Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

Is ANNA NICOLE SMITH's little girl losing her sight? Only ET has the truth behind why LARRY BIRKHEAD and Anna's baby is wearing an eyepatch!

"She has strabismus, which is a turning in of one of her eyes, and it's something that we've been looking out for for a while," Larry tells our own MARK STEINES in an exclusive interview. "I've been taking her to the doctors and ... Anna had taken Dannielynn to the doctor [in the Bahamas] to see about it when she was just a few months old."

Common in about five percent of children, the eye condition is perhaps better known as "cross-eyed" and it is something that cannot be outgrown and must be treated. An eyepatch is used to cover the strong eye in an effort to strengthen the weak one.

"I got her a little pirate doll to show her that people wear patches, and it's okay," says Larry, "and daddy wears a patch if he has to to show her it's okay. I've been really aggressive with the patch as much as I can be. At first she was really open to it and it didn't really bother her. 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."

But if the eyepatch doesn't work, or if using medicated eyedrops to dilate the pupil fails, little Dannielynn may face surgery.

"I'm going to do everything to make sure that it's corrected," says Larry, "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]."

And Larry staunchly defends any suggestion in the tabloids and on Web blogs that Dannielynn's condition has anything to do with methadone or any medications Anna may have taken during her pregnancy.

"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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Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

Awwww poor thing. Hopefully I will get corrected. She's sooo gorgeous.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

My cousin had this. It took a few years but they were eventually able to reverse it. Must be hard at that age though. I can't imaging DD keeping an eye patch on.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

I hope not!

OMG what a GORGEOUS child

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

My nephew has this as well. He had surgery for it when he was just 3 years old. It broke our heart.

It had straightened out for awhile, but it's looking like he may have to have it redone.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

A niece and a nephew (siblings) wore patches for a while. Their sister was fine. Now they just wear eyeglasses. It isn't very uncommon.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

That poor baby, hasnt she gone through enough already.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

My 3 year old has to wear an eyepatch for 2 hours every day. It breaks our heart .
I feel for any parent that has a child who is sick or impaired. As a parent you just wish you could take all their pain and make it go away She will be in my prayers.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

What a gorgeous child.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

I had this as a child. I never wore an eyepatch. I wore glasses and had surgery when I was 8 years old. As I got older, it got better. I don't wear glasses any more and its barely noticeable. It happens from time to time, especially if I am tired.

It never affected my eyesight.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

My youngest brother had that. He wore corrective lenses to fix it. He never had to have surgery.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

I had it and wore the patch, then had the surgery as a kid - It's a simple procedure which I'm sure is even better 20 years after I had it done !!

It's just a a 'lazy' muscle - She's not going to lose her sight - God forbid !!

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

What beautiful blue eyes.....on both of them!!

Message edited 1/14/2008 1:24:22 PM.

Re: Is Anna Nicole Smith's little girl losing her sight?

My niece just has this surgery. They did the eye patch thing for a bit, but then it got worse. Since the surgery she is wearing glasses as a backup and things seem to be working great.