Several have asked how my strabismus surgery went. I had eye muscle surgery in May…lateral rectus recession. My eyes had been drifting a lot more prior to the surgery, and had become increasingly unstable and uncomfortable. It was difficult to hold a focus to read. My eyes are much more comfortable since the surgery, less tension, and I get a lot less headaches now. My eyes don’t drift as spastically as before surgery. They still drift though, especially at close range. I still can’t focus to read very long. My eyes look straight, but one eye sees things rotated slightly clockwise, the other slightly counter-clockwise since the surgery, and things appear higher with one eye than the other, so it was a bit of a trade-off I think.
My surgeon had told me at my one month checkup that I would likely need medial rectus resection in the fall. But when I went back last month, he didn’t seem to think that would help and made prism glasses instead. The prism glasses didn’t help either. Things were very distorted with them, and I saw two images of everything. (Update 11-15-05: I’ve since gotten prism glasses from my local optometrist, and I can see out of them much better. I have to hold things very close to my face to read with them, and can’t read for a long time like I’d hoped. But am trying to adjust to them so they will be more useful. I’ll keep you posted.)
I think if I had been able to get help sooner it may have been easier to turn things around. I’ve had strabismus over 50 years and it’s gradually gotten worse. One of my main goals with this blog is that others might find the help they need early. Not that I’ve given up. I’m grateful for the help I’ve gotten and continue to do vision therapy and work to improve my eyes. I’m learning that success may not be measured in whether I am able to read a lot again, but in what I’m able to make out of the vision I have at this point in my life.
[Update September 24, 2007: On April 12, 2007, I shared an update about my second strabismus surgery done on January 4, 2007. There are links in that post about problems I was having related to my first surgery in 2005. There is also a link at the bottom of that post to my June 23, 2007 post which updates my latest progress. I still have difficulty maintaining a focus to read. I still have difficulty finding things in a page, and I still have difficulty finding locations I'm not familiar with when driving. But I am thankful for the progress I've made. You can fill in the gaps of my story by clicking the Lois' story link in the sidebar.]
Hello George,
Thanks for the info.
In the eye-hospital in Rotterdam they don’t apply adjustable sutures, because in their opinion it’s not said that adjustble sutures will always have a better result.
Because I will be operated on one eye I’m preferring local anesth. The disadvantages weigh heavy for me. In Holland it’s a standard procedure when operated on eye unless the patient is too anxious. I read a lot of literature on this subject and I asked about the procedure. I will hear everything and there is a chance I will see some of the instruments (but my right eye is very lazy, can’t see details) but I’m not to worried about that. The only thing I have to do is lie still. If I’m anxious I will pinch the bed.
Sandra.
George,
You are not hogging the blog. I’m glad you are sharing to help others.
Have you joined our yahoo group email support group? This is also an excellent resource in which to find help as well as share help.
All of you are welcome. Info is available in the top right corner of this and all pages of this Eyes Apart website. Here is a direct link to the yahoo group for anyone interested:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EyesApart/
Blessings,
Lois
Reply to Dave
Good luck with your strabismus procedure tomorrow. If your surgeon is an expert at this procedure, you should be fine. A few years ago, I had nose surgery, and when I woke up, I had the chills. I told the anesthesiologist about it this and she made sure that did not happen this time. So I recommend when you see your anasthesiologist you mention that. You will probably be out for a total of about 2 hours and recover for one hour before you go home. In my case, I did not need any pain or nausea medication (not even tylenol), but everybody is different. Let us know how it went. Look forward to hearing about your results.
George
I had the surgery yesterday. Its too early to tell how it went. I took the patch off this morning. Its very red and swollen and my vision is all over the place, double, etc. – but i think thats normal for the first day. Its not painful but a little irritating and the double vision is giving me headaches which the Dr. prescribed painkillers for as well as ointment for the eye. i have my followup on monday and hopefully by then i’ll know if it all worked. I will post an update monday.
Hello!!
I was born pre-mature (twin) and have had lazy eye since birth. I had my 1st corrective surgery at 1 yr old. Through the surgery.. bifocals.. and eye patch.. my left eye is normal. But over the years.. my right eye seemed to get worse. Turning inward. The embarassment I felt made my self esteem drop. Friends and family always told me the opinon of others should not bother me.. but the truth was.. a 5 year at the store making fun of me could bring me to tears.
