Strabismus Question

Hi there,

I am 37 years old. I grew up with a "lazy" right eye. My left eye is 20/20. My right eye has poor vision. Back in the late 1990's, I went in for eye muscle surgery to straighten out my eyes. It was initially a success. About 3 years back, I started to notice some wandering in pictures taken of me. Now mind you, with Facebook and digital cameras/phones all over the place, it seems I see a lot more of the pics taken of me. For example, back 10 years ago, I might go to a family gathering and be in family photos, but i rarely ever saw the pics. They just went into an album somewhere. Now they all go on to Facebook.

Fastforward to this year and I was diagnosed with narrow angle glaucoma. After going thru those laser procedures, I asked the Doc to shoot straight (no pun intended) and tell me how much they eye had moved back out. He did some testing, and estimated it to be 35 diopters out. He is not a strabismus doctor tho, so it might not be totally accurate. Anyway, my questions are as follows.

Where does 35 diopters fall in the range of strabismus. For example, I know the 50 yard line is in the middle of the football field, but how does 35 diopters stack up. Is that severe, mild?

Second, I dont think that I had the adjustable kind of surgery last time. Is that something to think about when choosing my Doctor. I have an appt with the original surgeon in October, but am trying to put together some good questions to help me make a good decision. I am hoping this is not something that i will need to do every 10 years.

Thanks!!

Mike

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

35 diopters is a moderate amount about the 50 yard line.   The main problem you have is poor vision in eye which does not allow good fusion.  A person without strabismus may develop it when the vision in one eye becomes poor.

An adjustable suture allow fine adjustments a few days after surgery.

Dr. O.