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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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Five-Year-Old with Lazy Eye
Tiffany wrote:
My 5 year old daughter has a lazy eye - her right eye turns in. She was first diagnosed at 2 1/2 and has been wearing glasses since then. She has been wearing bi-focals for over 1 year and we have been patching for almost 2 years on and off. For 4 months in the summer she patched 4 hours per day! We have tried the drops in the eyes with no improvement and now are back to patching for 4 hours during the week and as long as she can stand it on the weekends. My question is can anymore be done in addition to patching? I have been told by various doctors that she has a very stubborn case and the suppression is quite strong. Are there vision or other therapies that are being used? Thanks in advance for your help.
Dr. Sally Aldayeh's response:
Hello Tiffany,
Many people make the mistake of saying that a person who has a crossed or turned eye has a “lazy eye,” but amblyopia (LAZY EYE) and strabismus (EYE TURN) are not the same condition. Eye turn, however, can cause lazy eye. In other words, amblyopia can result from an eye that turns all of the time. An eye turn which occurs only some of the time rarely causes amblyopia (lazy eye).
While an eye turn (strabismus) can be easily spotted, amblyopia (lazy eye) without strabismus (eye turn) can be not noticed by either you or your pediatrician.
Due to misunderstanding or misuse of the terms for different visual conditions (i.e., deviating eyes vs. lazy eye), many people are inaccurately labelled as having a “lazy eye.”
The best treatment for an eye turn which is not CONSTANT is full time prescription wear, plus Vision therapy and orthoptics. Vision therapy and orthoptics is directed towards muscle strengthening. Treating a lazy eye, usually done with full time wear of prescription, drops, vision therapy and/or patching. Good luck
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