after surgery diagnosed with horner's syndrome

[pam b]

My 14 year old daughter had surgery one month ago and was diagnosed by a neurologist with partial horner's syndrome. Her eyelid doesn't open fully and her pupils are different sizes. He is certain that this is a complication from the surgery. Has anyone else had this and did it resolve by itself?

Pam

[Carmell]

Me, Me, Me!

My Braydon developed Horner's after his VEPTR implant surgery. A PICU resident doc was the one to diagnose Braydon with Horners. I'm attaching a photo of him 4 days post-op. You can see the Horners in this photo.

The thoracic surgeon told us (months later) that they had gone back to the xrays and studied the situation. They decided that they had placed the chest tube too high. The chest tube disrupted the sympathetic nerves that go to the eye (from the chest).

In Braydon's case, his Horner's has MOSTLY resolved (on its own) within 6 months post-op. I took him to an opthamologist to make sure everything was okay, and the eye doc said that most Horner's cases (that are caused by surgery) resolve in 3-6 months. If after 6 months it isn't better, then the damage is permanent. Good news, not.

For Braydon, most people would never notice a difference. His drooping eye lid improved almost 100%. The ONLY time I notice a difference in the eyelid is when he's VERY tired. His pupils are still different sizes. I'm assuming that 4+ years later, that part won't improve anymore. The pupils do dilate normally, so no problems. They are just visibly different sizes (minutely different).