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Adult Strabismus and Surgery
Beverley wrote:
Beverley wrote,
Dear Concerned; I am pretty much writing this out of desperation. I am a 43 yr adult woman with Strabismus. I was born with a lazy left eye and I had surgery at 6 months of age and then again at 14 yrs. Up until my mid 30's I coped well with glasses. Now, at 43, I am living every day with eye pain and severe headaches from every waking hour. Daylight causes even more pain. The doctor says my eyes are 20/20 individually. Seeing far away is not as difficult as trying to read up close, use computers or driving. My depth perception is horrible. I round left handed corners walking into walls and I round corners driving. When I use stairs I often miss the last two steps.
Now my right eye is beginning to turn in and my eyes are competing, jumping back and forth trying to focus. I live in Windsor, ON but my OD is in Michigan, USA as my husband is American and our health plan does not cover me in Canada. My OD has tried reading glasses, progressive glasses, prisms, contacts and has had me do eye patching. It all came to an end in Sept. I walked into work look at the computer and thought I was going to be ill. My eyes just will not focus without tremendous eye pain and headaches. I have quit my job as I can't see to focus on reading or even driving. My OD suggested not to work on computers anymore and to temporarily avoid near work. I have got a referral to a surgeon in Toronto (March 27th, 2013) to see if I am a candidate for surgery.
My question now is; I can no longer function every day. I wake up in pain and the only way it subsides is if I close or rest my eyes. I have pretty much been held hostage in my home with the blinds drawn everyday for the last month. Out of frustration I went to get a second opinion today from an expert doctor in vision therapy. He has told me that they probably will not do surgery and if they do it will not fix the problem but only create a crutch like glasses etc. I can't afford vision therapy I lost my job and I have not had a pay check since Sept now. What does a person do? I am in pain everyday; I can't wear my glasses because of the pressure headaches yet if I try to focus with or without I am in pain. I am so frustrated I just sit and cry in confusion. Is there help out there for adults? Where does a person turn. I just want to get rid of the pain.
Thank You, Beverley
Dr Langis Michaud's response:
Dear Beverley
The first thing I want to say is that I certainly understand your desperation and your needs. I can not feel them, I don’t share your visual problems, but I am empathetic to your cause.
Without appropriate clinical findings, it is difficult to establish a specific treatment plan for you or to make any particular recommendation. However, some resources are probably present around you. For example, you can consult at University of Waterloo School of Optometry to see how they can help you. The cost for treatments is usually lower in schools compared to private clinics even if the professors there are highly competent in their own respective field. Email or phone to vision therapy specialists over there and they will be able to provide you answers to your questions. In ophthalmology, make sure to consult with someone specialized in strabismus surgery. A general ophthalmologist will not know how to deal with you. It is unfortunate that there is a very few doctors who are specializing in strabismus care for adults in general. Make sure to consult the appropriate people.
Good luck !
Dr Langis Michaud, OD M.Sc. FAAO (Dipl)
Associate Professor – Université de Montréal
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Blurry Vision, Headaches and Vision Therapy
Carolyn wrote:
I have had blurry vision and severe headaches recently that prompted me to go get my eyes checked. I am 29 years old and have good vision. The optometrist diagnosed binocular vision and recommended expensive vision therapy not covered by insurance. Is this a reputable type of treatment and considered to be best practice? Or should I get a 2nd opinion? Carolyn
Dr Carol Doman's response:
Carolyn,
There are definitely some binocular vision problems that can be treated very successfully with vision therapy. Without knowing your specific problem I cannot determine if vision training would be helpful in your case. In general binocular vision therapy is more common with children as their eyes are still developing and they are more likely to have binocular vision problems. Adults have usually adapted to most binocular vision problems, although this is not always the case. Binocular vision problems do not usually develop as an adult, although there are many situations where there could be an underlying problem that may not show itself until the eyes are under stress with a lot of visual demands. If you feel uncomfortable with what was proposed you may want to contact the optometrist to gain more information, or get a second opinion from another optometrist. In my experience it is difficult to definitively diagnose the cause of headaches. Ocular-related headaches tend to be milder than other causes and tend to occur during visual tasks. For example if someone worked on a computer all day at work, they would likely find the headaches worse at the end of the day and on days that they are working, but that the headaches would improve on the weekends when there is less demand on the vision system. You may also want to visit your family physician to rule out another cause of the headaches. Good luck!
Dr. Doman
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Rod-Cone Dystrophy and Nystagmus
Jason wrote:
I am 36 years old and started having vision problems in my early teens; I have had 6 surgeries for rod-cone dystrophy and nystagmus. My eyes shake terribly, I always feel sick, I have been told I am 1 in a million, they have wrote about me in journals. I would like to try something new, if you have any unorthodox treatments I would love to try them. I pray you read this. Thank you for your time.
Dr Carol Doman's response:
Jason,
You may have already explored this, but have you been either to your optometrist or to the CNIB to inquire about low vision aids and other devices that may be helpful to you? There are a number of new high tech devices that are able to aid people with low vision to better navigate the world around us. Many optometrists provide low vision services in their offices. I don’t know where you live, but if you are in southwestern Ontario the School of Optometry at the University of Waterloo has a great low vision clinic (Centre for Sight Enhancement). Here is their phone number: (519) 888-4708 and this is the link to their website: optometry.uwaterloo.ca/clinics/centre-for-sight-enhancement.
Dr. Doman
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