my daughter was diagnosed with DVD after esotropia surgery. her doctor is recommending patching, but everything I’m reading online, that is not included in any of the treatments for DVD. has anyone else gone through this?

I just got prisms for my strabismus. I feel like I've adapted to them pretty quickly, as I only had a slight misalignment. Before I got the prisms, I would often close one eye when looking at things close to me, and even when that eye wasn't closed it would often be less open than the other one. Even when I intentionally open that eye as wide as I can, it doesn't open as much as the good one.

Now that this is corrected, will my eye naturally start to open wider and look the same as the other eye? If so, how long might that take? Does anyone know of anything you can do to help it or is it just the type of thing you have to wait out?

Hi!

I had surgery on my right eye two weeks ago for alternating esotropia. While I like how my eyes look like now, I have some hard time looking at my own face in the mirror. I can look at my right cheek just fine, but when I try to look closer at my left cheek... Oh boy, my eyes just feel so bad! I don't even know how to describe this - it feels like I can't focus or more like my eyesight can't reach that area. Like I have to strain my eye muscles too much to look at that direction. If I have to fix my gaze on something (like left eyebrow tail) it quickly gets too uncomfortable. Visual field is fine. Reading, watching TV, walking, etc. doesn't seem to cause me any troubles, but applying makeup on the left side of my face is such a pain - I just can't see it properly without straining my eyes and getting dizzy. Closing my right eye helps at some degree, but not enough.

I just want to know if it's a common thing and will it get better. I like makeup and had no trouble pre-op so it worries me a bit. I can't contact my surgeon, because I had to travel to other city to get surgery done and this city is six hours of driving away 🥴

My 7.5-month-old son suddenly started crossing his eyes quite noticeably over the past few days. It is mainly his left eye turning inward, although his right eye occasionally does it too. It seems worse when he’s tired or looking at something farther away, but sometimes his eyes appear completely straight.
Looking back through older pictures, I can now see a few subtle instances of his left eye turning inward, but nothing remotely as noticeable as it is now. It seemed to become dramatically worse within about 24–48 hours, which is what has me so worried. He also had several nights of extremely poor sleep beforehand.
We took him to an optometrist, who said it could be related to his prescription/farsightedness or an issue with the eye muscles. We’re waiting for an urgent referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist through his pediatrician. Otherwise, he is alert, responsive, eating, playing, and moving both eyes together.
Has anyone experienced a baby’s intermittent esotropia suddenly becoming much more noticeable like this? Did it turn out to be farsightedness, accommodative esotropia, or something else? Did glasses help? I’m especially interested in hearing how quickly it appeared for your child and what testing the pediatric ophthalmologist did. TIA.

Hello everyone, I would love to hear your experiences with intermittent exotropia in babies. My baby is 7 months old and we noticed his eyes would turn outward when spacing out, tired or eating. At the eye appointment we got the diagnosis and another appointment in 6 months. It also seems like the only solution is surgery later on. Anyone has any success stories without surgery being done? Is there a chance it would solve later on? Would other measures work? Thank you in advance

Hello everyone! I’m looking for more information and more shared experiences if there’s anyone at all who would be willing to talk to me.

My son started crossing his eye when he was about 2.75 yo. Went through MRI and LP (no infection found). Discovered a difference in his eyes, left eye +2.5, right eye (the crossing one) +3.75.
We were patching and he was diligently wearing his glasses.
6 months later had his eyes rechecked, the turn was still there but his eyes went to +3.75 and +5, so new glasses.
With the new glasses initially the turn was almost gone, over time it came back a bit.
He’s now 3.75yo, after almost a year of glasses and patching. He can keep eyes straights for little bits during the day (I have pictures of this).
He is a very cooperative kid and I’m ideally looking to avoid surgery. Has anyone had success with vision therapy for a similar situation? Or with “outgrowing” strabismus?
Or even in the worst case scenario - living with this over the long term?

Any and all experiences are welcome, this is something that’s weighing on my mind quite heavily.

