After 17 years since my first microstrabismus left eye surgery, I may need a 2nd one. I had a microstrabismus surgery on the left eye at age 13, now I'm 30. The surgery was succesful but did not correct the strabismus 100%. I started having double vision again once I went to college with all the studying and late nights. However, I did not consider it to be serious until now, that I had my second son. I would say that I have double vision 70% of the time, and being constantly tired does not help. I have consulted a doctor who suggests a strabismus surgery on my -right- eye. I will get a second opinion but my appointment is not until the end of October. I have farsightedness and I do not want to wear glasses anymore, in fact I'm considering a refractive eye surgery in the future. With this brief background, my questions are: Is surgery my only alternative? If so, is it common and more accurate to operate on the healthy eye since the muscles have never been "moved"? Somebody mentioned that there is a new procedure in which a liquid (poison?) is injected in the muscle, is that true? I would appreciate any comments/suggestions that you may have. Thank you!!
Dear Tatiana, Several things remain unexplained in your writing: At age 13, before surgery, did you have double vision ? This would be highly unusual for a patient with microstrabismus (strabismus up to 6 degrees whereby the patient sees the centre of the visual field with one eye and the surround with both eyes). Then, if you are having double vision, do you squint inward or outward ? When squinting inward, why don"t you wear plus glasses or plus contact lenses, because that would solve your problem. Refractive surgery works reasonably well with near- but not with farsightedness. The poison (botulinum toxin) is no alternative in your case either, because that only works for three months.
Yours truly,
(Herb Simonsz, MD, PhD)
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