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Strabismus Surgery
I'm an adult with strabismus, and lately I've seen quite a few blogs on YouTube of pre/post op strabismus procedure. I have 80% depth perception, and to be honest it's more of a psychological ailment than a physical one. Is this something that you would recommend for me? The few contacts I spoke to said it's quick, easy, generally quick recovery and they would do it every single year if they had too.
Any information you could give me about this procedure, such as contacts, price, pro/cons, risks, ect would be greatly appreciated.
Dr Henry Smit's response:
Dear Dave:
If you have 80% depth perception, it would seem to me that your eyes are likely aligned part of the time, or had been aligned at some time in the past. The chance of success with strabismus surgery tends to improve if the eyes have a pre-existing ability to co-ordinate and work together – which it appears that yours have.
Your first step should be to consult an optometrist to have a binocular vision assessment. He or she will be able to measure the degree of strabismus as well as your binocular depth perception. Based on the results of your assessment, your optometrist can refer you to an eye surgeon who will be able to discuss the potential benefits and risks of doing the surgery in your particular case. The benefits and risks vary from case to case based on the degree of misalignment and the direction of misalignment. However, based on your 80% depth perception, it appears that the possibility of corrective surgery is an option worth investigating in your case.
Best of luck,
Dr. Smit
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Prescription Swimming Goggles
Larry wrote:
I am short sighted with a sphere of -5.75 (OD) and -3.25 (OS). OD is my dominant eye.
I'm looking to purchase swimming goggles. What Power should I buy? i.e. should I be buying based on my OD or OS given that the goggles I'm looking at only comes with one (sphere) Power. Thanks.
Dr Henry Smit's response:
Dear Larry
If your only option is to get swimming goggles with the same prescription in both eyes, I would opt for the -3.25 lens, provided you have good vision in your non-dominant eye. This would potentially give you good vision for distance in your left eye and still reasonably good close up vision in the right eye. If you wear a -5.75 lens in both eyes, you would have blurred vision at all distances in your left eye.
If the goggles you are planning to purchase have a detachable bridge, you could consider buying a pair in each prescription. You could then dissemble each pair and reassemble them with a lens of each power in both pairs of goggles. It would be twice the investment, but you might be able to provide yourself with two pairs of goggles with the correct prescription for each eye.
Best of luck
Dr. Smit
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Development of Myopia
Bernie wrote:
I'm a 47 year old male. I started wearing glasses for very mild myopia and astigmatism at age 18. I was told at the time that by age 23 my prescription would probably stabilize, but that has not happened. I just found out last week that my myopia and astigmatism have changed yet again (my myopia is now at -4).
My question is: is there a chance that this will go on into old age? What am I doing wrong? I read a lot (under good lighting) and I spend a lot of time in front of a computer (two to three feet away), but that is my job unfortunately. Besides, I have countless colleagues who do the same and do not even wear glasses.
Which brings me to my second question: given that no one in my family wears glasses, is it possible that I caused my own myopia/astigmatism by studying and reading too much when I was in my teens? I've heard of studies that claim there's no correlation between reading/studying and myopia, but I find that hard to believe.
Your answers are much appreciated.
Dr Henry Smit's response:
Dear Bernie:
The debate about whether or not doing close work contributes to the development of nearsightedness has been argued for years without reaching a definite conclusion. It is believed that a number of factors contribute to the development of myopia, with genetic predisposition being near the top of the list. Although no one in your family wears glasses, I would not be surprised if you had more distant blood relatives who also had some measure of myopia.
It is true that, in typical cases, myopia stops progressing once the person’s eyes have reached their full adult size – usually in their early twenties. That being said, I have certainly seen patients in my practice who, like you, have continued to become more nearsighted through their adult years. A good number of them, like you, had spent a lot of time doing near tasks, but for many that was not the case. Additionally, there are many people today who spend much of their work time doing close work, and then spend several hours of leisure time doing close work such as reading or working on a computer. For most of these people, myopia does not progress.
Bernie, I don’t think the amount of near work you did was the cause of your nearsightedness. It could be argued that your near work may have contributed in some difficult to measure fashion, however, I do not think you need to blame yourself for your nearsightedness. The mechanisms that cause myopia are complex and not yet fully understood and not usually entirely attributable to the amount of close work that has been done.
Hope this is helpful.
Dr. Smit
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