Young fella and KC

[GarethB]

Unfortunatly is is not just down the the pH of tears (measure of acidity/alkalinity).

The tears are made of three major components;

Saline
Lipids
Surfactant

A deficiency in one of these can cause eye irritation. The less vicous tears generally make up a saline deficiency, the more viscous one make up for the Lipis of surfactant layers.

Unfortunatly no artificial tears compensate for all three, usually just one component, two in some cases.

The white glob that collects in my eye is teh lipid layer as I am deficient in the surfactant needed to make the lipids flow in the saline aqueous tears.

Manufacturers of these drops usually call the artificial tears when in our situation we want to know what tear component they are mimicing which is why we get the trial and error.

[rosemary johnson]

Hmmmmmm!
I agree certainly with the suggestiont hat the key is to find out why the urge to rub the eyes, and IF (IF!) that's a problem, deal with the root problem.
Is it to do with the eczema? - if so, it probably needs to be dealt with as part of treating eczema overall.
Is he getting dehydrated? - could he be encouraged to drink more water and less coke?
Do the drops actually do any good?? - for any length of time?
If they do actually work, and he feels better for them, then he may be better putting them in himself. SUggestion: get him doing it in front of the mirror, and concentrate on looking at the image in the mirror, and *not*! at the dropper approaching.
If they don't, or only work very short-term, having a fight over them won't be worth it!
I absolutely agree with the people who've said that eye-rubbing is a symptom - or a symptom of a symptom.
I've also had parents a) telling me not to screw my eyes up b) telling me not to rub my eyes and c) trying to get me to let them put drops in my eyes. None, NONE!! of these did any good (the drops had been prescribed by a GP who had misdiagnosed the arrival of hay fever in a new contact lens wearer and were thus totally useless anyway!) - and only stirred up a lot of resentment against my parents, not to mention contempt. Please don't make eyes into abattle ground.
Everyone's eyes do get a bit tired and even dry and itchy at times, and everyone (well, nearly everyone!) rubs their eyes from time to time. ANd lots of us get other bits of us tired and like to give the bits a rub. Foot massage after a sponsored walk, anyone?
If he's complaining of sore eyes, and still doesn't want the drops, is there a better solution? - as above or other, anything from the old chestnut of sitting with a cold used tea bag over closed eyelids to a towelling headband when he's running about to stop sweat running down his face and pricking his eyes.....
Rosemary

[Prue B]

Damien, have you had your sons eyes checked by an optometrist (as first point of call) and if you feel the need get a referral to a pediatric opthalmologist. I can give you the name of my daughters if you wish.

My son started squinting at 4. I took him to my optometrist and he had an astigmatism and needs glasses, he is 7 now. My other 2 I thought saw well, until I took my youngest for her 3 and a half year check with the infant welfare nurse and discovered she could not see the little letters at all after getting all the bigger ones right. So we went to the optometrist and I saw one of the newer ones there. He checked her over and told me she had an astigmatism, not to worry it looked regular, but with my history to take her to a po. Well I said I knew someone and he said not a normal opthal a po, I said she is. Now they use her all the time.
So I figured if Catherine needed to see a Po, my oldest should as well because he had an astigmatism and the same family history. So we toddled off. It was when we saw the po I learnt that optometrists lie, her so called regular astigmatism had them all mightily interested. The letter he had sent told her he had real concerns about my babies sight and eyes. Well the outcome was Nat, my eldest has a steep but regular astigmatism able to be corrected to 6/6. Catherine had astigmatic amblyopia (this has since been corrected with patches) and an oblique astigmatism which is rare in children, but a comman sign of early KC, and her astigmatism is irregular. Oh joy. The po said "If you ask my gut, Nathaniel has a regular astigmatism that will not develop into cones, and Catherine has cones" She also went on to say that maybe KC was a girl thing in our family. She had a check up recently and her po is very happy. Her amblyopia is better and she is seeing 6/18 L, and 6/24 R.corrected which is apparently a huge improvement.
I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be told I had a child with KC, before they were old enough for me to explain it to them. At the moment we are mucking around with her glasses with another appt in 3 months to play with axis' and try and get her to 6/12, if we cant do that in 12 months we have to go back. Then I guess we need to really look at things. They have used a keratameter on her, but she is too young for mapping etc. She is a bit of a fidget.
Damien this story is not to scare you, but to let you know even us with the most extreme levels of optometric knowledge as patients, leading to paranoia (in my case anyway) of all things eye and sight related can be thrown for a loop and miss things. I thought Catherine saw well. She did not squint. She just fell over a lot, but with 2 older brothers to keep up to I thought that was normal. Since discovering her issue, the things I have noticed make me think I am an evil woman who should not have born children. She was excited to see a train from the car, it was a row of silos. She mistook the little desert for a mountain. We were driving down into it so you saw a line of trees and the desert behind it on the horizon. She is confident and cheeky, and I am loathe to try and dampen that because I realise she may need every shred of confidence in the future. As a result she possibly gets away with more than she should, but any eye treatments, patching glasses etc are non negotiable.
My middle son has perfect eye sight. He is 6 but still needs annual eye checks due to my history. So if you have KC and a child it is a good eye dear to head to the optometrists annually and set your mind at rest.

[Damien W]

Hi all,
A, (AKA - the young fella) doesn't really suffer from his xma (gee I'm a lazy spella) too much now adays. He had a small bout this summer when we moved from Hobart (Tas) to Bendigo at Xmas, but other than that he hasn't had a bout since Dec 2003 (when we moved to Hobart). So I'd like to think that xma may not be the root cause (I've got an appointment to check tho).

Dehydration. I don't think he would be getting dehydrated as I said in another thread I am big on hydration. Both our boys get a litre bottle for school every day (which has to be gone before dinner) filled with water and cordial to taste and the school is good as well, allowing ALL kids to keep a water bottle on their table which they are reminded to drink throughout the day. Our boys arn't allowed to drink softies (like coke etc) as a normal drink. They might get a glass once every 2 -3 days with dinner IF and only IF they have finished their water bottles (I use it as a treat, but really I am trying to instill the good practice of drinking water)

The drops. They do work and they work well. Once they go in his eyes he is rub free for the rest of the day, and usually for the next 2 -3 days even longer. It seams like he only rubs every now and then and when the humidity is low (<20% I've found).

Thanks for the suggestion for how to teach him to use the drops Rosemary, I'll give it a try. When I started I just 'dove in'

Yes we have had our boys' eyes checked, but only by the school and annual heath checks, but it can't hurt to check again.
Is the PO you use in Bendigo Prue?
I'd like the name/number anyway if that's OK.

Both the boys see better than me (that's not hard) and sometimes better than mum (6/6 in both eyes)
We often get the
"look at the goanna in the tree" (we are bush kinda people - I grew up in Arnhem Land NT) when out bush for a walk etc. and they read books at the 'normal' distance (slightly bent arm)

I think I'll check tho.

Don't know how C (the other young fella) will go with a proper eye test as he has ADHD (but that's another story)

Thanks to all for the support and info,
It is great.

Damien