I finally was referred to a great doctor (Dr Olson) at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. I am now 32.. and finally decided for myself that I wanted the sugery.
The procedure was done on 11/18/08.. I am almost at a week now.. still have very bloody, swalloen eye. Slowing gaining my vision back. Though, driving is still tricky due to the sensitivity I have. Right now, my eye is turning out.. rather then inward like it use to. The doctor has told me not to be concerned.. as it can take 3 weeks to heal. I’m hopful that things will turn out well. It was hard reading some of these blogs.. as most seemed to be negative.. though I’m greatful people were sharing their own personal experiences. I have my post op appt this Wednesday.. Hopeful it will be good news on my progress! Thank you all for your time.
Had my Post-Op today. Had the surgery on my left eye on 11/20. Doctor said my new alignment looks good (so far). Eye is still swollen and bloodshot. He said that’s normal and will take a few weeks for the redness to completely go away. I’m hoping it worked..it feels like it did. The vision is still a little blurry in the left eye because of the stitches and the ointment.
I’ll report back in a week or so after the redness has gone down a little.
hi ..i just read your post..where did u have ur surgery?im also planning to have one..i badly need advice..i hope the result will be ok..please let me know thanks..
Hi Guys..Im JM 27 female from philippines..I badly needed an advice..
I just dont simply have strabismus. My situation is, my left eye is blind since birth. condition is exotropia. It also developed cataract and I noticed that it starts to deteriorate..howver, i consider having eye muscle surgery just to improve its appearance..I am just not sure because most of you have vision in both eyes..(blurry or double vision)..I rem..when I visited an opthalmologist (Philippine General Hospital), I was advise that I can undergo surgery but the eye will turn out again eventually…they also did not recomend to removed the cataract since there is no vision. However, I still want to get opinions…does anyone had a surgey?how was it?anyone especially from my country (philippines). I badly needed an advice..please revert..
Hi Nicole,
I wish you a great outcome of your surgery. My baby was also born premature. She is now 4 months old corrected (7 months actually). Her eyes turn downward a lot when she has to look at anything ven slightly lower than her. I worry a lot about her vision. I have read about vision therapy. Had you tried that? What does your doctor say–is the surgery only a cosmetic thing or does it improve the vision?
How premature were you?
Good luck again
Reema
Hello Reema,
Thank you for your well wishes. I really appreaciate it. I was born 2 months pre-mature. I haven’t tried vision therapy as of recent… but did as a child. It helped back then… but my attention span as a child was very limited. I have my post op appointment tomorrow with my doctor.. I have alot of questions for him. =) For me the surgery was more of a cosmetic issue. I have poor vision anyhow. But I can wear contacts. I am hoping to be able to move forward with Lasik in January to correct the actual vision. My advice would be to wait until your child is close to 1yr old.. as my eyes changed alot from birth to age 1. I was worried about my son’s eye’s after birth.. but he as well experienced alot of change up to 1 yr.. and now is fine. Have a great day!! Take care!!
Nicole
To George:
Thanks for all of the info, I really aprreciate it.
George, so now your eyes are perfectly straight?
Roni:
It has been six weeks since the procedure and as far as I can tell, my eyes are very straignt. I can also tell because when I look directly at other’s eyes (for the first time in 60 years), they look straight back. It took about a month before the redness was almost completely gone. I got a new prescription for glasses. My next checkup with the surgeon is in two months.
George
Hello everyone. I have a few questions about eye muscle surgery/strabismus surgery.
1. How much does the surgery cost without any type of insurance?
2. Will a doctor perform the sugery on an un-insured person?
3. How long will it take before I am called in for the surgery?
Sorry for so many questions. I am severely coc-eyed; and my eyes seem to be getting worst. Any help will do. Thanks everyone.
Hello Tony,
I can tell you from my experience.. I just had surgery on my right eye back on 11/18/08. My bills at this point are up to $14,000. I live in Iowa. Without insurance they would only work with me if I had 75% to put down. Luckly I have insurance through my employer so I won’t pay much of that. I had my pre-op appointment back in Aug 08.. as scheduled for surgery on 11/18 (I’m sure your wait will depend on your surgeons schedule)
Wish you well..!! Good luck if you decide to move forward with surgery. I’ve been pleased so far with mine.
