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[amygwen]

That's pretty neat. My son has had about 6 or so eye exams, and won't need another one until July (he'll be over 6 months though). I HATE them. He screamed every time, and it looked absolutely horrible.

Oh nooo. Why'd he need so many eye exams so young?

 

[Srrme]

That's pretty neat. My son has had about 6 or so eye exams, and won't need another one until July (he'll be over 6 months though). I HATE them. He screamed every time, and it looked absolutely horrible.

Oh nooo. Why'd he need so many eye exams so young?

Because he was born premature, and was at risk for developing ROP (luckily, he didn't!). While he was in the NICU he got one every 2 weeks, and 2 more after he came home. I'm not sure if they're similar to a normal eye exam though? They would spread his eye open with a metal gadget, and place another spoon looking object on the side of his eyes to move them around. It was the worst thing I had ever seen.

 

[x__amour]

That's pretty neat. My son has had about 6 or so eye exams, and won't need another one until July (he'll be over 6 months though). I HATE them. He screamed every time, and it looked absolutely horrible.

Oh nooo. Why'd he need so many eye exams so young?

Because he was born premature, and was at risk for developing ROP (luckily, he didn't!). While he was in the NICU he got one every 2 weeks, and 2 more after he came home. I'm not sure if they're similar to a normal eye exam though? They would spread his eye open with a metal gadget, and place another spoon looking object on the side of his eyes to move them around. It was the worst thing I had ever seen.

So sorry, Krysty.
What's ROP?

 

[Srrme]

That's pretty neat. My son has had about 6 or so eye exams, and won't need another one until July (he'll be over 6 months though). I HATE them. He screamed every time, and it looked absolutely horrible.

Oh nooo. Why'd he need so many eye exams so young?

Because he was born premature, and was at risk for developing ROP (luckily, he didn't!). While he was in the NICU he got one every 2 weeks, and 2 more after he came home. I'm not sure if they're similar to a normal eye exam though? They would spread his eye open with a metal gadget, and place another spoon looking object on the side of his eyes to move them around. It was the worst thing I had ever seen.

So sorry, Krysty.
What's ROP?

ROP stands for Retinopathy of Prematurity.

A disease that occurs in some premature babies, Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), also known as Retrolental Fibroplasia, is the growth of abnormal blood vessels in the retina that generally begins during the first few days of life and may progress rapidly to blindness over a period of weeks. This happens because the eye is rapidly developing during gestational weeks 28-40. The blood supply to the retina starts at the optic nerve at about 16 weeks and blood vessels grow out from there toward the edges of the retina until the time of birth. When a baby is born prematurely, this normal vessel growth stops and new abnormal vessels begin to grow. Over time this vessel growth produces a fibrous scar tissue which attaches to the retina and the vitreous gel that gives the eyeball its shape. This ring may extend 360 degrees around the inside of the eye. If enough scar tissue forms, it can begin to pull the retina, detaching it, and, in some cases,causing blindness.

 

[amygwen]

That's pretty neat. My son has had about 6 or so eye exams, and won't need another one until July (he'll be over 6 months though). I HATE them. He screamed every time, and it looked absolutely horrible.

Oh nooo. Why'd he need so many eye exams so young?

Because he was born premature, and was at risk for developing ROP (luckily, he didn't!). While he was in the NICU he got one every 2 weeks, and 2 more after he came home. I'm not sure if they're similar to a normal eye exam though? They would spread his eye open with a metal gadget, and place another spoon looking object on the side of his eyes to move them around. It was the worst thing I had ever seen.

aw that sounds horrible. I bet that is scary to see, that's not a 'normal' eye exam though. Usually all they do is shine lights in their eyes and than dialate them to see if there are any problems, but that must've been horrible to see. poor little man! I'm glad he doesn't have ROP though