u/ryz_v

I chose maths psychology and economics for a levels i start in September but im thinking of dropping maths and doing something like statistics since i think its easier i wanna become an educational psychologist or child pyschotherapist

I chose maths psychology and economics for a levels but im thinking of dropping maths and doing something like statistics since i think its easier i wanna become an educational psychologist or child pyschotherapist

I have my surgery in 4 days and when did it look okay so that people wont ask what happened to you

What was something you didnt know and surprised you going in for surgery even after you seen people’s experiences before

Could you put in the drops yourself im 16 and idk i like being independent and im not that close with my family.

Do you wake up first and then your relatives come in the room? Or do you wake up with them just there

and im also going to a different country by plane 9 days after, that i really didnt have a choice in this tbh so obv going to the airport carries risks like getting an eye infection especially because of how sensitive it is after surgery so i might just wear that shield they give you

Im soo excited but im nervous too its on the 8th of july. for me i like to know what EXACTLY is going to happen like where would i go after i arrive at the hospital? What they would do etc

Ive watched like almost 50 videos on strabismus and peoples experiences😭😭

I have DVD (dissociated vertical deviation) and esotropia since i was born .no diplopia or headaches from my strabismus and i didnt develop a lazy eye (amblyopia) i have rlly good visual acuities in both eyes 20/20 in the right and 20/18 in the left which is slightly better than 20/20

Do you guys have any tips?and if you could explain what happened when you went in for surgery it would make me less anxious and nervous loll

this is going to be my second strabismus surgery i had one in 2014 (at 4 years old) it was both in the medial rectus muscles was supposed to have another surgery but moved countries :(

i heard it can have a burning sensation so i brought some ice packs and one specifically for the eye area so it can help

How did you help with the new alignment so it doesnt go back to how it was like im thinking of trying to keep them open so my brain can try make them work together better

I had surgery at 4 years old in 2014 and i got told i threw up after i ate so im thinking of not eating or only eating a bit so that doesnt happen again at the hospital 😭😭

Alsoo when did you guys open them without them hurting and feel comfortable going outside and walking or doing normal activities

Did you have diplopia (double vision) after surgery and if so when did it stop and was it at certain times or constant

Did you guys get any of the risks associated with the surgery and what did you do ? Did it get resolved

Also if your answering any of these questions if would be very helpful if you mentioned if you had any previous strabismus surgeries, what type you had and if it worked :)
And what they did in the surgery if you got told lol

I got a call and they told me i would receive a letter explaining everything would it come the next day or the next few days? I can recieve them online so if they do send it out i would get another notification straight away

So after the exam the people who finished first had to go into the assembly area and we all sat down a lot of people were discussing the answers as usual and there was a student that is known for being extremely shy like she wouldnt put their hand up for anything even to go to the bathroom and she does have trouble communicating to people etc

And she came out of the exam balling her eyes out and there was people around her etc and she had to sit down and our head of year was speaking about how amazing our year was and how she is gonna miss us and there was a lot of teachers in the assembly like science , maths etc and her science teacher stopped the head of year and asked if the girl was alright and her friend said she missed all the calculation questions because her calculator that the school gave wasnt working and she was too scared to put her hand up

And the science teacher infront of everyone in the assembly was like ‘what?’ IN A FRUSTRATED WAY and she turned around and told the head of year how she missed all the calculation questions SHE SAID THIS INFRONT OF EVERYONE IN A RUDE ANNOYED WAY and the head of year looked very concerned and sorry for her and the science teacher just shouted at her saying its not hard to put your hand up and this is your gcses and shouted at her to get up and come with her THIS WAS SAID VERY LOUD SO EVERYONE COULD HEAR and half the room started laughing and she was shaking and crying i felt so ba

Edit- She does have a lot of problems though and the school never helped her she was bullied since year 7 and i think theres something wrong she sits by herself at lunch and break and there she talks to herself too but saying ‘why would you do that’ basically like shes arguing but she says it loudly like shes actually speaking to someone and punches herself and bangs the table , cries and puts her head down thats what she does every day. The teachers were just fed up with her and never did anything .she randomly cries in lesson and also hates loud noises and cries if theres people talking rlly loud I always used to be confused on why she was like this but its like she’s terrified of communicating to anyone i think theres something going on outside of school

So the schools fault basically failed her because they ignored her struggles when it was so obvious and they made her sit at the front but not in a separate room

. On the website it says the waiting time is 15 weeks on average for my department and it will hit 15 weeks on the 30th of june.