Take care!!
Hi Eyeybody,
I just wanted to tell you that I have had surgery on both eyes on Dec 02. The redness is still there and no pain except for slight irritation (like some dust in the eyes).
My eyes are now perfectly straight and I hope it stays that way. The actual surgery took approximately 2 hours under general anest.
I feel great now when I look at myself and wish that I have done this sooner.
If anybody want to see pics of my eyes before and after the surgery, please let me know and I will send it.
Regards,
Devan
Does anyone know a good insurance company that will help pay for the surgery? Or will any insurance company give the doctor the greenlight?
Thanks for any help.
Kevin, I would love to see before and after pictures. As well as ask you a few questions, if you would not mind?
Sincerely,
Kelly
Hello, has anybody ever had surgery for intermittent exotropia? I have had this since I was little and am looking to have it surgically corrected. However, I am very nervous for the surgery. Any advice? For those of you who have had the surgery, do your eyes stay straight at all distances and gazes? How about when you are tired? Thank you for listening.
Kindest regards,
Kelly
Kelly, continue to check here, but also see my Nov. 18, 2008, post regarding the support group. You may find some help there too.
Blessings,
Lois
ok so ive had strabismus practically all my life. my left eye is perfectly straight but my right eye goes inward. i had surgery when i was 14, i am now 16 and im considering another surgery because when i had my first surgery my doctor did not make the eye symmetrical to the left for some odd reason. . although ive been wearing glasses up until the age of 13 i can honestly say im sick of it,all i really want is straight eyes, just like everyone else, im not trying to be negative at all but i have been through a lot such as being constantly teased and laughed at by people at school and just trying to avoid being around people simply because i was either scared to see their reaction or afraid of being humiliated.
being cross-eyed or anything of that sort isn’t a laughing matter, really idk whats so funny about it? we’re just like everyone else, we just have eye difficulties. nobodys perfect everyone has flaws, i guess you just have to accept yourself for who you are and not let other people and their ignorance get to you.
it can be tough though and can damage your self-esteem.
but you gotta take the good
with the bad
smile with the sad &&
love what you got .
Hello. First of all I like to briefly introduce myself. My name is Edward. I live in California and frankly gone through 1 successful surgery February of 2008. I was borned with strabimus having my left eye move slightly inward. I have a few questions that I would like answered preferably from George.
1. How much scar tissues would accumulate as the many sugery one undergoes?
2. Is it possible for candidates such as I, wear contacts?
3. I have considered vision therapy for awhile. But im not sure whether it’s real or fake because i read a success story that a certain individual has strabimus and after 5 months of therapy he finally gained binocular fusion for both eyes. Does vision therapy really help?
Thanks I would really appreciate having questions answer by whomever with qualified experience.
Hello everyone,
I had surgery when I was 3 on my right eye and they were straight and stayed that way for over 50 years. The right eye started to drift again and my focus was really bad. I went to a pediatric opthamologist and had surgery again at 56. My eye looked 100% worse after this surgery. It was off vertical and horizonal. Another surgery was performed 2 months later. It is some better and on some days looks almost straight and other days it will turn out some but I have constant redness in that eye and have to keep visine in it all the time. My focus is stll bad and I can’t read for very long at a time. I recommend getting several opinions before having this surgery. I wish I had done that and I would not have had this surgery.
Edward,with 3 surgeries I have some scaring but over time they will turn white. The damaged blood vessel bothers me more because when I get tired or my eyes strained from reading it will turn red. I also had drooping of my eyelid but this does seem to be getting better. As for contacts. I only needed one and it was fine. I wore it for a while but decided that it was easier to wear glasses when I needed them. I wish I had tried vision therapy years ago. I think it it helps avoid any more surgery it would be worth it and if not at least you know that you have tried the other alternatives
Hello all,
I’m Aniela, I’ve been living with Strabismus since I developed it at a young age. I’m 19 years old and have lived a relatively normal life with the few moments of ignorance by other people. I have a straight left eye and my right eye is slightly outward from the center position.
I don’t have any major vision issues other than seeing double when I really want to focus on it. I have no perrifrial vision on my ‘bad’ eye, and although I can see clearly with that bad eye, I can’t define anything with it. It’s highly possible that I obtained optical nerve damage at a young age, if not actually being born with it. Nonetheless, I have perfect vision with the one good eye I have, depth perception and all.
