How long to wait before the eyes tracking together post strabismus surgery

Hi Beth, I am a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and wanted to reassure you that in my experience, it does often take weeks before the eyes start tracking together after strabismus surgery. Strabismus is very common and often surgery will correct it. The younger the child it is treated, the better the prognosis for good vision and your son is at the perfect age for the surgery. The eye doctors that I have worked with often wait until 3 years old to correct it b/c they want to wait for the visual system to develop and see if the strabismus improves via other modes.... sometimes on its own or patching, etc. I assume your son was patched at some point. Does he wear corrective lenses as well? The muscles of the eyes are responsible for coordinated movements and binocular vision so often both eyes can be affected which may be why you are noticing the esotropia/eye turning inward with the other eye. It may improve when the left eye has more coordinated movements since strabismus is a defect of the eye-muscle system. Most of the time, the results of surgery are positive. So, stay positive and good luck.

Hi my son also had the same surgery and right away i noticed a remarkable difference, yet, i also thought i noticed his eye turning at times. But, when we went to his follow up 2nd appt. Sure enough he was fine. I don't know if its just my paranoia or what,somedays he looks great then others i stop and look closely, wondering if its turning again. My son had a heck of a time with his eyes prior to surgery. but he made it and 2 years later, he is still looking good. I am however,aware that further surgeries will always be a possibility, but i think maybe we are so afraid of a failed surgery, and having our child go through it again,that we think we see it at times. Good luck with your son, i hope like my son , he does well and so far needs no more surgeries.

HI,
I am a teacher of the visually impaired and a mother of two young children. In my experience as a TVI I have heard of this happening. This seems to be a common result of surgery to correct srabismus on young children. Keep in contact with your doctor, another surgery may be necessary. If you are uncertain with your dr. it is always good to get a second opinion from another ophthalmologist.

Good luck and may your son use his vision as well as possible.

Beth- we didn't have to go through eye surgery, but had a very good pediatric behavioral optomitrist. He treated my daughter's amblyopia. He is Dr. John Abondonza at Vision Care Specialists in Southborough, on Rte 9. If you are concerned about your son's eyes ability to track together, you might want to make an appt. with him (sorry, I can't find the #) to get another opinion. Good luck!

My son who is now 5 had the same surgery last year and it did help alot. I do still some slight turning when he is really tired ir sometimes when he is concentrating really hard. Overall it is much straighter and has helped improve his eyesight.

Chris
Mom to 5 year old boy, 2 year old twins and a 9 month old.

My daughter has the same condition but did not need surgery. The only thing that has helped her is her glasses that had prism put into the lenses. They said she would always need glasses even if it needed surgery. She wears bi-focals now and has had great success with them. As little as I know it will probably take a little while before the eyes start working together. Good luck.

Well, while I don't ever remember hearing the word strabismus, I did have an eye condition growing up which some people (not me) used to call lazy eye b/c my eyes took turns turning in. (Is that strabismus?) I wore glasses since I was 14 months. At age 12 I had surgery on my right eye, then did the left at age 20. I have not worn glasses since shortly after my first surgery. It was something I always felt self-conscious about, so I don't regret having the surgeries whatsoever. Every now and then, when I'm tired and have been on the computer or reading a lot, I'll wonder if my eye is turning in (and sometimes my husband will tell me that it is), but 95% of the time, I don't have to think about it or worry about it. It must be a hard decision for parents to make (that's why my parents put it off), but I'm glad I eventually had the procedures done. That was just my personal experience... sorry I can't help with your specific tracking question. Goodluck!

I don't know much about the surgery but I run the Sensory Learning Program in Danvers and have seen some really nice progress with children with Strabismus. I have also heard that vision therapy can be really helpful. Both are non-invasive and at the least will help strengthen his eye tracking so hopefully he won't need another surgery. My son has many medical issues and has had several surgeries but I can't imagine how stressfull eye surgery with a three year old is. Hang in there!

I have a one year old and a eye doctor was so quick to tell me that my son needed surgery. I was very concerned and took him to Children's Hospital in Boston for a second opinion. They were great there and told me that he didn't need surgery. I know that it runs in my family and a few on my cousins had that surgery and it really didn't help much. The one thing that did work for my cousin (she is now 18 and had all this done when she was between 4 and 8) was the eye patch. You put an eye patch over the good eye to teach the weak eye to work on its own. My cousin doesn't even wear glasses for her vision now her eye sight is perfect. I am going to stick with Children's Hospital in Boston, they want me to bring my son in every 6 months and he has been there twice already and nothing has changed. They are still telling me he is fine and doesn't need surgery.