[Liz1967]

#1060745

I had strabismus surgery 7 weeks ago and thought I would post my course for others contemplating this surgery. First of all, this is a difficult surgery and sometimes a second surgery is needed to get it right. I am lucky that it worked the first time for me. It was done under general anesthesia and no adjustable suture was placed. I had been wearing a stick on prism prior to surgery for about 15 diopters of esotropia (horizontal) and I also had about 14 degrees of torsion (twisted vision). Two muscles were moved on the left, one on the right. The surgery took short of two hours and I awoke to very blurry and still double vision. Both eyes had subconjunctival hemorrhages. We drove home 5 hours in the car after leaving recovery about an hour later and the ride didnt really bother me. I never really had any irritation or foreign body sensation and used steroid/antibiotic ointment for five days. The red went away in two weeks. The double vision persisted for 5-1/2 weeks, during which time it would get progressively a little bit better each day. After the first few days, I could suddenly fuse into single vision at two feet. This progressed over the next weeks into fusing at eight feet, across the room, across the street, but it was a struggle and would often break down in late afternoon. At five weeks, I still could not fuse at all riding in a car and still not solid elsewhere. Then suddenly it all clicked. I was double riding to the store and single coming home and it has remained single. I have about ten minutes after awakening where it is double but it quickly corrects. I will always see double to the sides and if I look down without moving my head, but most people turn their heads anyway. My reading vision has always been single, fortunately. So my experience with this surgery has been good. The month of seeing double was no picnic, they do not want you to use a prism or cover one eye during this period. The results were life changing. My next surgery is additional lid surgeries and then hopefully I am done. It has been three years since it all began. My advice is to carefully choose your surgeon. Muscles are tricky in the most experienced hands. I am of course delighted to see one of everything and be able to drive on expressways again, which I never felt comfortable doing with the Fresnel prisms.

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