Kennedy

Kennedy was a beautiful, rambunctious, loving toddler - and one who seemed normal in every way. So, when relatives mentioned to her parents that one of Kennedy’s eyes seemed crossed, they didn’t think much of it.

But those comments began to bother them. When Kennedy’s mom, Terry, took her daughter to her next checkup, she casually mentioned something to the doctor. After a close exam, three-year-old Kennedy was referred to the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center.

What U-M’s pediatric ophthalmologists (children’s eye doctors) discovered shocked Terry. Kennedy was basically blind in one eye, and had very poor vision in the other. In order for her to see something that most of us can see 300 feet away, she needed to be within three feet of it!

“When they showed me how little Kennedy could actually see, I broke down in tears,” said Terry. “She could hardly see even the big ‘E’ on the eye chart.”

Kennedy’s pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. Erika Levin, diagnosed Kennedy with two conditions, amblyopia and strabismus.

Amblyopia is poor vision that occurs in an otherwise healthy eye. Problems occur when the brain ignores images seen by that eye, typically when the eyes are misaligned or have unusual problems with the way light passes through them (called refractive errors).

In strabismus, a misalignment of the eyes, the eye wanders, appearing to “cross” or “drift out.” In Kennedy’s case, her eye wandered because severe farsightedness in one eye caused amblyopia. In other words, she wasn’t really using it - so it had no incentive to stay straight.

Kennedy was fitted with glasses to correct her farsightedness and crossed eyes. Dr. Levin also prescribed an eye patch on her stronger eye, so that her brain could be retrained to use the weak eye. In the early stages, she had to wear her eye patch 8 to 10 hours a day.

This was a difficult treatment, Terry recalls. With a patch over her good eye - her only source of sight - Kennedy was severely visually impaired for a while.

But looking back now, she knows the results were well worth it. Because Kennedy’s condition was caught early, she and her parents were able to start seeing results literally in a week.

Dr. Levin explains, “In early childhood, the brain is still flexible, making it possible to treat amblyopia. Children diagnosed before age 7 typically have the best results. However, a lot of the credit for the success in this case goes to Kennedy and her parents, because it is hard to keep the patch on a small child.”

The Kellogg pediatric eye specialists treat hundreds of children like Kennedy each year, taking care of complex vision problems and even eye cancers. It’s part of what makes Kellogg one of the nation’s best eye centers - for both children and adults.

Kennedy continued her eye patch therapy for two and a half years, gradually decreasing the amount of time she wore it each day. Now at seven years old, Kennedy has 20/25 vision in her previously blind eye.

Even though she’s already been through a lot in her life, Kennedy has only good things to say about her experience, “The doctors are really nice. The eye patch is good…it looks nice.”

And her advice for any other kids who find themselves in a similar situation? “Wear your patch…it’ll make your eyes get better."