Now that I gave a little bit of background, I am recently considering going through eye muscle surgery to repair the bad eye for cosmetic reasons. Is this a good idea? I’ve been through some therapy at younger ages and nothing really seemed fully correct the issue. I doubt anything could make the vision in my bad eye become better; or am I wrong?
Anyway, I think this blog is great and feel it’s a good way of getting support from people who understand the ailments of living with this and other conditions like it. I will be seeking consultation with optical surgeons aside from any advice given here. If anybody would like to contact me, please let me know and I’ll provide you with an e-mail or some other means of contact.
Thank you all for the support!
Hello again everyone:
I just wanted to know, could anyone tell me of a good insurance company? For a self-employed person? Of course for vision insurance. So I can try to get surgery. Any help will do.
Thanks.
hi, im glad ive found this site, this is very helpful for me.. i have strabismus since i was 5years old. im 26 now. Im in the philippines,. Ive read that a member in the philippines named Ice had a successful surgery last August 2008. Im so happy for you Ice.., I was just wondering if you can tell me where did you have your eye fixed and who’s the great doctor.. thanks
my email: be_smart_in_business@yahoo.com
I have had strabismus since i was born. It has not been so easy i have been laughed at, teased and even scorned,it is so difficult at times and discouraging. Now i have found the solution but there are so many negative things that this even makes me feel more discouraging and depressed. I am scheduled for surgery 29 June 2009 and i am considering not to do it, if i have to repeat the procedures so many times or my eyes could get even worse i don’t think it is worth trying, i really thought this was a once in a lifetime operation. I really can’t risk having my eyes becoming worst than they are now. Almost everyone who have done this surgery have a only negative remarks.
Hi Jannella,
I’m Sandra from Holland (see my first comment ijn October).
George and keving have very positive oomments. I’m scheduled for surgery the 19th of February in the Eye Hospital in Rotterdam.
The operation was supposed to be earlier but because of my pregnancy the docter wants to operate me when I’m four months pregnant.
I will report after the operation. Although there always is a chance a operations won’t give the result one’s hoping for, I’m very positive.
Sandra.
I have a situation…i’m 26 yrs old now and when i was about 12 yrs old i got hit on the side of my eye with a sling shot by a kid in my class..you know how they make the piece of paper and shoot it with a rubber band well when it hit my eye had got real red and everything seemed normal but after a while i had my retina detach and now i’ve had several surgery’s to correct what had gone wrong. so now i have a cataract but that isn’t my main concern. I can’t see out of my right eye and i can deal with that its just that my eye drifts out and i am very insecure about it..i’m only 26 and i hate talkin to people i dont know cuz i feel them try to figure out where i’m looking..i never talked to anyone about how i feel cuz i’m ashamed. I want so bad to get it fixed but i’m scared that the procedure to fix it will cause another problem and that i will have to have more sugeries after that. I dont ever want to have to go back to do those or i dont want to mess anything else up to where i might not have an eye…i want to know if anyone can tell me how a procedure will be done to fix it..will i be put to sleep and about how much does it run, money wise. i have insurance but i dont know if it will cover cosmetic surgery. ..someone please help me
Has anyone had surgery for vertical strabismus? I have a L superior oblique palsy and had surgery on the L eye, but within a few months, my double vision returned so had surgery on the R eye. It is now about 1 year later and the double vision is returning. I’m wondering if this is common and will continue? Thank you. Rose.
hi nabasa ko email mo sa stirbismus ang tanong ko saan kba nag opera ng mata? at magkano nagastos mo? ksi banlag din yung left eye ko gusto ko sana papaopera kso wala pa me alam na doctor pls email mee thnks hope u get well soon
hey everyone, I am Ahmad , 20 years old and live in oklahoma (USA).
ok so my right eye is perfect , but my left eye ball is going a bit to the left when i look straight.
I am thinking of having a surgery, what are the chances that this surgery will succeed??
my eyes are not that horrible, but my left one is going to the left side like i said.
so basically they are going to perform on the left eye only right?
do u know how much it would cost without insurance,
thanks everyone!
