Update 2015 with Video

I feel like in pictures, Danny's eyes look even. When he's looking around it when the ptosis is noticeable. Ignore the randomness of the video and just watch is eyes (if you are curious, he is trying Rattlesnake at Rustlers Rooste in Phoenix, AZ and says it tastes like chicken nuggets).

At our latest eye appointment his vision was not as clear in the ptosis eye. The doctor suspected it was from his eye getting dried out while sleeping so he had us use Refresh PM ointment in his eye at bedtime. It was a little easier to use with a six-year-old, but he still didn't like it. I mostly would just go into his room when he was already asleep, before I went to bed, and put some in his eye. The doctor rechecked his eyes two months later and his vision was again perfect. I have not been diligent about giving him the ointment every night since because I know that if his eye starts to get dry we can just moisten it again without a problem (He just told me his eye was starting to feel dry so I better start using it again).

Here are some pictures too:

His eyes while sleeping

I haven't updated in a while. Danny is now almost 6. We were original told he'd have his next surgery before kindergarten but the last time we went to the ophthalmologist he said it wasn't affecting his vision yet so we decided to wait.

I didn't realize it had been so long since I've updated! We moved to Arizona a couple years ago and part of the reason we put off the surgery is because I don't know about a surgeon here and I really liked the results with our surgeon in Utah and I trust him. I'm considering traveling back there for the surgery but haven't decided yet.

I get a lot of questions about his eye when he sleeps so here is a picture. He's never had any dry eye or vision issues.

One Year Post-Op (2nd Time Around)

Thought it was about time to post more pictures. Danny is now 3 years old. It has been a year since his second surgery and things are looking great. He still has no vision problems. We had a check-up with the surgeon last month. He said things are working good and that we should come back in another year.

Most of the time, his eyelid looks fine. When he is looking straight ahead, the only noticeable difference is the crease in his eyelid (which is missing on his ptosis eye). When he looks up, the non-ptosis eye is open wider. When he looks down the ptosis eye is open wider.

Danny's favorite silly face to make is one where he closes his ptosis eye and screws up his face, so in most of my pictures is eyelid looks extreme, but it's not. I asked him if his eye ever bothers him and his looked at me really confused and shook his head no. Sometimes I get people asking me about it. Most of the time they assume he just bonked it or something. If kids ask me about it, I tell them that he was born with it almost all the way closed and had to have surgery to get it open, so now it looks a little different. At home we don't make it a big deal. We joke about his silly eyelid sometimes. Today we were looking at newborn pictures and Danny said, "It's Pirate Dan!" Hopefully he will be able to continue that carefree attitude about himself.

So for these pictures I took 2 from the same day and tried to put them side by side so you can see how different his eye can look on the same day.

Sleeping Eyes

I get a lot of questions about how much Danny's eye is open when he is asleep and how often I put in ointment. First off, I only put the "Refresh PM" in his eyes for a week or 2 after surgery. He is now one year out from his second surgery. Second, he amount his eye is open varies but usually is is probably more than halfway closed. In the car (or if he is asleep sitting up for some other reason) his eye is open pretty wide. In the car the other day he fell asleep so I decided to snap a quick picture to show you all:


Don't freak out if you haven't had the surgery done yet. This is really extreme and it usually isn't open this wide, but sometimes it is. And I don't use ointment and he has never had any dry eye problems. It's not something that ever bothers him. Here is the awake picture just after so you can see how normal (although spacey) his eyes can look when awake even if they look like this when asleep:

Post-Op Appointment

There is really not much to report here. The surgeon looked at him for a few seconds and said he looks good. He said one of the ways you can tell the surgery worked in that when they look down the sling will pull that eye open more. He also said at this point it is not necessary to continue with the ointment (which I haven't been doing anyway). But the surgeon says that even though his eyelid is slightly open when he sleeps, it is shut enough to protect the eye and keep it moist.

