Thursday, May 13, 2010

Wonky Eye Mystery: SOLVED

Phew!  I thought I was going crazy after going to my physician, getting a battery of x-rays to see if sinus problems were causing the "Wonky Eye" syndrome I reported here a few weeks ago.

The x-rays and medical exam resulted in a "see your optometrist" recommendation by my doctor.  She couldn't find anything and the x-rays showed no sinus problems.

So, today I hit the eyedoctor and am really glad.  Not only was my problem identified, but it's not serious at all.  If you knew me, you'd know I hit the internet searching for all sorts of diagnoses, from nasal polyps to brain tumor.  Instead, Dr. Trapeni, my adorable and great-hearted eye-doctor identified it as "Convergence Insufficiency."  Basically, it's a weakness of the muscles of my left eye resulting in the eye having difficulty to align and focus once I shift my gaze from one visual field to another.  Read more about it here.  He recommended a few simple vision exercises to help strengthen the muscles which I'll definitely do. 

Interestingly, this can be a cause of pediatric and adolescent poor school performance for, even if a child has 20-20 vision, this disorder can cause major problems in trying to focus on and read academic materials. 

So anyway, there I am.  Not a hypochondriac, or victim of brain tumor.  I have weak eye muscles and it's an easy fix.  Phew!  

1 comment:

Melissa Dalton, Hot Springs, AR said...

I had a similar thing! Glad to hear it's easily remedied. Love your paintings and blog. keep it up