Pediatric Eye Doctors at Our Ophthalmology Center in Bay Ridge

Ophthalmology Associates of Bay Ridge is proud to offer specialized care for children by our pediatric ophthalmologists. Our doctors screen for amblyopia, or lazy eye, and also for eye alignment abnormalities. Amblyopia is a common (affecting 2-3% of children) but serious condition in which one eye develops good vision while the second eye does not. Amblyopia can cause permanent vision loss in the lazy eye if it is not treated in infancy or early childhood. Amblyopia can be caused by:

• strabismus, or misaligned eyes.
• anisometropia, or unequal focus between the eyes.
• cloudiness in normally clear eye tissues, such as cataracts.

Directions to Ophthalmology Associates of Bay Ridge for your pediatric ophthalmologist appointment

Amblyopia and eye alignment problems can frequently be corrected with proper treatment, including dispensing eyeglasses, eye-patching, and sometimes eye muscle surgery. Our pediatric eye doctors will discuss which treatment is most appropriate for your child.

Eye Muscle Surgery Performed By Our Pediatric Ophthalmologists

Eye muscle surgery, or strabismus surgery, is performed when the eyes are misaligned. The medical term for crossed or misaligned eyes is strabismus. When the eyes are turned in, the condition is known as esotropia. When the eyes are turned out, the condition is known as exotropia. Sometimes, the eyes are misaligned vertically (hypertropia or hypotropia). If your pediatric ophthalmologist finds evidence of strabismus, the first step will be to determine if eyeglasses can correct the misalignment. If eyeglasses do not help, your peditaric eye doctor may recommend eye muscle surgery.

Eye muscle surgery is performed in an operating facility under general anesthesia (your child is totally asleep during the procedure). The procedure lasts approximately one hour. Your pediatric ophthalmologist will usually operate on both eyes at the same time. The eye muscles have attachments to the outer portion of the eyeball. Your pediatric eye doctor will usually choose one muscle on each eye to loosen (move the attachment back) or tighten (remove some muscle tissue to shorten the muscle). When the muscle attachments are moved, the effect is to realign the eyes. The recovery from the procedure is rapid, and children are usually completely pain-free after a few days.

Concerned about eye muscle surgery for your child? Contact our pediatric eye doctors for a consultation that will put your fears to rest

Ophthalmology Associates of Bay Ridge recommends an eye examination for all children prior to entering school to determine if there are any vision problems that may interfere with the ability to learn at school. Below are some of the tests that will be carried out by our pediatric ophthalmologists:

• vision without glasses and with any current eyeglasses.
• refraction (determining changes in the eyeglass prescription).
• test of stereo vision (the ability of both eyes to work together to see 3-dimensionally).
• test of color vision.
• evaluation of eye muscle alignment to look for crossed eyes.
• full eye examination, included dilation of the pupils to see the back of the eye.