Lazy Eye

[Prince85]

I was born with Catract & I was operated when I was 8 months old. The doctor in the report stated that, the operation was successful, however the left eye would be slightly weak & none of my family members went thru the report since it consisted of nearly 15 pages which had information about the various stages/ tests/ & operations of each eye that took place.

Now when I was nearly 15 years old I realised that the vison in my left eye was less as compared to that of the right eye. The doc then looked into it & then checked out the reports & stated that the other doc who had operated the eyes had mentioned that the left eye would be slightly weak. So now this particular doc came to a conclusson that my left eye's muscle was weak & thatz why it had become lazy as was also not being used & suggested a patch on the right eye to fix this prob. I hardly used the patch for 20 mins & then discarded it as I was satisfied that atleast I can see very clearly with one eye when I wera spectacles.

Today I am 26 yrs old & since 2 yrs I realised that now the left eye vison has become worst than before &  if I look straight with the right eye, the left eye would tend to move towards the left(kind of crossed eye). This is now causing major problems with regards to my work, as I have to interact with so many people each day & this is very embarrasing. Morever I am wearing bifocals & the number is very high, appoximatly +11.5.

So my main concern is what can be done to fix this prob. & if my visson cannot be fixed, atleast can the lazy eye(cosemtic prob) be fixed. Although I work on the comp for nearly 12 hours a day and itz difficult to work on the comp with 1 eye, but I have got used to it and can manage that, but would be great ful if the lazy eye can be fixed.

Hope to hear a positive response from u at the earliest.

[Prince85]

Thanks for your instant reply.

Just wanted t clarify a few things out here. I was born with cataract in both eyes. I was born in Lagos, Nigeria. The cataract surgery took place in London when I was 8 months old & now I am in India at the moment since 4 years. One of the optician had recently diagonosed the problem as esotrophia in the left eye.

Just to inform you, that in my case the problem is not hereditary as no one in my family has this problem. Also that I agree that I have major loss of vison in the left eye, but the left eye behvaves like a kind of a crossed eye, only when I have worked on the computer for a few hours together or when I am very tired, it's then that people can notice the abnormal behaviour of the eye. Also to mention, my left cannot tolerate the camera flash & behaves as a crossed in the photo which clearly shows that I am not looking straight.

So my question is, apart from surgery is there any other quick cosmetic heal. The reason I guess people can notice my lazy is because my number is very high approx +11.5, so a slight movement in the eye can be noticed by people as the eye is magnified & they can notice this easily whie I am speaking to them.

Anyways, I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you..

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

If you were born with a congenital cataract on one eye only then that eye is almost never as good as the other eye that does not have a cataract. That cataract eye is amblyopia.  The position of the eyes is a second problem and that is called strabismus. If the amblyopic eye crosses it is called esotrophia.

You should see a Eye MD physician ophthalmolgist strabismus specialist to discuss surgery to make the eye look straighter. It willnot help the eye see better.

This problem is often hereditary so if you have children or nieces/nephews they need to be watched for amblyopia and strabismus.

Find an Eye MD ophthalmologist in the USA at www.aao.org
JCH III MD