Cultured Views

I ask this because my son William, since he returned to Australia, has been to the doctor about his long term eye problem. Just briefly; he has always had what is called a squint in his right eye which means his eye can sometimes look a tiny bit turned inwards – but nothing that ever stood out too much enough to be that noticeable. You noticed it though if he sat for a photograph.

When he was five I took him to a specialist to enquire about surgery, or one of those eye patches which might have strengthened the eye muscle. But the doctor spelt out so many of the things that could go wrong during the surgery that I decided against it. He has lived with it and apart from the fact that he closes one eye to focus on something, say on the TV, it has never really bothered him. So I left it – I couldn’t bear the idea of the doctor botching up his lovely little face just to correct something which was basically cosmetic.

Okay, so a few weeks back during his Army medical it was picked up (the eye has been bothering him more of late) and he was sent off to a specialist where he was found to have kerataconus - which means the cornea is somewhat distorted. The treatment now is in the form of Lasik surgery and is done under local anaesthesia. But I’m still worried of course. The treatment is said to provide lifelong relief and results are 100% successful; if anyone out there has had personal experience of this treatment I would love to hear from you. Just to put a worried Mum out of her anxiety.

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