Usmagazine.com | Dannielynn May Undergo Eye Surgery

Dannielynn May Undergo Eye Surgery
Monday January 14, 2008

Larry Birkhead with daughter Dannielynn on November 25, 2007.
APG-AlphaX/X17online.com

Larry Birkhead tells Entertainment Tonight that his daughter Dannielynn suffers from "strabismus, which is a turning in of one of her eyes.

"I've been taking her to the doctors and ... [mom] Anna [Nicole Smith] had taken Dannielynn to the doctor [in the Bahamas] to see about it when she was just a few months old."

Birkhead says the child now wears an eye patch to help treat the condition, which is common in about 5 percent of children and cannot be outgrown.

"At first she was really open to it and it didn't really bother her," he says. "Now, she's gotten a little smart because she can pull it off, so it's a little bit harder for me to patch her."

She also takes medicated eyedrops.

But if neither works, he says she may have to have surgery.

"I'm going to do everything to make sure that it's corrected," he says, "but having lost Anna and [her son] Daniel and my dad — my dad just came out of a simple surgery and he died — it's just tough for me to think about surgeries with [Dannielynn]."

He says he is not sure how she developed the eye condition.

"All of the opinions that I had [from doctors], every one of them said that it's very, very unlikely, because no one knows one-hundred percent what causes [strabismus]," says Larry.

"But I point-blank ask every single doctor, 'Could any medications that Anna was on have caused this?' and they said that it's more likely that a genetic reason could have caused it."

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Posted by Alissa R at 9:17 am ET Permanent Link | 22 Comments

22 Comments

6:16 PM Anonymous Says:

There are many factors that we the public are not privy to that contribute to Dannielynn's situation.

Sometimes glasses help if there is a high refractive error (the need for glasses). If there is not a refractive error and the eye is still turned inwardly, then a sometimes conservative first step is to try applying a patch to improve the alignment of the eye(s) before surgery is considered.

The sight of one eye may be underdeveloped (amblyopia commonly called "lazy eye") due to the time the eye was not straight. The patch is used to improve the sight before surgery is done.

No one but Dannielynn's doctors have all the facts and it sounds like Mr. Birkhead is taking all the necessary steps to care for his daughter's developing sight and the appearance of her eyes.

12:36 AM Marquell Says:

i hope Danielynn will be ok. She reminds me of my neice Elle.

9:58 AM Anonymous Says:

My 3 year old daughter has the same thing. She was only 1 when she started patching and wearing glasses the Dr's say if they get the lazy eye before 2 it does it's damage very quickly it is more aggressive when they are that young and they start loosing vision which is what happened in my daughter you do not outgrow it when it starts that young. My daughter had her eye surgery when she was 2 and she stil wears glasses and her vision in the bad eye won't inprove but at least the eyes are straight. I hope he does get the surgery while she is young so her brain can get used to using the bad eye so it doesn't turn back in later in life. It is a very stressful decision to make to put your little toddler under to do surgery, but it's 100% worth it in the end...

8:58 PM Casey Says:

Dear Larry,

I have this condition. Please do the surgery. The sooner you do it, the sooner she will be able to use her eyes together. This condition effects depth perception and your ability to do things such as sports, which may be important to her. People and kids can be cruel when you are different. The risks of surgery are minimal. The benefits will be lifelong.

Casey

12:43 AM vicky Says:

they seem so happy.but it is said that he like to go to the site It seems that he is interested in dating wealthy woman.I don't know weather it is true,but i saw him on the site called " wealthybeauty.com" to dating some wealthy woman.I don't know it is true

7:16 AM Anonymousbhg Says:

I wish them the best and I know they will be good parents. I just see some pictures of the baby on a millionaire and celebs webiste called“MarryMillionaire.com”.Very cute.

8:58 PM Anonymous Says:

11:28 AM She's Destined To Be A Ho Says:

Surgery? Just euthanize her and get it over with.

WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU??? WISHING DEATH ON A BABY?

YOU MUST BE A PATHETIC LOSER ... HOPE YOU NEVER HAVE ANY CHILDREN...

4:03 PM Anonymous Says:

His eye's look a little off, maybe she got it from him.

3:57 PM Anonymous Says:

11:28 anon, you can dislike her parents all you want, but to say something that horrible about a baby is just disgusting. Get a life, loser!

2:14 PM jamie Says:

i think that little girl is so cute.she could have 2 crossed eyes and it wouldnt even phase her one bit.

1:14 PM Anonymous Says:

I, too, had this problem as a child. I wore the patch on the good eye to correct the problem in the eye that turned in. It didn't work. Today, I am legally blind in the eye that turned in. I am totally for surgery. They should correct the problem while she is young, before it cannot be corrected. I wish her the best. She is a beautiful little girl.

1:04 PM Wendy Tallman Says:

The diagnosis that there isn't a probability that she would grow out of it is preposterous. I am 34, and had a lazy eye as a child, and though i did wear an eye patch and glasses, I never recieved corrective surgery. I grew out of by the time I started school. So there is hope, and I think that this is stupid, to cause all this worry over relly nothing.

12:31 PM Anonymous Says:

As someone who has been through the eye patch and the surgery...this is not worth the news its making. Everyone is using this little girl for their 15 minutes of fame. It's really, really sad.

11:43 AM Anonymous Says:

Dannielynn, get well soon! You & your dad will be ok & get through this, I promise! Hopefully, Dannielynn won't need anykind of eye surgery? God bless Larry Birkhead & especially Dannielynn!

11:28 AM She's Destined To Be A Ho Says:

Surgery? Just euthanize her and get it over with.

10:12 AM wjh Says:

It does suck, my little girl has the same condition... but as long as she wears her little glasses u cannot tell there is a problem. The patch really helps as well, but they does so hate to wear them.
I guess the way I see it is it isn't like this is life threatening or a critical problem and I guess I am just thankful it wasn't something 10x's worse.

10:12 AM Mimi Says:

Don't put it off Larry, get it done if that is what she needs. Why put off what can be put behind her.

10:11 AM Anonymous Says:

Uh weirdo, if you want a man this is a gossip site. Probably 90% women.

10:11 AM Lisa Says:

The surgery is simple enough, many kids have that. The weak muscle just needs to be tightened and she will be as good as new. She won't even need glasses. Well this surgery has nothing to do with her sight.

10:09 AM Anonymous Says:

I noticed her crooked eyes a long time ago in all her pictures but I didn't want to say anything mean. I'm surprised no one said anything about her crossed eyes. But no big deal, my son had that when he was a baby and had eye surgery twice. It corrected his eyes. But the doctor did surgery he didn't even try the patch. Sorry but the patch probably won't help. She needs the surgery, do it and just get it over with. The one little muscle just needs to be strengthened. It's like a rubber band that is not tight, like it has slack that needs to be taken in. She will be perfectly fine and just beautiful.

9:57 AM Anonymous Says:

omg, i am sorry to hear that! God bless her!

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9:55 AM Anonymousbhg Says:

I wish them the best and I know they will be good parents. I just see some pictures of the baby on a millionaire and celebs webiste called“MarryMillionaire.com”.Very cute.

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