Strabismus (squint/cross eyed) treatment

 

Surgical strabismus treatment

  • Eye muscle surgery: Strabismus surgery (squint surgery) is more invasive than non-surgical strabismus treatment. In eye muscle surgery, the ophthalmologist will focus on the length and strength of the six fundamental muscles around your eyes responsible for controlling eye movement. It will help the eyes appear straight, be properly aligned and look in the right direction. Additional therapy may be needed post-surgery to further strengthen eye muscles and prevent them from becoming misaligned again. Depending on the intensity of a patient's squint, eye surgery may be needed more than once to fix the condition. This strabismus treatment surgery can help to prevent amblyopia or lazy eye.⁸,⁹

With strabismus (cross-eye) surgery, misalignment can be corrected in both children and adults; however, you may still have a slight degree of amblyopia even after surgery. For this reason, optometrists recommend patients with strabismus not to delay the strabismus treatment surgery, as this might increase the risk of developing other eye conditions and diseases.¹⁰ After the age of 14, squint correction surgery is mostly beneficial only for cosmetic reasons.

Strabismus treatment using surgery can fix the eye’s misalignment and can improve visual acuity. This helps your eyes to work together and can prevent you from suffering health symptoms such as frequent migraines, strained eyes, eye pressure and fatigue, as well as improving your appearance.¹¹

Medically reviewed by Dan McGhee on September 29, 2022

Related topics: