Part I -Eye Checkup

Den went through an operation on Wed (9 Sept 2009) morning at 9am to correct her squint.

Since we found out about her squint and astigmatism, we got a lot of questions on how did we find out. It seems like it is not a command practice for parents in Malaysia to bring their young children for routine eye checks.

We wanted to bring Den for an eye check-up when she was 2 years old but did not know where to go to. I can't find a development optometrist. Finally got her to check her eye at a normal optometrist when she knew all her ABCs quite well. She was almost 3 years old. We did not suspect anything is amiss, just wanted to make sure. We did the same with dental check-ups. We brought her along whenever we went to the dentist so that the dentist can have a look at her teeth. So far she has no problem with her teeth.

I wished the same can be said about her eyes.

The optometrist told us that Den has astigmatism in both eyes (power 100) and suggested we get her a pair of glasses right away. We refused. We asked around and were told we should get her to an eye specialist, or an ophthalmologist.

After some research and recommendation from friends and relatives, we decided to bring her to Dr. Choong; for an eye check-up. Dr. Choong confirmed she has astigmatism and told us that 20% of Chinese kids are born with astigmatism. It is due to our eye sockets being too narrow and thus pushing our eyeballs to an oval shape (instead of round). Sometimes when the kid grows up, her eye sockets will grow deeper and astigmatism might disappear.

Dr. Choong thought it was not necessary for Den to wear glasses for the time being because the power was not too high and she was not in school yet. He asked us to come back for a check-up in 6 month time. He did not notice anything else was wrong with Den's eyes.

6 months later, in August 2009, we went back for a check-up. This time, the optometrist in Dr. Chong's clinic found out Den's right eye has no astigmatism but her left eye astigmatism power has increased to 200. She also saw a squint in her eyes.

Dr. Choong checked Den and told us that because of the squint, Den's brain was only using her right eye and not her left eye. In another word, she has no 3D vision and it was very hard for her to judge depth. He told us we need to get her glasses for her astigmatism and an operation for her squint as soon as possible so that her brain can relearn how to use both eyes. He also told us the operation can only tighten her eyeball muscle but no guarantee her brain would be able to use both eyes after the operation. Needless to say, we were shocked.

After we came home, I did some research on the internet and found out that maybe we should see an orthoptist for a second opinion. We are ok for her to go through an operation but very worried that what if after the operation her brain still refuses to use both eyes? It seems like there are lots of kids who went through multiple operations because after 1 operation, their brain still refused to use both eyes so after a while their eyes drifted apart again.

I searched for an orthoptist in Malaysia. Surprise! I can only find 2 orthoptist listings in Malaysia. One in KL and the other one in Sarawak! We called up Ms. Chu, the orthoptist in KL, and went for a check-up. It was very inconvenient. Her clinic is in Jln Ipoh and she doesn't take appointments. First come first serve only. She takes a long long time with her patients and so the wait can be rather tiring. Having said all that, we were so so glad we found her, it was well worth the afford.

Ms. Chu did a detailed checkup on Den's eye. It took her an hour. She drew up a chart to show us the exact degrees of her eyes have drifted apart. She also found out that Den was using two eyes when she was looking at something near and only her Right eye when looking at a distance which was a big relief for us.

She suggested we got her a pair of glasses as soon as possible and also do daily patching. At the same time, she agreed that surgery was the fastest way to correct her squint.

After much consideration, ST and I decided to opt for the operation. Follow up with therapy with Ms Chu if it is necessary.

It is very important to bring your kids for a routine eye check-up. We can never tell that Den has a squint from her appearance. In fact, most of our friends and relatives were very surprised. I will recommend Ms. Chu, the orthoptist for a routine checkup. This is her clinic address & detail:

Ms. KC Chu
K.C. Chu Orthoptic Centre
Unit 4c,
4th Floor Bangunana UMNO Selangor,
142 Jalan Ipoh,
51200 KL

Tel:03-40424220
Email: chukc@tm.net.com

Opening hour:
Mon, Thurs, Fri 9-5
Tues & Wed 9-1
Sat 8-11

She specializes in:
Visual assessment - screening & general orthoptics
Squint
Lazy eye
Double vision