strabismus

in a bimedal rectus recession surgery what is done to the eyes. the muscle in the inturning eye is put back what is done to the other eye???

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

It is is Bimedial that means the medial rectus of BOTH eyes is recessed or moved back a few millimeters to in effect weaken the effect of the medial rectus muscles and help the eyes turn outward some.

MJK MD

[sarah43]

If medial rectus muscle in both eyes are moved back to weaken them- Are both muscles moved back the same amount? And if this is the case then isnt the medial rectus muscles in the main focussing eye loosened unnecessary?

[sarah43]

what would you say the recovery time would be for a bimedial rectus surgry. In terms of completely healing and say time off work(max)??? How long would you say it wold take for double vision to subside if it occurs??/

[JodieJ]

Those are really questions that you should ask your surgeon.  I think there is a lot of variation in recovery time.  I had a medial rectus recession in only my left eye.  My double vision was gone immediately after surgery.  My eye was red, but I felt fine.  The entire procedure was painless; I never even needed a Tylenol.  Best wishes for excellent results.

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

The doctor simply follows a standard nomogram based on the prism diopters of esotropia.  If you are having a bimedial recession, usually the same millimeters of recession is done on both eyes.  Your are trying to bring the eyes together into fusion.  If surgery successful, double vison can be fixed right away or a day or so.  There is a 10-20 chance or so of needing second surgery (ask  your surgeon for exact numbers.)  I would think you  could return to work in 3 or 4 days but may look very red and not feeling back to normal for a few weeks.

MJK MD

[sarah43]

thank you so much for taking time to reply. Its just that i met the surgeon once and didnt realise i wouldnt be meeting him again until the day of surgery. He did give me a 90 % chance of success in only one operation. He did however say my eye may drift out in time. he didnt give me a percentage for this. what do you think.Also he would slightly undercorrect for this and for double vision..Thanks