8 day old, one eyelid droopy

[NorahM]

Hi,

We had a traumatic delivery of our son which included failed ventouse and then a forceps delivery.

Poor thing had the forceps mark down his forehead above his left eye. I noticed that left eyelid being more puffy but the pedi said it'll resolve itself within a week. He's now 8 days old, it looks a bit better but I can still see that he doesn't open that eye as wide as the other. It looks a bit puffier than the other eye still.

Reading up on forceps deliveries I'm terrified it may have done some damage to my son's nerves in the eyelid. Is there anyone here that can reassure me and tell me that in fact it CAN take longer than a week for the swelling to go down? I'm just overly emotional as he's dealing with something else as well (floppy larynx) and has stridor, which hopefully, according to the pedi, he'll grow out of. Thanks...

Congratulations on your new son

Firstly, I would ask the GP to look at it....don't bother with the HV, they're not medically trained to the same degree.

It could be residual swelling or it could be Aponeurotic Ptosis which is a droopy eyelid sustained through a birth injury...the majority of these cases are easily fixed.

From what you've said, it is probably resiudual swelling but the GP is best to answer this.x

Is his head a bit flat on one side? My DS has one eyelid that droops slightly, especially when he is tired. The doctors say it's because of his flat head and just to keep an eye on it. It's only noticeable when he is tired now he is 14 weeks.

Congratulations on your new baby.

Hi

Thanks for the replies and the congrats.

He's now 10 days old and when he opens his eyes wide, they look about equal but when he's being lazy, the left one definitely doesn't open as wide. I understand he's still very young but it still worries me.

No, the side of his head is not flatter so I don't think that's the case with him.

I guess I'll bring it up with the HV first and then GP afterwards...

Norah - I would ask for a referral to ophthalmology. Its possible that the eye with the droopy lid (which is called a ptosis) may become lazy (amblyopic). It really depends on the extent of the eyelid drooping.

It does sound as if it is an aponeurontic ptosis.