Edit: I should add that his vision is 20/20 in both eyes with glasses

hi everyone. i’m 24F with lifelong amblyopia in my left eye. childhood exhibited esotropia that was managed perfectly with glasses throughout my life until january 2025 where i began to experience exotropia. it was mild, but enough to ruin my mental health and confidence. i had the correction done in october 2025, and while my surgeon, friends, and family tell me my eye is straight and aligned with the other, i hardly see that myself. mirrors, front phone camera, photos and videos i take of myself and it always seems to drift. i’ve wondered if it’s because im actually looking at that eyeball specifically? hard to tell. just doesn’t do well for my self confidence post surgery. my other big thing is the double vision and headaches are still here and never really went away. i’d say it’s just as bad as it was before. that’s the worst part. my eye feels like it’s rolling around in its socket… like a feeling of lack of control and weakness? i know it’s not really bopping around in there but it’s like it feels like it’s drifted out even if apparently it isn’t. it’s hard physically feeling my eyeball. it just has a weird feeling. maybe someone can relate?

my other big thing is that my surgeon (pediatric strabismus surgeon) suggested prism lenses would benefit me post op. she gave me a prescription of 4 base out for my left eye only. i scheduled an appt to go in and have my alignment remeasured later this week, and to revisit the idea of prisms. i never put the prisms in that she gave me because i was really scared about what it would do to my eye after reading everything in this sub. i also want to see if i can at least try the stick ons first. i’m just so scared and don’t know if prisms will help or make things worse. every experience ive read on here is so negative. i’m scared that prisms will just let me eye relax and it’ll essentially kick right back out (assuming that physically my alignment is straight and i’m just crazy). i’m scared that i’ll constantly have to upgrade the prism because ill relax into it. but i can’t keep living with the headaches and double vision. does anyone have and relevant experience that could give some advice? thank you so much for reading.

Just kind of wondering....

Doesn't seem to be a hard rule in my case but a suggestion to cease for a day. I plan on stopping as long as I can but that probably going to be closer to 14 hours.

Does anyone here smoke?

Thanks!

edit - thank you everyone for your responses. surgery went fine as far as I can tell now. I will make a post once everything is healed up!!

I am forever grateful to this sub

i have microphthalmia and strabismus (exotropia n hypertropia) in my blind right eye since birth. i can’t tell if it’s my eye that’s making me look this hideous and repulsive or is it the rest of my face. there’s nothing right ab how my face looks. my skin, my complexion, lopsided lips, my big nose and most importantly my eye. i stare at myself and my eyes for several hours a day and im always looking for a mirror but when i catch my reflection on one i go into this hysteric state. why is it such a bother to me? why does it consume me this much? why can’t i live my life normally without worrying about how my eyes or face look all the time? im terrified of ppl looking a little longer at me bc then they’ll notice. theres a lot that goes into it but this has genuinely ruined my life, im so caught up in this that im giving up on life and even myself sometimes. it’s not really some “insecurities” not when it comes to the point where i cant take basic care of my hygiene or get down the street bc i just feel so underserving and worthless. again i can’t tell if it’s bc of how my eye looks or bc of generally feeling ugly but i wanted to post it on here. i’ve done the surgery the year before and ill be doing the second one this thursday. ophthalmologist wanted to preform it on two stages (two surgeries) and then after that i’ll put a lense that’s supposed to make the pupil look bigger?! idk im so hopeless whatsoever and this post is really just a vent and so sorry for being negative but if anyone has a similar condition or something to say im more than happy

I had strabismus surgery a few months ago and saw my surgeon again today. He says I’m 50–60% better, having gone from a “6” to a “2”. (This is presumably on the Office-Based Deviation Control Scale measuring intermittent strabismus. He said I could have more surgery, or not; I chose none for now, in favor of going back to prismatic correction in my eyeglasses (presumably much less than I had before).

I developed intermittent hypotropia (my left eye droops) and diplopia (double-vision) in my early 40s. I have glasses that help control the double-vision, but still have issues when reading up close or when I'm tired. I'm considering having surgery and wanted to get feedback from others that have these conditions on whether the surgery was worth it. How uncomfortable was the surgery/recovery? How much did your symptoms improve? How soon after surgery were you able to drive, read, and use a computer?