It’s nice to hear that many have had good outcomes from surgery. I am 34 and have had 2 strabismus surgeries. The first at the age of 5. The second at the age of 25. The first surgery was on the left eye that was turned inward. The second was because the doctors overcorrected my eye the first time. My eye was initially turned inward, then later began drifting outward. Having the surgery has helped me to have more self confidence as my eyes are aesthetically pleasing now. However, I suffer from horrible pain around the eye that was corrected. This pain is becoming a disability in itself. The doctor gave me prism lenses so my eye doesn’t work so hard to see. He said this would alleviate the pain. It hasn’t and I have not heard any other stories of similar pain. Is there any one who suffers from pain because of strabismus?
Can someone contact me for more info on strabismus, and where i can go to get it corrected?
follow this exercise to correct your left eye moving outward. early morning open both eyes wide, look upward as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then look down as hard as you can 30 seconds. second look straight both eyes as if your angry as hard as you can for 30 seconds. third move both eyes 360 degrees from left to right 30 seconds. do this am/pm for a week. you will feel and see the good results.
ahmad, cost range from $2000-$4000 here in the usa excluding the outpatient and inpatient services. try the eye exercise movement, your still young and the possibility is great with patience.
To Rose,
I had surgery for vertical strabismus in Oct 07 on my R eye, I also have superior oblique palsy. The problem is that the muscle they tend to operate on, the inferior oblique, very often strengthens and return partially to its pre-operative state hence you lose the improvement you might have had immediately post the op. This certainly happened to me and I am contemplating the second operation now.
I’d love to talk to you about your experiences and share mine. Many people’s strabismus experiences described on this blog are not related to oblique muscles and obliques are somewhat different with people strongly favouring one side, constantly holding their head sideways, and strong vision torsion to name but a few(do you get this too?).
In fact I am thinking that it’s almost worth starting a blog on the subject of dodgy oblique eye muscles and the hidden traumas they cause us the sufferers. It’s a less obvious squint that wreaks havoc with the rest of your body as it gets out of balance by constant tilting and twisting needed to adjust to see better.
I too agree with everything you said. I was born with it also. I am 41 years old and I know what it is like to be ridiculed, teased, stared at, treated differently, etc. I had surgery when I was 1 years old to correct it, it didn’t correct it. I have just learned to accept it amd love myself and feel beauty aside from all of that, let me tell you it has been hard. Other people don’t always accept it because of how the media is on how WE MUST LOOK PERFECT!!! Physical appearance is so important. Why is that? and all the hype on plastic surgery, we must fix every little flaw. It is a medical condition and does effect your vision. I have learned to compinsate. I wanted to go and have another surgery in my 30′s and went to an eye specialist and he said the surgery could make it worse, and to just leave it the way it is. So, I just try to go on and live with it.
Hello again, this is George. Kevin, I am glad your procedure went well. Sandra, good luck with your procedure in three days. Please let us know how it went. I had not blogged since my post op report in November because I lost this site. After about 4 months since my exotropia right eye strabismus surgery, I am very pleased with the results. It took about 2 months for the redness to completely go away. Before the surgery, I could hardly look at myself in the mirror. Now everyone looks straight into my eyes for the first time in sixty years (I am now 62). As the line in the song in the movie “Flashdance” says “Oh what a feeling”. I had strabismus surgery when I was 11 years old in 1956 in France, but they did not get it quite right. My right eye continued to drift out for the next 50 years until it was out 45 diopters. I could not stand it anymore, and eventhough I do not like to be put to sleep, I procastinated. I would like to say that I wished I had it done sooner, but what counts is that I had it done. Edward, The scaring from the 1956 procedure did not have any affect eventhough they did not have the expertise 53 years ago. The only negative thing I can report is that because I have had a lazy eye for 60 years, it is impossible for me to use both eyes. When I force myself to use both eyes, I see double. I do not mind becaue I am used to only using my left eye.
Hello again everybody, this is Sandra from Holland (Rotterdam).
George, good to hear you are doing fine and the condition of your eye is stable!
As the date of the operation is approaching (19th of February) I’m noticing I’m becoming a little bit scared and nervous. But I’m keeping my head cool because of the pregnancy (4 months). All these months the operation seemed so far away…
As soon as I can report some results (probalby on Friday?) I will definetely let you all know how it went.
