Strabismus Surgery Recovery

[gabesgurl]

Hello. I'm a 25 year-old female and I have coped with exotropia in my left eye for the majority of my life. I had eye muscle surgery two weeks ago to correct the alignment and the surgeon overcorrected my eye, (which I understand is typical for this type of surgery). I was told that the overcorrection was slightly more than what the surgeon would have liked, but he said that in time the inflammation will subside, my eye will relax and it SHOULD drift slightly outward as is typical for exotropic patients. My concern is that since I had the procedure done many, many years ago (unknown by me until after this surgery) the previous surgery will have a heavy affect on the healing process and outcome of this surgery. Right now my left eye is quite noticably turned inward and the inflammation is to such a degree that the tissue almost touches my pupil. Should I wait for the swelling to subside and anticipate an outward drifting after that time? Is there an average amount of time in which patients would experience this? Am I experiencing a normal recovery?    

[yourfriend26]

Expect to wait 2-3 months for any real results. Your brain needs time to readjust. After my surgery, I frantically searched the Internet for reassurance that I was not stuck with an overcorrection. Let me tell you about myself - I was born with my left eye turned very inward plus DVD (upwards turn). I had three surgeries at 11 months old, but the problem was never fixed and I never gained 3D or stereoscopic vision. At 18, I got laser eye surgery, which strengthened my left eye since now it could see clearly. That is when I found out I didn't see in 3D and my eyes weren't straight; I had no idea! Right after that terrific news, off to university I go. I've had three surgeries since then (bring left eye down, bring left eye out, and bring left eye in). I just turned 25, and my last surgery was 7 weeks ago. Each time my recover has been DIFFERENT. This time, the overcorrection did not start looking kinda straight until week 3, and didn't start looking pretty straight until week 6. DON'T FREAK OUT PEOPLE! It's a really awful condition to be born with, but at least we can see :) hang tight <3

[JohnHaganMD]

Thank you for sharing your experience and best of luck.

[Kerrplat]

My 5 year old son had surgery on July 14 to correct a lazy eye turning outward. Both eyes were operated on. Right after surgery, his left eye was turned almost all the way inward (crossed), and I was very worried. I had read about over-correction and was hoping his eye would adjust while healing. We had 3 follow ups over the weeks post-surgery, to measure the deviation.  It took the full 8 weeks before the eye came out closer to midline, but it's still turned in a bit....there is rarely any further recovery after 8 weeks, so he now has to have a second strabismus surgery (in 3 weeks) to correct the one eye that was over-corrected. I'm praying this will resolve the issue! So sad for my son to have to endure another surgery, but I want the best outcome for him, so I'm trusting in the doctor's advice.

[kristalkel]

Hi all, would really appreciate your comments!! My son has had strabimus surgery 4 days ago, this is his second surgery, this time his eye was drifting only slightly outwards. Now after surgery his eye is facing extremely inward. I did after surgery say that it looked very inward to the surgeon and he said like others have said that he would want a slight over correction as it will adjust. My concern is that this looks drastically over corrected as it is now sat in the corner. How long did it take after surgery for the overcorrection to correct itself?
Were you all overcorrected?

[klumpii]

Have to agree with Lizzy70. I had strabismus surgery Nov 2013 and also was optimistic about a quick healing time of 2-3 days like seemingly most others but for me it was so difficult I actually suffered a bout of depression TWO MONTHS LATER. (Granted, I am already medicated for depression - but hadn't experienced a low like this in years!) The surgery itself wasn't bad; the only real pain I experienced was a terrible headache that was immediately knocked out seemingly moments later. My husband was a fantastic nurse and we followed doctor's orders to a T. I took 2 weeks off work to heal. I did not experience dry eyes or eyes that were glued shut; rather, I experienced a "pulling" sensation for a couple days, and felt a bit of an improvement. Then, the absolute worst was when a "pins and needles" feeling started occurring when looking in certain directions. The agony lasted about a week, and brought me to tears. The doc recommended refrigerating the medicated drops which provided some relief; but I pretty much lived on hydrocodone from a previous surgery till it subsided. Then, where a black string (suture) was visible and trying to be "swallowed up" by my eyeball, the actual healing process of that particular area developed what appeared to be a disgusting zit. The doc set up a "slightly urgent" appt to see me. I refused to let anyone look at them until they numbed my eyes because I still had the pins and needles sensation. Doc said all was normal, I'm healing well, I was having a couple of bad days while healing, it's common...and told me to ditch my current two drops and use Tylenol instead of hydrocodone. He gave me a free sample of another kind of drops and a quick healing of that nasty bump occurred, thankfully. The pins and needles were gone at this point. As far as how my eyes looked, well, they looked red for more than a month (I had surgery in one eye; 2 in the other.). Coworkers constantly asked when they'd be white again and I said I didn't know. I was unable to look at a full-screen monitor for more than a few hours a day at work because my eyes would get so fatigued I developed a headache. One eye still moves back to position a little slowly, but the other snaps back immediately. Clearly there is a big improvement. (Nobody could ever tell I had crossing eyes; I was able to "put them back into position" if anyone were to face me - did so for decades; it just became more and more difficult to do so with age.) However, I now have double vision, which I accept may be permanent. Not too concerned about it though because I only experience it when moving my eyeballs far away from where my field of vision is most important. Overall I consider the surgery, although not an exact science, a success and I am satisfied - my eyes are perfectly aligned; but I am well aware I may need it again in the distant future. Not looking forward to that!!

