Lazy <span title="eye/strabismus/exotropia/esotropia">eye/strabismus/exotropia/...</span> anyone?

Question

Well my condition really isnt lazy eye, but thats what everyone thinks its called....mine is really called alternating exotropia, its when my eyes drift outward sometimes, they are not aligned all the time... well Im having surgery to repair it, has anyone else gone through this surgery?

Answer 1

I had surgery to correct exotropia when I was 35.  The surgery went great.  It did feel like I had a fish hook in my eye for a day, but the pain was very tolerable and I drove 2 days after surgery.  The only problem is my eye still felt the same way (which is what really bothered me), but it did correct it cosmetically.

Seven years later, my eye is starting to turn out again and I find out the only permanent fix is to have it done at a very young age.

For 7 years I would have told any one to have it done.  The surgery was no problem at all.

Good Luck!

Answer 2

I agree with the Doc.

Answer 3

Common procedure.  If you have not suppressed one eye in the brain yet, the surgery should help.  There are no proprioceptive fibers in eye muscles. So you align your eyes by visual input, then the brain lines the images up. If you have amblyopia, the surgery will be cosmetic only.

Answer 4

I went through that surgery at age 2 (but actually for esotropia, where eyes turn in). But now, I have alternating exotropia, proving that the surgery actually did nothing to help me. The surgery also does nothing to fix how your eyes function together (which will get worse if your condition develops into lazy eye. mine eventually did). I recommend vision therapy, which I did at age 10, but can be done at any age. It not only made my eyes straight, but I can now control when my eye moves out. Keep your options open girl, I really don&#039;t recommend surgery, as it could easily over or under correct the alignment. Consider vision therapy!

Answer 5

If your eyes drift sometimes its called intermittent exotropia.  Alternating means you have the ability to fixate with either eye but one is always turned out.  You could have intermittent alternating exotropia.  My advice.... be careful.  Make sure you are in good hands with the surgeon you choose.  Because you have functional vision and I presume you are out of the visual development stage, this is elective surgery.  The odds of having a functional cure to obtain binocular vision and stereopsis through a surgery are very slim.  This is primarily a procedure to cosmetically  make your eyes look straight.  If you are not experiencing double vision at this time, you might want to get a second opinion on the risks and realistic expectations of this surgery.

Vision therapy is a consideration but it doesn&#039;t eliminate the problem. In simple terms, it builds up muscle coordination to compensate for the eye turn.  It takes dedication.  Vision therapy can be used after surgery as well to improve results.  Good luck!