I’ve got faith!
Sandra.
I’ve been noticing that atleast 90 percent of these posts have been nothing but negative experiences with strabismus surgery. Obviously if that was a real national or international statistic, strabismus surgery would not be performed.
It leads me to believe that most who experience negative results due to strabismus surgery are more likely to seek help online (or wherever it need be) than those who experience positive results.
I am fairly young (20 years of age) and am seeking to get strabismus surgery. I have been diagnosed with a mild case of exophoria and even though its mild, it still affects me very much so in that I have gone nights without sleeping because of my insecurities.
I have seen three different optometrists and they have all told me that surgery is not for me yet it is apparent(by me anyways) that both my eyes are not pointing in the same direction.
I have finally convinced an optometrist to send me to an opthalmologist which is next week. I will see how that goes, but I will definately push to get the surgery done ecause it has affected me negatively to the point where my self esteem has been shot to the ground. I also want to get full binoculor vision and see the world how it really should be seen.
I will update you guys on my situation and good luck to all of you who are getting the surgery/ or are dealing through their experiences. We have yet to hear from Sandra as I am very eager to see how she did.
Anyways, gl to all of you and talk to you later.
As with any surgery, there are risks. In the case of strabismus, after the initial risk of over or under correction, there is the possibility that the operated eye will drift over time (years if not decades). I had my first surgery as some of you know when I was 11 in France in 1957 which made my right eye better than before, but somewhat undercorrected. Over the next 50 years, it drifted slowly outward because I never used my right eye and never exercised it. About 5 years ago, I decided to patch my left eye and use my right eye as much as possible because when my left eye is covered, my right eye looks straight. I thought I was helping myself. After about a month, I noticed my right eye was a lot worse than before. At 62 years of age, last October, I had a very outward turned right eye so that I could not even look at myself in the mirror, so how could expect others to look at me directly? So finally after procrastinating for years, I had it done last October. I just had a check up at almost 5 months, and my right eye still appears straight with only a slight measured deviation. As many of you, I was scared to have it done. I reassured myself this way: Since I rarely if ever use my right eye, I was not going to go blind, and almost anything in terms of cosmetic appearance would be better than the way I was and the way I felt about it. So I convinced myself to have it done. I do not know if this type of rationalization works for you, but it did for me. I recommend you go with a well experience surgeon and get references from that surgeon. Also inquire about the anesthesiologist and the surgery center. It is like any other surgery-there are no guarantees, but with an experienced strabismus surgeon (at least 10 years), you should be fine.
Good luck to those of you considering this procedure. I know exactly how you feel.
George
Hello everybody,
Sandra from Holland (Rotterdam) here.
I was so preoccupied with many things (trying to finish my study before 27th of July before the baby arives, 20 weeks echo etc.) I didn’t even have the rest to let you all know how the operation went on the 19th of February.
A short update because I’m at work. Tonight, when I get home, I’ll write more.
The operation (local) in itself went very well, was not scared or anything during the operation. Saw everything but just trusted the surgeons.
Since the end of August my right eye was out for about 10 degrees. The operation brougt it back to 5 degrees.
Last week on the 5th of March I went for a check up at the Eye Hospital in Rotterdam. The lady (measuring etc.)was very pleased and asked me how I felt. I told her, that although the eye isn’t perfect straigth, I now felt confident and beautiful again looking at people.
She told me the eye is healing well, still a little bit red and that I could do anything again (make-up, swimming etc.).
She was pleased with the result because till 5 degrees, if someone doens’t know, he doesn’t see the eye is out. I think it’s true, becuase when I ask my cousins they don’t see it, only when they are standing very, very near to my face (like an inch or so).
When I look in the mirror I do see my eye is out for 5 degrees, but for me the result is ok for the moment, because now I want to start enjoying my life again (especially the pregnacny!).
When I look at the mirror now I almost look the same as I did before the end of August last year (then my eye suddenly turned out and I couldn’t look straight anymore).
So I feel as if I got my life back and that I can really enjoy now. It’s not only cosmetic, but also helpful for your selfesteem, feeling secure again.
For now a short update. Late in the evening I will let you know more.
Good luck to everybody who is considering an operation.
Greetings Sandra.
Hi Guys,
I was surfuring through the web and came across this site.
