[snelsen]

#1018537

Hi, I would like to hear the experiences of people who have had strabismus surgery (eye muscle surgery) Did you have a general anesthesia, or local with sedation (meaning that you were kept asleep with an IV sedation of propofol.)
I am especially interested in hearing from people who have not had a general. I reviewed the strabismus surgeries in Search, but the topic was not addressed.

[Bobbi]

#1065562

Jake would probably be the person to best respond to your question, Shirley. And, he still may. But since your question has been sitting here for a while, I thought I would tell you what I learned, from Jake, long ago. He described his strabismus surgeries. There is apparently some initial point during the surgery during which the patient is not aware, but you must be aware and able to direct the surgeon as he/she adjusts the eye muscles to eliminate the doubling. Whatever anesthesia is given to allow the surgeon to get into position around the muscles may be minimal — or local. I do not know. But since you have to be functioning during the surgery — mentally, physically able to direct the surgeon — whatever the anesthetic is it cannot be one that puts you into any type of deep sleep.

[Sue_Conard]

#1065563

Bobbi: Do you know how many Strabismus surgeries Jake had to go through before he had "perfect vision".

[snelsen]

#1065564

Thank you, Bobbi, for your response. The background for my question is that the surgeon who probably will do this surgery wants a general. The surgeons who do this surgery are always pediatric surgeons, and I can understand why they usually prefer a general for kids, along with parents. There is no possibility that a person can be conscious at a certain point if they have a general anesthesia, for that means a patient is intubated. But it certainly is possible if you are asleep with IV sedation, for that would enable the pt. to wake up enough to assess their eyes. To date, i have not found anyone who has had anything bot a general, and have not found a surgeon who does not want a general.
I hope to hear more from someone who has "walked the walk!" I think I read Jake’s old email, I will searcht he archives again.
Seems to me he had seven surgeries? I am sure he will write pretty soon…
Shirley

[Bobbi]

#1065565

In response to Sue’s question, I’m not sure how many eye surgeries Jake had. I’m pretty sure that it is more than a dozen. Just think LOTS.

[Ski]

#1065566

Not all of Jake’s surgeries were strabismus surgeries ~ just a point of clarification. Hopefully he’ll have some time to jump in on this one!

I understood the same as Bobbi did, that the patient had to be able to assist the surgeon in aligning the eyes properly, so they had to be under some kind of "forget-about-it" sedation rather than a general. I didn’t have the surgery though, so can’t speak from personal experience.

Make SURE you are dealing with a surgeon who has a lot of experience doing this specific surgery for GD patients. Hopefully one who is affiliated with ASOPRS (http://www.asoprs.org). The issues are much different than in any other type of surgery, since the muscles can be affected differently from eye to eye.

[snelsen]

#1065567

I went to the site, I know all docs mentioned there, but none are pediatric ophthamologists, and I am pretty sure none of them do strabismus surgery. There are six listed, and I know four of them don’t, for I am going to two of them, and they re the ones who recommended me to the strabismus peds eye doc. Interesting!

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