shunt and vision?

[kriserin]

Hi everyone,
I have a six year old son who just got his first shunt (cystoperitoneal) this summer. I got the opportunity to observe his class this week, and his reading teacher said that she is concerned about his vision. She thinks that he is only reading with his left eye, and she said that he sometimes even skips the entire page on the right. He has an occupational therapist who had similar concerns last year (pre-shunt), so we took him to an opthomologist and were told that his vision is fine. My question is - can shunt placement, or a change in csf cause a change in vision? I went ahead and made an eye appointment for november. Any thoughts?
Erin

[Brandon's Mom]

Erin,

YES, shunting can cause eye problems because the nerves behind the eye are very susceptible to changes in the intercranial pressures that come with shunting and the conditions which make shunting necessary. Most neurosurgeons that I've heard about suggest that their patients with shunts be regularly followed by a pediatric opthalmalogist or even better, a pediatric neuro-opthalmalogist IF you can find one.

It's odd that your son is sometimes even skipping entire pages to one side and you need to bring this up at his next eye appointment. Field of vision isn't really easy to test, but his will need to be checked. Is his cyst, by chance, located near his occipital lobes? The reason I ask is that my son had 1/2 his brain removed to try and stop his seizures and with the removal of the occipital lobe on his right side, he can no longer see to the left with either eye. Both eyes still see to the right, although with limited vision because of other issues he had at birth (too much oxygen for too long because he was a premie). Because Brandon can not see to the left of center he has had special therapy and training to teach him to turn his head and scan. Before he adjusted to his loss of field of vision, he would literally only eat what was on the right side of his plate and think he was done with his meal because he didn't SEE the food on the other side.

That's great that you called to get your son in for another check-up on his eyes. Here, it takes months from the time you call, to even get in to see a specialist. :rolleyes: As always, second opinions sometimes prove to be necessary. Good luck getting some answers.

[LIZARD]

Hydro and shunting can certainly result in vision issues. He probably has a problem similar to mine in that he doesn't have binocular vision. I was in college before I became keenly aware that I couldn't use my eyes together. When I take the vision test at DMV, I always have to remember to start with my left eye and switch to the right so I can see the whole line! :D :rolleyes: Mention it to the nsg, but also have him checked by a neuropthamologist.


Good luck!

LIZARD :)