Strabismus Surgery
Correction of strabismus can be treated with glasses, but when strabismus persists despite prescriptions, other treatments are necessary. There are several options, including prisms, muscle exercises, botulinum toxin, and surgery.
In some situations, surgery is the ideal treatment, although it may present complications that will be detailed later.
The first point to clarify is that this surgery is performed outside the eye. The surgeon does not penetrate the eye.
Basically, it weakens and/or strengthens the muscles that move the eye in different gaze positions.
The number of muscles operated on depends on the type of strabismus and the deviation.
Another important point is that, in many cases, even though the eye that deviates is always the same, the muscles of both eyes can be operated on.
In adults, surgery is performed under topical anesthesia.
In children, surgery must be performed under general anesthesia, as up to 9-10 years of age, cooperation prevents local anesthesia with drops, as is the case in adults. However, even in these cases, it is performed on an outpatient basis so that the patient can leave the clinic within a few hours.