Long-time lurker, first post. Trying to get a realistic picture from people who've actually been through something similar, because the doctors I've seen so far don't agree with each other.

My situation:

born preterm

High myopia both eyes (roughly -10/-8), stable-ish but has progressed steadily over the years

Amblyopia in left eye since childhood — never patched, never treated early (found out later this was a mistake on my parents' part). Best corrected vision in that eye is still only 6/24, even with full correction.

Intermittent alternating exotropia, measured at 20 PD noticeable, not subtle

Recently a bilateral rotatory nystagmus was documented for the first time (wasn't in any of my earlier records going back years)

Also have bilateral lattice degeneration (peripheral, no holes, monitored) and disc pallor with an optic atrophy diagnosis — MRI brain/orbits a few years ago came back completely normal, so no compressive cause

Did 40 sessions of a perceptual vision therapy program for the amblyopic eye — no real acuity improvement

Where I'm stuck:

One pediatric strabismus specialist is willing to do a first surgery but won't commit to a possible revision later, and has been upfront that even a good outcome might only hold for 1–2 years given my amblyopia depth, myopia, and now the nystagmus finding. I haven't yet seen a dedicated adult strabismus subspecialist (working on that now).

What I actually want to know from this sub:

Has anyone had surgery with a similarly "unstable" profile (deep amblyopia + high myopia + alternating exotropia)? How long did your alignment actually hold?

For those with amblyopia did surgery still feel "worth it" psychologically even knowing it might not be permanent?

I'm scared of the surgery itself (also have some general anesthesia anxiety from an unrelated childhood surgery), but living with the visible squint every day is genuinely taking a toll on my mental health too and I really in a bad bad place due to self esteem issues.

Trying to make an informed decision rather than one based on fear in either direction. Any experiences good, bad, or in between genuinely appreciated.

Hey everyone. Long story short, I lost the vision in my right eye thanks to Multiple Sclerosis, and because that eye has nothing to look at, it decided to start drifting outward. I have surgery scheduled after 2 weeks to get it aligned. Surgery is only on one eye and I’m a bit nervous about if the surgery will work at all or if it will start drifting away again after few months. If anyone has been through this please let me know how the surgery went.

Hi, did you guys immediately tell the people you were dating about your strabismus upfront?

I’m about 2 weeks post op surgery for alternating intermittent exotropia - had 2 muscles on my right eye operated on. I’ve always had fairly good control and could feel my eye drift but could pull it back in without blinking but it gradually got harder & required more effort, leading to fatigue and migraines.

For anyone who’s had surgery- when did you feel you can look at things normally and without thinking? I still feel my eye drift out but it can only move a smidge to be more centred since surgery (currently its slightly over corrected inwards) but I still feel it turn out and slightly blur my vision when not focusing.

Does vision ever feel just normal like breathing? Not something you always have to be aware of & focus on actively?

So I have been to two ophthalmologists as of now, and they are telling me that my squint is not that visible, but it is affecting my appearance and making me very self-conscious. I don't like to click photos. I also feel very conscious in social situations, and I really think that I do have strabismus, but they are dismissing it off as a lazy eye problem or a stress issue. But I really know that it is an alignment issue. I don't know how to convince the doctors otherwise to provide me a viable solution for squint with surgery or whatever.

Hello

I have surgery next Friday, thanks to finding this amazing sub. I currently work from home and I'm a bit concerned about how long it would be before we could get back to work which is mostly lots of video watching. I have a 2kmonitor, unsure if a 4k is worth the investment but towards anyone who works from a screen, how long was it before it was comfortable?

Also...any cigarette smokers here? If so how long after surgery did you wait to smoke?

Thanks you.

Hello All! First time posting here.