Danny doesn't complain about his eye at all. He can shut it just fine. He does have some scars because he wouldn't stop picking at his scabs, but they are very small. They eyelids look pretty even most of the time. But he does have some faces where you can really see a difference. This is a picture of him doing a downward gaze, which is when the difference is most noticeable.

Recovery Progession Pictures

Here is a day-by-day progression of Danny's recovery. He is making silly faces in a lot of the pictures because it is hard to take pictures of a busy two-year-old boy.

Sept 29th-Before Surgery

Sept 29th-After Surgery

Sept 30th


Oct 1st

This one is Oct 2nd while his was asleep. I'd tried to do other sleeping ones but he usually gets mad and squeezes his eye shut. It acually is a little more closed than this now.

Oct 2nd

Oct 3rd

Oct 4th

Oct 5th

Oct 6th

also Oct 6th. You can see how the face he is making or the position he is in makes a difference to how his eye looks.

Oct 10th

Most of the time his eyes look pretty even. When he is looking certain directions or making certain faces it is more obvious that they are not exactly the same. We have the post-op appointment with the surgeon just before Thanksgiving. I'll update again after that.

Recovery...First Days

So first let me answer the questions that I get asked most often.

Danny CAN and does close his eye. I was watching him while I was reading to him tonight and when he blinks, his right eye, the ptosis eye, only flinches. It doesn't blink along with the other one. But when he went to close his eyes to sleep, he shut it just fine. It looks like he raises the bottom lid up to close the gap.

As far as symmetry goes, it is too early to tell how even they are because of swelling. I'll keep you updated.

Danny slept from about 11am on the car ride home from the hospital until 3pm when I went to give him Tylenol with Codeine. He slept well except for a couple times where he would whine for a few seconds. He didn't really want to wake up at first, but when he did he was happy. The swelling had increased a lot. This picture is from just after he woke up:At 3:30pm I gave him Amoxicillin and ointment on his stitches. He ate a slice of bread and relaxed and watched TV for an hour. Then he decided it was time to play. He gave me his pacifier and sippy cup, then started acting like a normal two year old. Around 6pm he had mac & cheese for dinner, had some Motrin after complaining about his eye a little, then relaxed in front of the TV. He was really tired. Just before 7pm I put him to bed. He felt a little warm and may have had a slight fever. A little after 7pm, he came wandering out of his room. I was able to give him the Amoxicillin and ointment that I had forgotten earlier. But then he decided he wanted to sit with me at watch Mickey Mouse Club house for a couple hours. At 9pm I have him Tylenol with Codeine and put him to bed. When he went to bed the surgical tape was off of one of his incision. This picture was him just before he want to bed (wearing Dad's socks):


Danny woke up around 7am. He woke up happy had feeling fine. I gave him Amoxicillin but no pain killers. He looked a little less swollen and all the surgical tape was gone from his incisions. This picture was taken just after he woke up so his eyes look a little sleepy still:

This picture was around 9am:

At 10am we went to Chick-Fil-A with a friend. Danny acted just like himself, playing on the climbing toys and sliding down the slides. Right before we left, around 11:30a, he complained about his eye hurting so I gave him Motrin. But I think what may have happen is that he wiped a sanitizing wipe over the incisions and the alcohol stung the wounds.

When we got home he had more Amoxicillin and tomato soup for lunch. So after lunch, since he was covered in soup, a little dirty from playing, and still a little gross still from the surgery, I decided it was time for a bath. I was a little nervous, but it was no big deals. We washed like normal and, since he refuses to tilt his head back when I rinse his hair, he had water running down his face. He was able to squeeze his eye shut just fine and I lightly blotted the surgical area dry. These pictures were just after his bath:

We went for a walk around 6pm, and he was still doing great. The swelling had gone down a lot, but it is obviously still swollen on his eyelid. I think that is taking longer because they took out the fatty tissue and made a longer incision there.

He went to bed following his normal routine, except with Amoxicillin and ointment. This surgery has not affected his personality at all and I don't think his eye is even really bothering him.