I'm just adding some recent photos. You can see that his eyes are not always symmetrical. He can open his left eye to better match his right eye, but only does so when reminded.

Update 5/27/15

Just an update 3 years post frontal is sling surgery. This sweet boy is looking good! 

Imperfection is Imperfectly Perfect

This March will mark two years since frontalis sling surgery and this handsome guy is doing great. We recently had a visit with his specialist and his lid is holding its position, his vision is perfect - all is as good, no great. This past fall we moved to a new state and my boys started a new school. I was worried sick that kids might make fun of Lane, might point at his eye, might ask questions about his eye (which makes him feel bad), might not accept him, and on and on. But there was never even one incident. He was accepted unconditionally. And it's not that his classmates didn't notice his eyelid. It's definitely noticeable. It's jut that they were able to look beyond it to see this friendly, shy, imaginative, caring, perfect little boy.

It's the last day of school and I'm thinking about how Lane has changed this year. All for the better. And his eyelid is holding strong since his last surgery. Now that he is 5-1/2 he will often open it "wide" for pictures which results in his eyebrow being up high, but it works and his eyes look fairly symmetrical. I paged through the photo book that his teacher sent home, and in many of the photos his left eye appears almost closed or fully closed, but that's just the way it is; especially photographing him from various angles. But in many of the photos his eyes look symmetrical and "normal". A few weeks ago, late one night when I thought my boys were fast asleep, Lane came into the family room where I was watching TV. He said, "Mom, we need to decide what I'm going to say when someone asks me what's wrong with my eye." (Apparently this had been weighing on him.) I said, "Okay, what do you want to say?" He replied, " I'm going to say that God made me this way". And with that he went back to bed.

Recent Photo

While I'm thinking about it, I am posting a recent photo. His eye (left eye) is looking good. As you can see, at the primary position (that is, looking straight ahead) his two eyes are almost symmetrical. Will post again soon.

3 months post-surgery pic

3 months post surgery. His left eye is the ptosis eye. Everything healed. Some scars remain above the brow.

Post Surgery Update

3 days post surgery

10 days post surgery

 

Lane had a second surgery on March 28, 2013 (4.5 years old). The method was the frontalis sling using fascia lata. As can be seen from the photos above, the surgery is being deemed successful at raising the lid so his vision is no longer obscured. In terms of the surgery itself, he was given general anesthesia and a local block to numb the area of the leg from which the fascia was harvested. The whole procedure took ~4 hours. When we got to him in the recovery area, he was still asleep. He slowly awoke, and wasn't too ornery as he came to awareness. His left eye was covered with a large bandage, as we knew it would be until the following day. His leg was sutured with a bandage as well. We stayed in the hospital an additional 1.5 hours, while he had some juice, goldfish, and popsicles. That night he was tired, but did not complain of any pain or discomfort. We carried him around due to the numbness and stiffness of his leg. We did give him Tylenol that night, and again the next morning, but nothing thereafter and he never had any pain whatsoever. The next morning we went back to the hospital to have the bandage over his eye removed. Upon removal, he was swollen, but not too badly, and had no bruising. We could not tell immediately if his lid was indeed raised due to the stitches (3 incision points over his brow) and swelling, but the doctor assured us that his looked as it should post-surgery and it should have a positive outcome in due time. They conducted a vision test on both eyes and his left eye's vision was equal to that of his right eye. We were given a topical antibiotic to place on his incision points and eye lids for the next ~10 days. Basically, we were told to wait and watch, and that it would take as long as 30 days to see the final result. That day, one day after surgery, his leg was still stiff so he limped a bit, but overall played and acted normally. His eye does not close completely when he is sleeping, but this has not been problematic in any way. He doesn't even notice. The stitches in his eye and leg are self-dissolving. We are now at 3 weeks post surgery, and the stitches in his eye have dissolved/fell out, and he has only one small scab left above his eye. The stitches in his leg are still present, and the tape covering them is just starting to fall off. In summary, so far so good! We are thankful!