‘Outdaughtered’: Why Does Hazel Wear Glasses, And What’s Causing Her Eye Condition?
Outdaughtered fans have undoubtedly noticed the fact that one of the show’s featured quintuplets, Hazel Busby, wears glasses. And in fact, the treatment of her eye condition has been a part of the drama of the show. But what, specifically, is going on with the pre-schooler’s eyes?
As In Touch Weekly reported, Hazel has a condition known as Nystagmus, a condition that causes the eye to make uncontrolled, repetitive movements.
According to the America Optometric Association (AOA), Nystagmus generally appears in children and is usually diagnosed by age 3. It can develop in adults, but that’s rare and is usually the result of an underlying medical condition.
Because of the uncontrolled eye movements, people with Nystagmus often lack balance and coordination. People with the condition might also hold their heads at unusual angles, or lean, to compensate for their lack of clear vision.
Treatment of Nystagmus is tricky, according the AOA. Glasses help, somewhat. Sometimes it improves on its own, but never fully goes away. In rare situations, surgery may be required, but even so, it won’t fully cure the disease. At the most, the surgery can weaken the effects of the condition, but the patient will still need to wear glasses.
Which is why parents Adam and Danielle Busby aren’t in a hurry to put their daughter through the process, which will undoubtedly be painful and involve quite a bit of recovery time. As Danielle has said previously, about all it will do for her is “correct the placement of where her eye goes to focus better so she doesn’t have to turn her neck, which is a huge deal.”
No surgery is without risks, and the Nystagmus surgery carries a 1-in-100,000 chance of causing permanent vision loss. Those may seem like pretty good odds to you, but to Adam Busby, odds are meaningless. After all, the odds of them having four female quintuplets were 1-in-64 million, and yet it happened. As Adam says, “odds don’t really do it for us now.”
Even so, Hazel’s condition is starting to have noticeable effects on her development. Unlike her sisters, she’s not walking yet, perhaps because of her balance issues. Looking down the road, she’s going to be starting preschool soon, and she’ll need her vision to be able to learn to do things like read and write.
Needless to say, it’s an agonizing debate for her parents, and one they’ll have to make a decision on it soon.
Do you think Adam and Danielle Busby should put Hazel through surgery to correct her eye problems? Or should they just wait it out? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[Featured Image by TLC]
