I would love to hear from any medical professionals or parents with similar experiences.
My son is 3 1/2 and has strabismus (sorry if mispelled). His ophthalmologist is treating with patch therapy which we have been doing for about 9 months. It seems to be getting worse or at best staying the same. The doctor says he has good control in that when the weak eye turns out he is able to refocus it and that he is able to read well. She said that he will never have full control over the eye and it will always turn outward at times but that the point of therapy is to strengthen the muscles so he can control it enough for it to not be constantly misaligned. I do not agree. My brother and I both had "lazy eyes" as children. Mine self-corrected, my brother's required glasses for a few years but both were completely corrected. Is there a more aggressive, or more successful approach?
Also my daughter, 19 months, has always rubbed her eyes a lot. We believe she has seasonal allergies and usually attribute it to itchy allergy eyes. However, she has recently started scrunching her hose and blinking hard and slow very frequently. Does anyone have any ideas what that could be?
I really appreciate any information that anyone may have.
Thanks so much.

My son now 25, had a lazy eye and it was operated on twice when he was 4 and 6. It couldn't be corrected the conventional way, as you say, with a patch. To this day when he gets tired it still turns a tiny bit. I think your doctor is correct and she is doing the best she can but perhaps you should ask her about the surgery.

Your l9 months old, sounds like she is having trouble focusing, therefore the scrunching up her nose and rubbing her eyes. Still too early to have her eyes tested though, although you could ask the doctor about that as well.

My son's eye was going crazy out of control when he was 6 months. He had two surgerys on it by the time he was 20 months. But his was extreme and nothing else would correct it.
I would give the doc a chance to correct it with the things she is trying first.

Doctors prefer to try and treat strabismus with the least possible invasive procedures first. Sometimes it can take upwards of a year for this form of therapy to be effective.

I do believe your doctor is doing the right thing at this point in time. It would be better to try and correct it this way than to find out later that surgery was not necessary.

**EDIT**

As for your daughter, it does sound as though she is suffering from allergies, and possibly dry eyes. Check with your pediatrician to be sure.