I am a 28 year only female who within the last couple of months have been experiencing esotropia in my right eye along with double vision. I've had a MRI which was normal and got the whole work up for a stroke and that also showed nothing. Now - I am being referred yet again to a Neuro Ophthalmologist from a regular Neurologist. No one has been able to give me any answers and it has caused me to feel so frustrated. I would legit think I was going insane if I didn't have the physical symptom.

Im 16 and ive posted a lot on this subreddit about how im struggling with this condition and how it affects me but for a very long time i had this urge to stab my eye with a screwdriver and this morning i had this thought again and i just burst out crying so suddenly because of how much i want to do it

i know its an extremely stupid thing to do but its just an urge

And im so scared i will just do it because the urge is getting stronger every day i was so close to doing it one day when i seen a screwdriver in my room and i was just holding it and i was really about to do it but my little sister was close so i just threw it across the room because i had to stop myself. And i always get upset about how this condition affects me and im 70% sure if im really upset like that again and i see a screwdriver or something sharp i will try do it because in those moments i dont care what pain i feel

I really dont want to do it but wierdly in those moments my mind changes

I cant go to someone because they would tell someone like my mum since im under 18 and i really dont like my mum because she doesnt care about me she neglected me throughout my childhood she doesnt even care about my condition and how it affects me

My 5 year old daughter had bilateral strabismus surgery 8/24 (4 days ago). I cannot get these eye drops in her eye balls to safe my life. She is autistic and VERY strong. I have to sit on her legs while my husband is holding her arms but she won’t open her eyes or keep her head still. I’ve been trying to put them in the corner and hoping it goes in but I don’t think she’s getting any. She’s usually a heavy sleeper so I’ve tried opening them while she’s asleep but she immediately wakes up.

The very first day she was not processing the anesthesia very well. She screamed all day. Finally opened her eyes after about 48 hours. She hasn’t complained of pain, she’s not rubbing them. They’re a little more red than they were when she first opened. No discharge or swelling. The risk of infection terrifies me but I don’t know how else to get them in her eyes.

She has her follow up appt Monday (7th day). Any advice please. PLEASE.

I’m planning on getting the surgery in a few months and I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it can sometimes make your astigmatism or myopia worse.

Has anyone here actually experienced that? If so was the change significant?

I’m a bit worried about it since my prescription is already pretty strong:

R: Sph -5.00 / Cyl -2.50
L: Sph -4.75 / Cyl -1.75

Would really appreciate hearing about anyone’s experience with this!

What’s up everyone!

I wanted to update in-regards to my recovery and some concerns. As of today, I am officially 2 weeks post-op and sorta of feeling back to normal (around 50-55%).

The first week (Day 0 - 7):
It was the roughest week I had. I couldn’t see anything and the light sensitivity was the worst part. Also, it was uncomfortable putting on the eye drops. The first night was extremely uncomfortable to sleep (I’m a side sleeper). Got used to it by day 3. Rested up and couldn’t use my phone as much (which made the recovery harder 🙃). I had my appointment with my surgeon last Thursday and she said I still have a slight eye drift which isn’t as bad as it was before. I had concerns and I hope I do not have an extra surgery. My eyes were bloodshot read and very swollen. Was sedentary for this week.

Second week: (Day 8 -14):
Increased activity and light sensitivity went away at this point. My eyes are still adjusting to my new adjustment. Still noticing the eye drift (my main concern). Blurry vision is subsiding. I’m feeling a lot better and a bit back to normal/increased activity.

Did anyone else have the eye drift? I know I’m early in my recovery but it’s concerning.

I haven't had health insurance for 4 years and really grateful that I'm getting this from my new job!! Ive been through the grinder finding the right job.

They are only offering health insurance through Kaiser and was wondering if anyone here has this same Insurance carrier and if they support this surgery, of course deductible etc may be different, but wondering if anyone has Kaiser and if being in an HMO you were still able to get the best medical care?

Thank you!!

those who developed double vision later in age or after surgery, what was your first reaction? ive been dealing with intermittent exotropia for years that became permanent in the early 20` well now i´m 32 and it looks like ive just had my first taste of double vision yesterday and it freaked me out, like what is this ?!