I know some people feel the site has a lot of negative results, but I feel most people are happy that they had the surgery.
I have had Strabismus since birth. For whatever reason surgery was never discussed. I too know people don’t know how to look at you or what to say. I have gone to several surgeons and most told me it was only cosmetic and I would have to pay a few thousand dollars out of pocket. Because of my problem my son’s pediatrician suggested a specialist for my son…he is fine thank god. With that visit I started seeing her, over the years she could see my muscles getting worse and my neck killing because if I put my head down and look up my eyes look straight..well it has done a job on my neck and back. So there goes the cosmetic part.
I am scheduled for March 18th and I am a bit nervous. I am hoping that once this is done I will be as happy as a lot of you are and not disappointed. I am now 49 amd wamt tp be able to see straight, hold my head straight and have people look at me and not turn away.
Any last minute thoughts or anything I should know that the surgeon might not have mentioned? She seems pretty confident that she can help me and straighten my head and eyes for good!
Thanks,
Tricia
Massachusetts/USA
Tricia, you may want to join and ask your question in our Eyes Apart Strabismus email support group at Yahoo also. You will get lots of answers and support there. Details are at the top right of this page, as well as every page on the site. There are links there to find out more info before you join, also.
Do check back here on this page also for responses!
Lois
i have estropia in my left eye it turns in, i can use both eyes together but i see better out of the right eye so i tend to use it more, i’ve wanted to have surgery done for 4 yrs ( i’m 24) but for some reason i couldn’t get the money or didn’t know alot about the insurance companies or which ones would pay for it. Well now this year i am getting it done by hook or crook(no pun intended) i am just so sick of wearing glass and know i’ll never stop wearing them until i get the surgery done so later on i can have lasik and get contact implants,however,after browsing this site it seems like there is alot of negative views on the surgery that doesn’t give me a lot of confidence, i mean i’ve always wondered how permanent the procedure is and what not, i don’t care really i’m sick of not having straight i want what everyone else has and it’s not fair, i know i may never get 20/20 vision but if i can achieve the cosmetic success i’ll be happy with that.
Thanks Lois I will take a look.
I wish I knew years ago that there was a support group? It would have helped many times to talk to others that understand how I feel. Well I am down to two days and a few hours in counting…will touch base shortly.
Thanks again!
Tricia
I was born with strabismus and had surgery to correct my right eye when I was 2yrs old. I went through most of my life with one eye turning in (depending on which eye I was looking out of). I remember hearing the words “Are you looking at me?”, thousands of times as a child. My self-esteem suffered severely as a child, teenager and as a mother. I truly believe I would be a different person today, had my parents made the difficult decision to have both eyes corrected when I was young. Don’t get me wrong, I had wonderful, loving parents and I am happy with who I am. I just know I would be more assertive, social and confident had my eyes been straight. I searched for years to find a surgeon willing to operate on my other eye. I finally had the 2nd surgery to correct my left eye when I was in my early 30′s. There was a lot of scar tissue from my first surgery, but I had a very well-known surgeon. My left eye is slightly smaller than my right and I notice that my eyes aren’t completely straight, but others do not. My only complaint is that I am now 38 and I still get very painful headaches It feels as though my muscles are still trying to pull my eyes inward, but this is transparent to anyone else as most do not know that I ever had strabismus. Botox helps with the pain, but it’s expensive to continue regularily. The one thing I would say to all the parent’s of children with strabismus… please know that it will effect your child’s self-esteem, confidence, personality and social skills if you do not have your childs eyes straightened when they are young. It was the source of the only bad memories I have of my younger years.
I agree with you Marie 100%.
I tried to have my eyes done in my 20′s, but no doctor would touch me because of my age, they thought it was to risky to have my brain and eyes adjust after all these years.
Finally, I found someone that didn’t jump into it, but saw the strain on my head, neck and back because the way I hold my head to try and straighten my eyes–so she did the surgery on March 18th. I am doing OK–my eyes are now straight, except if my head is down and I look up then my left eye will wonder out–it probably doesn’t know what to do.
All in all after all the years of teasing and listening to all the “beautiful” people try to convince me that beauty is within…try walking in our shoes! I am glad I did it and just hope that it stays and after getting used to where my eyes should be looking I can reduce the wondering?