When would surgery be required to treat strabismus? Most children with significant strabismus will require surgery to realign the eyes. Sometimes, prescription sunglasses may help realign the eyes; however this will seldom fix larger degrees of misalignment.
Strabismus surgery will not treat amblyopia (lost vision from disuse of an eye). The best treatment for amblyopia is an eye path.
What is done before surgery? Once the decision to have surgery has been made, the ophthalmologist must make some measurements to plan for surgery. This involves the use of prisms, which quantify the amount of strabismus present and will later on guide the ophthalmologist during surgery.
What type of anesthesia is used for surgery? Strabismus surgery is performed under general anesthesia. This means that the child is asleep during surgery and cannot feel pain during the procedure.
How is the surgery performed? Once the child has been put to sleep, the surgeon begins by making tiny incisions through which he/she can reach the muscles.
Next, the surgeon either strengthens or weakens one or more of the extraocular muscles. For example, if the muscle that pulls the eye outwards is too strong (such as in exotropia), the surgeon may weaken that muscle and/or strengthen the muscle that pulls the eye inwards.
Strengthening the muscle is done by decreasing the length of the muscle, whereas weakening of the muscle is done by attaching the muscle to a different location.
The surgery is usually done with minimal blood loss, and the results can be evident as soon as the surgery is complete.
How long does the surgery take? Often, strabismus surgery is completed in less than one hour. However, this may vary according to the doctor and the patient.
What will the eye look like after surgery? In most patients, the alignment of the eye will be noticeably improved right after surgery. However, the eye operated on will be red. This redness will take a few weeks to completely go away.
Is one surgery always enough? Sometimes, a second surgery may be required to further correct the strabismus. However, most patients require only one surgery.
Will my child have scars around their eye after surgery? With modern surgical techniques, there will be minimal if any noticeable scars around the eye after surgery.
