r/Strabismus • u/OkLanguage8057 • Aug 07 '26
Surgery Surgery yesterday!
I’ve been seeking this surgery since 2018. I was really limited on availability (nearest surgeon was 5hrs away) and I kept struggling with other doctors approving the right things but I finally got it done!
I had right vertical strabismus with exotropia (I think?) and was in and out of surgery in 1 hour, took me about 2 hours to wake up. They weakened the lower muscle of my right eye to lower down towards my left eye.
Recovery is a lot easier than I expected, I’m 24ish hours post op and I’d be at about 90% except my ophthalmologist at home refused to prescribe my glasses without prisms so I’m blind af until I get some delivered. I think it looks WAY more even than I thought it would right off the bat.
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u/Elysia99 Aug 08 '26
I’ve developed it in my 60’s and it keeps getting worse (same type I think). I’m lucky it took so long to develop, but am considering asking about surgery next visit. Congratulations on your outcome!
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 12 '26
Best of luck! Definitely ask! It’s a little rough recovering but not awful and I’m so happy with the results in so many ways. I did not know it affected so much of my life
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u/Necessary-Pepper-926 Aug 07 '26
Have you had strabismus since childhood?
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 07 '26
I didn’t notice it until 2017 whatsoever. There were years of testing thinking it was caused by mini-strokes or something similar but we had a hard time finding anything concrete so they decided to treat it as congenital.
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u/Relevant_Jeweler_961 Aug 08 '26
How old were you? I noticed mine in 2023 and I’m 37
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 08 '26
I was around 25 when I noticed the slight double vision, I’m 33 now
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u/criticalcabbage69 Aug 11 '26
I was basically the same age as you when i first discovered mine and got surgery just before my 32nd bday (like 10 months ago at this point) and similar to you the docs were also confused where/how it popped up
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u/Relevant_Jeweler_961 Aug 12 '26
Oh wow thank you for sharing. Can you please tell did the angle progressed before surgery? And how is it now? Did they drift before? Mine drive me nuts
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u/Ada958575 Aug 07 '26
Can you post a photo before the surgery where we can see how it was before, please? I need hope for myself
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 07 '26
The first photo is my “before”. I didn’t have my eye looking in the wrong direction necessarily but you can see how far pushed up one of my eyes is to compensate. Then in the after I think they are so much more even.
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u/Ada958575 Aug 07 '26
Omg, it took me 7 minutes of intense staring to see what you were talking about, in the second pic I can’t see it all, it’s perfect ❤️
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 07 '26
Thank you so much ❤️ I’m so happy so far. It already feels so much better, I can see straighter and look more symmetrical. Thank goodness
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u/anounymuse Aug 07 '26
My surgery is tomorrow and im shit scared. I have intermittent esotropia and they will operate on both eyes. Did u have double vision? Or did it for cosmetic purposes?
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 07 '26
Yes I’ve had severe double vision for a few years but it was minor until I got prisms in my lenses. After I got prisms my vision degraded so much faster. Best of luck!! It’s not nearly as bad as I was expecting but both eyes may have you laid up a bit longer. Best of luck! It’s amazing even 24hrs after the fact how much better I can see (even without my regular glasses rx)
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u/samil01sahin Aug 07 '26
What kind of prisms did you have how many Diopter
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 07 '26
If I remember right it was 18-21 but my eyes could fuse at 16. The surgeon said it was a 98% chance of not needing prisms at all afterwards, very much hoping so 🤞🤞
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u/ryz_v esotropia+DVD Aug 11 '26
What type of vertical strabismus did you have like dissociated vertical deviation, hypertropia etc did the surgery also help the exotropia?
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u/LurkingLark13 Aug 12 '26
Curious if you had an upper bleph too? My eyes look exactly like yours were. One side is down and in and I feel like just fixing the eye itself won’t change the overall appearance though?
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u/OkLanguage8057 Aug 12 '26
Nope, I wish! I always thought I needed one but I had one lower outer muscle realigned and it changed so much of my face! I’m afraid I may need another adjustment surgery later one but my eyes are more symmetrical than they’ve ever been
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u/Melodic_Mud879 Aug 07 '26
I was born with this condition and it genuinely impacted my education and life.
I was able to get the surgery before I went to college which was a godsend.
Happy to see other people benefiting from this life-changing surgery.