[elaineinqueens]

I had strabismus surgery last May.  The worst pain was when I first woke up from the surgery.  I complained a lot while in recover and they gave me Tylenol and a cold wet compress.  The compress did wonders.  At home I used ziplock bags filled with frozen peas because they conform to the shape of the eyes better.  That helped a lot.  When my eyes dried out a lot a few days afterwards, I went to CVS and bought some artificial tears.  They made a huge difference, so you might want to try those.  Incidentally, I'm having my second surgery 10 days from now.  My surgeon corrected my outer muscles with the first surgery, but it wasn't quite enough, so doing the inner muscles for the next one.  

[Lizzy_70]

I just had strabismus surgery 9 days ago and I too was under the impression it was only a 2-3 day healing process! Hahaha! NOT!!!! I have a very high pain tolerance level and don't normally complain!!
My eyes are so dry, sore and itchy. I literally want to rip them out:( I am not producing tears so my eyes are just dried out!!!
I tried to go back to work after taking a week off. I only lasted an hour before I was going out of my mind with pain!
If anyone else has had their eyes dry out after this surgery, please let me know!
Thank you

[gerald61]

I am 41 male.  I had the strabismus surgery 3 weeks ago.  I still have double vision.  I hoping for a huge turnaround in a week or so.  This was my 1st surgery.  I developed this double vision 2 years ago.  never had trouble with eyes before.  my right off was off just a little bit.  Only noticeable to doctors. The surgent said he was happy with results now up to brain to adjust.  I have noticed that I get drizzle after working on computer after awhile.  I feel like my equilibrium is off.    

[gerald61]

I am 41 male.  I had the strabismus surgery 3 weeks ago.  I still have double vision.  I hoping for a huge turnaround in a week or so.  This was my 1st surgery.  I developed this double vision 2 years ago.  never had trouble with eyes before.  my right off was off just a little bit.  Only noticeable to doctors. The surgent said he was happy with results now up to brain to adjust.  I have noticed that I get drizzle after working on computer after awhile.  I feel like my equilibrium is off.    

[LanaDooley]

Thank you for your reply, my "overcorrection" is getting much better after 6 weeks.

[CrazyJBiker]

When I had strabismus surgery back in February of this year, I saw no improvement at all for almost three weeks (it was purposely over-corrected) and I began to lose hope. I saw no change in my "overcorrection" until midway through week three. My vision didn't "fuse" until close to week four! Point of the story: Don't lose hope.  

[LanaDooley]

I'm 54 yrs. old. I had a strabismus surgery 2 weeks  ago to fix my  outward eye. My surgeon is very happy with the result, but I see he overcorrected it, and now it is inward. I red if no improvement at all has occurred in the first 2 weeks the overcorrection will be permanent. I'm very disappointed with the result. Has anyone had the same?

[angryeye]

Hello I'm a 32 year old woman an I had strabismus surgery 18 days ago I was not born with a crossed eye but a slightly lazy eye after the birth of my second child at age 24 my right eye began to turn outward I hated it so I had this surgery an it looks to me that my eye probably was overcorrected its now turned inward I'm still red in my eye an I'm very unhappy with the out come u was just praying for things to go well for me really don't care to go threw this again so hopefully time gives me better results.Mrs.angryeye

[Patticake801]

Does anyone have a thyroid related strabismus problem where one eye looks DOWN??? Which muscles would they operate on to fix this....doc says he would go in on the lower part of the eye but I read to correct the opposite problem(eye looking up) they go to the lower part of the eye????

