Entropion Surgery

Reese had surgery to repair her entropion (her eyelid rolling in and rubbing against her eye) was today. They were running behind so her surgery happened later than intended. They did give her some morphine. But at the moment, she is sitting in front of me playing on Dad's iPhone. She might actually be more lively than my mom who has been working outside in the heat 6 out of 7 days. You can see a small dark line under her eye where they removed some tissue to make the eyelid roll out appropriately. She's upset because you can see it, and there are stitches. We told her give it a little bit, and you won't even be able to see it. I also offered her eyeliner if she decided her other eye needed to match. It largely looks, to me, like she has dark eyeliner on her lower lid. I think this will be good for preventing further scarring to her cornea though. She has a follow-up appointment Tuesday, but if everything looks fine, she doesn't need to go. She'll see the doctor again in 6 weeks for a follow-up regardless.

Another Surgery

Reese has what is called Entropion. Entropion is a medical condition in which the eyelid (usually the lower lid) folds inward. It is very uncomfortable, as the eyelashes constantly rub against the cornea. Entropion is usually caused by genetic factors and may be congenital. It's on her lower eyelid on her right eye (the eye with glaucoma). It could be just congenital or it could have some relation to her eye having been bulging at one point due to the glaucoma. 

Diagram from St. Michael's Eye and Laser Institute

Fact of the matter is, she's having it repaired on August 9. The doctor said it could not cause any problems at all, ever, but the eye is irritated and as you get older, your eyelashes get thicker which can cause that to get more irritating and potentially lead to eye infections (nothing we want). Admittedly, she has little sight in that eye, but we don't want more complications from it either.


They did a bit of a vision test on her today that showed, despite what Reese may tell you she can see, she has light perception and is extremely near-sighted in her right eye. Try near-sighted like can't tell you how many finger are being held up less than a foot away from her face. They patched her good eye, so I figure this is a way more accurate assessment of what she can see than the random covering of her eye that she does at home. Her right eye is also a bit dry so we need to start doing artificial tears in her eye in addition to the Xalatan (1x daily), Betoptic, and Azopt (both 2x daily).


I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on in the world of Reese, as well as for anyone who is experiencing entropion themselves. I'll post more about the surgery and all when it gets to that point.

Laser Treatment

Reese had another laser treatment this morning. According to my mom, the first 30 minutes after she came out from under anasthesia were hell. They didn't give her morphine while in the OR this time (they did last time), so she was in a fair bit of pain afterward. So this is pretty much the face of pitiful. I think this is something like her 14th laser treatment on her face.

Seeing as she's 6 now, I won't be taking pictures simply for updates' sake. If I happen to take a picture of her for other reasons, and post it, that's one thing, but she gets kind of self-conscious after her laser treatments. Understandably. It's rough for her, and little kids tend to ask questions, at best.

If you have a child with a birthmark, or are thinking of adopting a child with a birthmark, I am more than happy to speak with you. We've had Reese for almost 4 years now, so we're not exactly newbies to the whole thing. :) Most of her older laser treatments have pretty regular pictures showing how she healed up afterward. Keeping in mind that all children heal differently, those pictures are available as a resource. Also keeping in mind that her legs usually reacted really badly to laser, and that's not standard. However, if you have a child who is not Caucasian, I believe that possibility goes up for blistering and somewhat adverse reactions, as well as less lightening. The melanin reacts with the lasers in ways so that it doesn't always work quite so well as it does on paler children.  These lasers are technically made for Caucasian people, not those who are darker, but it's what we've got.

Last night, we also had a good amount of bad weather. Lots of power lines down, lots of trees down, and currently 7 fatalities in our state, all except one from trees falling on houses. The last one was a double-wide trailer that flipped over. We're all fine, as is all of our family. Bad weather and tornadoes are extremely commonplace in Arkansas at this time of the year. So, yeah, lots of excitement for the next 5-6 months or so.

Reese's 10th Laser

Reese had her 10th laser treatment on her face yesterday. And her 3rd on her right leg. We've also decided it's going to be at least 6 months before we do another laser treatment, because some spots on her are becoming hyperpigmented (not a good thing). So they're going to go 6 months and see if that's faded any. If not, it may be Christmas-ish before we do another.

As expected, Reese didn't want to go to Children's. What kid would? She was also quite unhappy that she couldn't have her sippy cup. Mom forced her to drink about 4 oz. of apple juice, despite the fact she didn't want to, because she knew things would be better if she had at least something in her stomach. Since Reese is 4 now, she's not first in line for procedures any more. So we had to be there at 10 am, procedure at 12. She couldn't have anything to drink after 9 am (sprite, water, or apple juice, up to 8 oz. from midnight to 9 am). We got there at 10:05, and went back at roughly 10:30, and we stayed in the playroom in ambulatory surgery for roughly 30 minutes. We were put in a room at about 11, and started getting Reese into her pajamas that they gave her, along with the no-slip socks they give her that are waaaaay too big. She has little feet, about a size 8, 8.5.

We played around in there as people came in to talk, to take vitals, etc. Standard laser treatment stuff. And of course, Reese had no interest whatsoever in having this laser treatment. Who can blame her, honestly. She knows what's coming. She didn't want Mom to leave her. And we tried to get them to let us be in recovery before she wakes up, but that didn't happen.

They gave her some tylenol before she went back, hoping it would help ease the pain when she came out, and some fentenol (sp?) before she came to. And she still complained of it hurting when she came out. And by complain, I mean screaming 'ow' repeatedly and holding her leg and face. She complained of being hot, but that's not exactly unusual I wouldn't think when you've basically been burned.

After we left the hospital, we went across the river to get Reese's tylenol 3 with codeine for her pain, and then we went to Arby's. Reese didn't want anything from there, but as we went to McDonald's to get her a Happy Meal, she helped me with my curly fries, which she never eats. So yeah, she was hungry. She also ate all 4 of her chicken nuggets.

We've kept her on Tylenol 3 since then, every 3.5- 4 hours, and we'll continue that for another day or so. It may be Monday, or it may be Tuesday, before she returns to school.

Today, she's eaten everything in sight, lol. 2 sippy cups, a big bowl of cereal, 2 popsicles, half a can of chicken noodle soup, a glass of apple juice, and a boiled egg. I think I have a 16 year old little brother, not a 4 year old little sister. :D