Eye Muscle Surgery

Strabismus, or lazy eye, is a misalignment of the eyes. Eyes may turn inwards, known as esotropia, drift outwards, known as exotropia, or turn vertically, known as hypertropia. An eye turn in a child can lead to amblyopia, or decreased vision in an otherwise normal eye, because the developing brain may ignore the image from the deviated eye. Amblyopia can also occur if two eyes have a different refractive error and the developing brain ignores the more blurred image. An eye turn can also indicate that glasses are needed to relax accommodation in someone who is very farsighted, known as accommodative esotropia. Strabismus can indicate that a child is not seeing well out of the eye due to various structural eye conditions, including cataracts, optic nerve damage, an eye tumor, such as retinoblastoma, or even elevated intracranial pressure. Other times the eyes only appear to be crossed, known as pseudostrabismus, which improves as the infant’s facial features mature. Any child with suspected strabismus should have a thorough eye examination.

Strabismus is also seen in adults, either from decompensation of a previously well-controlled childhood eye turn, or from trauma, stroke, tumors, Grave’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or myasthenia gravis. At The Eye Care Group, strabismus specialists work closely with our neuro-ophthalmologists and oculoplastic specialist in complex cases to provide you with the highest quality of eye care.

Treatment of strabismus depends on the underlying cause. Farsighted glasses alone help correct accommodative esotropia, while others may need prism glasses, eye exercises, Botox, or eye muscle surgery. Learn more about strabismus and strabismus procedures.