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 and Glaucoma

Reese and Mom in the suit she has to wear to bring Reese back into the OR (pre-laser)

Reese had another laser treatment on January 27. It was a real breakthrough procedure for us. Perhaps sadly, it was the first time my mom hasn't walked into recovery to Reese screaming bloody murder (don't let anyone tell you laser treatments don't hurt). Apparently, this time the appropriate amount of painkillers was used. If I remember right, she got 2 hits of morphine, plus Tylenol 3 to take home. Reese is 7 now, and more self-conscious, so I no longer post pictures of her soon after her laser just for the sake of posting them to show. If I had taken pictures for some other reason, that would be one thing.

We also had a bit of a scare with her glaucoma. The pressure in her eye was pretty high just before her laser, and so we really hit the eye drops, making sure to get them in as often as was prescribed (Reese is on 3 different ones). If the eye drops didn't work, we were looking at a daily pill to try to control her glaucoma, and if the pill didn't work...we were looking at surgery. She had 2 surgeries for glaucoma in China before she came home at 2.5 years, and thus far they have held up. They checked her pressure under anasthesia during her laser and it was in that grey area between normal and elevated. In the office a few weeks later, she was reading as normal. The doctor is content with where we're at right now. Reese has a thickened cornea and some scarring, so the doctor didn't really want to do surgery until it was absolutely necessary, and right now (and hopefully for a long time), it's just not necessary.

Reese has also gotten much better at riding her bike. She got her training wheels removed in November-ish, and in early January we got her a new bike as a belated Christmas present (pictured here is her new bike and Dad). She's doing very well with it.

She did however bring up the fact that on Reese's right eye, the bottom eyelash is rolled up and rubbing against her eye. We'd noticed this since we got her, but no optometrist or opthalmologist had mentioned it until now. Basically her eyelashes are parallel to her eyeball and rubbing against it. We're not sure how that's not uncomfortable, but it's all she's ever known. So we're looking at possibly surgery someday for that.