(This picture does not show the extent of his ptosis but you can get the idea. Either way he is STINKIN' cute!)
Somewhere in the middle of the holiday craziness, Gavin had a routine appointment with his Pediatric Opthamalogist. To bring the new readers up to speed with ptosis, you can read about our previous posts here and here. But in short, ptosis is an eye condition where a weak and/or longer muscle cannot pull the eyelid completely up. Gavin has been seeing Dr. Scott Larsen since birth and we highly recommend him to anyone. During the appointment, we received some good news and some bad news.
Bad news first, right? Gavin's eyelid has reached the peak of natural correction. Meaning external correction (surgery) will have to occur for the eyelid to improve anymore. A study was conducted that determined children start to get picked on from their eye deformities at the age of 4.2 exactly. Thus if we choose to get surgery, Dr. Larsen recommends it happen before this magical age.
Now for the good news. Despite the eyelid, Gavin's vision is great and has never been hindered by the ptosis. In fact, Gavin's vision has improved since birth and apparently that is rare for those with ptosis.
Surgery on little ones is tough, especially for the mothers. Up until this point, surgery was always for aesthetic reasons and would not be covered by insurance. However after this last appointment, surgery is now medically necessary at some point in his life and now magically covered. We have until his next appointment in June to decide the future. In fact, there are benefits to waiting a year just as there are benefits to having surgery this summer. Sean and I have to weigh out the options.
As we were leaving, Dr. Larsen made a profound statement about Gavin's personality. He noticed how ptosis has not slowed down our sweet boy at all. Nope! Gavin is energetic, spunky, smiley, and handsome. We adore Gavin and love every aspect of him.