[melindaaa]

I am 19 yrs old and I have suffered from strabismus since 2.My right eye goes inward and my left eye turns inward just a little bit.It is really depressing and embarrassing. I am planning to have a surgery after my graduation. The thing is that I am really concerned whether the surgery's going to be effective or not,or whether I'm gonna need to have another surgery after my first one. I actually wanted to have this surgery since I was 12 but I was really afraid of the results. Could you guys give me some advice whether to have the surgery or not? Thanks a lot

[Mack89]

I had the op as a child to correct my inward turning right eye. After a few years of straight eyes, the same right eye began to turn outward and got progressively worse as the years went on. I had the op again to correct this.
My problem is this; I had the surgery back in June and the surgeon over corrected the exotropia, which I was assured is the norm. Over the following five months or so, the sutures dissolved, the swelling subsided and the eye started to straighten up. I woke up yesterday morning with a really bad pain on the inside of the eye and later in the day noticed the eye was really red.
This morning I woke up and the redness was drastically reduced and the pain was a lot better but I noticed the eye seems to be looking inward again. I'm going to see my surgeon as soon as possible to discuss this but just wondered if you could shed some light on this? have you ever encountered this before?

Thanks in advance

[Nia222]

My daughter had the surgery on this past Thursday. The redness seems to be going away but on the outer part of her eyeball there is a big clear bubble. Looks like it's filled with liquid. I took her back to ER and they said it was a conjunctival cyst that wasn't a big deal. Well it's a big deal to me when it's bulging out and causing her to barely be able to keep that eye open. She was given tobamycin (sp?) it has an antibiotic and steroid in it. She is acting better today but this "bubble" in her eye has to go!!!! Someone please tell me if you know anything about this. Thanks

[yemi1980]

Im 30 years old. i had my eyes surgery last week friday. my  redness is still there and swollen. my question is that how long will the swollen goes down. i was giving Tobradex. Please advise. email address is ***@****

[vleonardo]

i have esotropia on my left eye...my eye turns toward my nose and up....it really bothers me....big time...to the point i dont even want to have pictures taken of me...etc etc etc....i had surgery when i was about 17, now im 30....the problem seemed to go away after surgery....but starting 2 or 3 years ago i started noticing my eye started to turn inwards again!!! im in chicago now....and i really think i need a second surgery.....i went to a doctor here....when i google i can only find one doctor that has a clinic in western avenue or something....is he my only choice? i went to see him , he evaluated me and he said..."one possibility is that u can go blind during surgery or that u may end up the same way u were at the very beginning....i scheduled surgery and everything and then i backed up...does anybody here know who is the BEST DOCTOR in chicago to do this? theres got to be some name, theres got to be someone here....i just cant find anybody ...if u can help me please....my email is ***@**** thanks a lot....

[BrianF21]

I had my eye surgery 10 days ago.  I was n,ot born with a cross eye (although i had strabismus issues when tired according to my step-dad, who is an optometrist.  No obvious turning of my eye but having double vision.), but developed a crossed eye due to a physical injury. The redness is almost gone and swelling went away within two days.  It's been 10 days since my surgery and my eyes appear to be straight.  Yesterday I was having perfect vision, not double whatsoever, however today I'm experiencing double vision again.  Also, when trying to look at things with my peripheral vision I see double. I was wondering if in time my brain will correct itself and I'll regain my old single-vision.  Thank You.

Brian Fitzgerald  

[ishansdad]

HELLO, I HAD STRABISMUS SURGERY THIS PAST MONDAY.  I'M 38 YRS OLD AND HAVE SUFFERED FROM THE CONDITION SINCE EARLY CHILDHOOD.  I AM HEALING WELL.  I DIDN'T HAVE ANY DOUBLE VISION AT ALL!  MY SWELLING AND THE REDNESS ARE GOING AWAY AND I FEEL BETTER WITH EACH PASSING DAY.

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

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[JodieJ]

After reading your posts, it's certain that you just can't generalize about recovery from strab surgery.  I must have really lucked out when I had my strab surgery in '05 (at age 50).  For whatever reasons, my recovery was quick and totally pain-free.  Based on my own research, it can be a number of weeks before the surgical results are stable.   However, in my case, there was little (actually, virtually no) change in my eye alignment from one day post-op.  (I had no overcorrection.)  With such great differences among patients, I can imagine that it's hard for even an experienced strab surgeon to predict what recovery will be like for each individual.  

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

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[JupiterCat]

I had strabismus surgery 6 weeks ago and my eye still is red and sore. This was not a re-op. My physician says everything is healing well and I can tell that my vision is much improved. The eye was slightly over corrected, but now has settled into its proper place

Nevertheless, I suspect that many physicians who work mostly with children "forget" than adults heal MUCH more slowly. I was NOT prepared for the recovery to be so long--or so painful. I had cataract surgery a year ago and that was nothing compared to this...I still cannot believe that after giving me morphine in the hospital, they sent me home to Tylenol! The pain after the heavy hospital drugs wore off was awful. Yet, I was led to believe this surgery was a 2-3 day recovery. WRONG.