Doc, Can You Straighten My Eyes ? IV

Squints are estimated to affect 1% of the population. After excluding any underlying conditions such as cataract and refractive errors, most patients wish to have their squints corrected. The benefits of squint surgery include:

• improved appearance and eye positions
• better eye co-ordination so that the eyes can be used simultaneously 
• improved eye movement

While complicated squints are sometimes seen (as in the previous blog), most squints are fortunately straight forward and involves the horizontal muscles. Therefore, most operations will involve operating on a pair of muscles i.e. one is weakened and the other strengthened to make the eye straighter.

  

A child with a left convergent squint (eye turning inward) 

before and three days after squint surgery.

A man with a paralysed left convergent squint before 

and one month after correction.

A child with a severe left convergent squint, before and two months 

after the surgery. Three muscles were operated in this case: 

two on the left and one on the right.

A man with a left divergent squint (eye turning out). He had had previous 

surgery as a teenage in another centre but the eye remained deviated. 

The left eye was re-operated to straighten the eye.

A patient with constant divergent squint. Pictures showing 

before and one month after correction. 

A girl with intermittent exotropia (divergent squint) since young 

which progressed to constant exotropia. Pictures showing 

before and two months after the operation.