Leila was diagnosed with Congenital Esotropia and patches - but it doesn't stop her playing!

Leila was diagnosed with Congenital Esotropia when she was 6 months old, by her ophthalmologist Dr Paul Giles. I had noticed that Leila had a very obvious lazy eye and so after eye dilation and testing, this was confirmed. We were referred to a paediatric professor of ophthalmology at the RCH Melbourne, where surgery was recommended. Leila had to patch for each day for three months prior to her bilateral squint surgery at 13 months of age.

Leila has coped well with the whole treatment

Leila has coped so well with the whole treatment, even when it required a lot of travel from our home in Wodonga to the hospital in Melbourne for our appoints prior to and following the surgery. Kids do ask and stare at Leila when she’s patching, but it’s more so from adults. It doesn’t seem to bother her too much - I find that harder than her I think.

We do three hours of patching each morning

Now at age three her eye has turned out and she gets obvious DVD when tired. We’re going to be patching for another year and will continue to have vision testing each year, most likely until age 6. We do three hours of patching each morning. Leila’s esotropia hasn't stopped her physical development – she crawled at 5 months and walked at 11 months – but sometimes she cannot see well out of left eye if she’s not patched. Her peripheral vision is slightly affected but no glasses are needed yet.

Leila loves to play!

Leila likes yellow patches for Emma Wiggle. Some days she won't put it on so easily. Other days she reminds me. She loves to play in the sandpit, scooter riding, jumping on the trampoline, looking and reading books and playing playdough indoors.