceritera-farish-akmal-part-2.html
Although it's a picture from 2011, the building still looks pretty much like that.
There is an old ambience about the building, as if entering a portal to the 1980. The centre itself is very old looking and according to the friendly reception they are not allowed to change anything in the premises so all they can do was to repaint the walls and ceiling.
The experienced vibe of Ms. Chu was definitely there especially with newspaper clippings on the wall dated back to the early 1990's. We were pretty sure that we are in good hands.
Their address is:
K.C. Chu Orthoptic Centre
Suite 4C (4th Floor)
Bangunan UMNO Selangor
142 Jalan Ipoh
51200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Phone: +60 3 4042 4220
Email: chukc [at] tm [dot] net [dot] my, kieuchingchu [at] gmail [dot] com
We did not ask but assumed that they only accept cash. You can ask them if you're calling. They always need an appointment so that they know you're coming, but they operate first come first serve during a time range.
- Abah
However Ms. Chu and the centre's staff were nice. I was personally surprised to see so many patients and most of them are kids.
We had to wait for some time because the sessions are quite long. Maybe about half an hour or so but the waiting area is spacey, cool, and comfortable. Son was getting quite restless and we were relieved to get our turn.
She did some tests and it's most likely amblyopia. Son would need to wear his spectacles all the time, and wear the eye patch on the good eye for two to three hours a day so that the lazy eye would work more and to tell the brain to use it more.
She wrote a report for Dr. Ranu and we bought a box of blank patches to be used once the spectacles are ready.
Son is asking for football (soccer) design patches like he saw in the lazy eye pamphlets. I'm unsure where we can get those but we'll definitely look for them.
A litte bit about the Orthoptic Centre
If you arrived at this post looking for more information about the centre, it's actually in the building next to PERKIM. The address misled us to believe that the centre is inside the big building with the UMNO logo, connected to PWTC. It is not.
I wasn't able to find any UMNO logo on the building itself. I did not take any picture but I found a picture by http://yatie-ahmad.blogspot.com/2011/06/ceritera-farish-akmal-part-2.html
Although it's a picture from 2011, the building still looks pretty much like that.
There is an old ambience about the building, as if entering a portal to the 1980. The centre itself is very old looking and according to the friendly reception they are not allowed to change anything in the premises so all they can do was to repaint the walls and ceiling.
The experienced vibe of Ms. Chu was definitely there especially with newspaper clippings on the wall dated back to the early 1990's. We were pretty sure that we are in good hands.
Their address is:
K.C. Chu Orthoptic Centre
Suite 4C (4th Floor)
Bangunan UMNO Selangor
142 Jalan Ipoh
51200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Phone: +60 3 4042 4220
Email: chukc [at] tm [dot] net [dot] my, kieuchingchu [at] gmail [dot] com
We did not ask but assumed that they only accept cash. You can ask them if you're calling. They always need an appointment so that they know you're coming, but they operate first come first serve during a time range.
- Abah
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Spectacles
On Saturday, we went to Damansara to order the spectacles for our son. We thought that it was going to be a difficult mission (finding frames for a 4 year old) but there were choices and we finally settled for a comfortable frame by Timberland.
We went to Focus Point to take advantage of the privilege card that we have. Extra 10% discount on top of the 30% discount.
The frame was RM260 after discount, and the Zeiss lens was RM300. I like Zeiss lenses as they have served me well for the past few years.
We were also recommended to get the strap which was RM20.
The spectacles should be ready in a week or two.
- Abah
We went to Focus Point to take advantage of the privilege card that we have. Extra 10% discount on top of the 30% discount.
The frame was RM260 after discount, and the Zeiss lens was RM300. I like Zeiss lenses as they have served me well for the past few years.
We were also recommended to get the strap which was RM20.
The spectacles should be ready in a week or two.
- Abah
Saturday, October 20, 2012
How It Began
This is a summary of events that leads to the discovery of Asperger syndrome and amblyopia, so not all of the symptoms are related.
Our Son will be four in December 2012. For the past year or so he has been suffering from regular nose bleeds.
Although family and friends said that it's normal, being the paranoid parents we are we set up an appointment with an ENT specialist.
Even our pediatrician said that there is nothing an ENT specialist can do for nose bleeding problems.
The nose bleed was normal, caused by dryness of the nose and damaged capillary. However, the ENT noticed something different with his eyes. The eyes are not moving normally and he suggested that we visit an ophthalmologist (eye specialist) to have a checkup.
So we did.
Our son was diagnosed with amblyopia (lazy eye) and the vision in his right eye is terrible. He will be needing spectacles and eye patch therapy. We were thankful to learn that eye development stops at 8 and we can still try therapy to help his eye develop normally and achieve perfect vision.
We also feel appalled that there are actually mandatory eye checkups that are done in developed countries but not in Malaysia!
On Thursday we had the final eye checkup and the optometrist and eye doctor issued a prescription for spectacles.
They also provided a referral letter to see an orthoptists.
During checkup, the optometrist noticed that he kept repeating what she said so she also advises us to meet with a child psychiatrist as that's a symptom of Asperger syndrome.
Back home we did some research and everything that has ever happened makes sense now. We even did some online tests and quizzes and we are likely to be Aspies ourselves. Reading through a lot of materials from the Internet, we are convinced that our son is Aspie.
We are currently trying to get an appointment with the best doctor we can get, to get a real diagnosis and advice. However, from what we heard, waiting time is very long because there aren't many specialist here in Malaysia. We'll see who we can find.
This is our journey and it is going to be interesting. It's not going to be easy but we will go through this as a family.
- Abah
Our Son will be four in December 2012. For the past year or so he has been suffering from regular nose bleeds.
Although family and friends said that it's normal, being the paranoid parents we are we set up an appointment with an ENT specialist.
Even our pediatrician said that there is nothing an ENT specialist can do for nose bleeding problems.
The nose bleed was normal, caused by dryness of the nose and damaged capillary. However, the ENT noticed something different with his eyes. The eyes are not moving normally and he suggested that we visit an ophthalmologist (eye specialist) to have a checkup.
So we did.
Our son was diagnosed with amblyopia (lazy eye) and the vision in his right eye is terrible. He will be needing spectacles and eye patch therapy. We were thankful to learn that eye development stops at 8 and we can still try therapy to help his eye develop normally and achieve perfect vision.
We also feel appalled that there are actually mandatory eye checkups that are done in developed countries but not in Malaysia!
On Thursday we had the final eye checkup and the optometrist and eye doctor issued a prescription for spectacles.
They also provided a referral letter to see an orthoptists.
During checkup, the optometrist noticed that he kept repeating what she said so she also advises us to meet with a child psychiatrist as that's a symptom of Asperger syndrome.
Back home we did some research and everything that has ever happened makes sense now. We even did some online tests and quizzes and we are likely to be Aspies ourselves. Reading through a lot of materials from the Internet, we are convinced that our son is Aspie.
We are currently trying to get an appointment with the best doctor we can get, to get a real diagnosis and advice. However, from what we heard, waiting time is very long because there aren't many specialist here in Malaysia. We'll see who we can find.
This is our journey and it is going to be interesting. It's not going to be easy but we will go through this as a family.
- Abah