I just wanted to know what time of the day will they call to book me for surgery i heard they can only call on weekdays but what if theres a last minute cancellation slot on a monday would they have to call on a weekend? Or on the monday.
What do they say in the call? Do they just mention one date and tell you what to do and send you instructions

If you cant attend it whats the average time they would call you again for another date
How would i know where i am on the list like how much people are infront of me

Im 16 and I’ve been thinking about something that doesn’t seem to get much attention in strabismus care.

Personally this affected me for years bullying is so normalised i have been severely bullied throughout my secondary school experience i was hit , verbally abused by students older than me , from different schools aswell and teachers too i feel like people with strabismus are being ignored and no one knows how much it really affects someone mentally. Most people with it including me dont go outisde unless its necessary and rarely make eye contact this really affects your social life and personally everytime i have to speak to someone i get very anxious and shake a lot because i know they notice it
i dont want to go into detail but because of this i dont really see a point in living life and it made be depressed for years and i wont ever forget what has happened to me

Many of us spend years attending appointments, having measurements taken, discussing glasses, patching, surgery, or eye alignment. But how often are people actually asked about the psychological impact of living with strabismus?

There is research suggesting that strabismus can affect confidence, self-esteem, anxiety, social interactions, bullying , relationships, education, employment, and overall quality of life for some people. Yet many patients seem to go through years of treatment without anyone asking how it affects them emotionally.

One thing I’ve been wondering is whether people should create more awareness and action around this issue.

For example, if enough people share similar experiences, we could potentially:

Create a larger survey to collect patient experiences.

Encourage more research into the psychological impact of strabismus.

It could be as simple as mentioning this to your orthoptists in your appointments

Raise awareness among healthcare professionals and NHS decision-makers.

Consider starting an official UK Parliament petition calling for greater recognition of the psychological impact of strabismus and better access to psychological assessment or support where needed.

I know a petition alone wouldn’t automatically change NHS policy, but it could help raise awareness and show that this is an issue many people care about. If a large number of people with strabismus are reporting similar experiences, it seems reasonable to ask whether emotional wellbeing should be considered more routinely alongside vision and eye alignment.

I don’t personally have the time or expertise to organize a large survey , awareness campaign, or make a petition myself, but if anyone has experience with research, patient advocacy, charities, campaigning, or organizing projects like this and would like to help make something happen, I’d be very interested in supporting it.
I’d be really interested to hear your experiences and whether you think this is something the strabismus community should push for.

This happened with people with conditions with cancer ,diabetes,burns and a lot more so it is possible to make it happen with people with strabismus

I’ve been thinking about something that doesn’t seem to get much attention in strabismus care.

Many of us spend years attending appointments, having measurements taken, discussing glasses, patching, surgery, or eye alignment. But how often are people actually asked about the psychological impact of living with strabismus?

There is research suggesting that strabismus can affect confidence, self-esteem, anxiety, social interactions, bullying , relationships, education, employment, and overall quality of life for some people. Yet many patients seem to go through years of treatment without anyone asking how it affects them emotionally.

One thing I’ve been wondering is whether the strabismus community should organize itself more around this issue.

For example, if enough people share similar experiences, we could potentially:

Create a larger survey to collect patient experiences.

Encourage more research into the psychological impact of strabismus.

It could be as simple as mentioning this to your orthoptists in your appointments

Raise awareness among healthcare professionals and NHS decision-makers.

Consider starting an official UK Parliament petition calling for greater recognition of the psychological impact of strabismus and better access to psychological assessment or support where needed.

I know a petition alone wouldn’t automatically change NHS policy, but it could help raise awareness and show that this is an issue many people care about. If a large number of people with strabismus are reporting similar experiences, it seems reasonable to ask whether emotional wellbeing should be considered more routinely alongside vision and eye alignment.

I don’t personally have the time or expertise to organize a large survey , awareness campaign, or make a petition myself, but if anyone has experience with research, patient advocacy, charities, campaigning, or organizing projects like this and would like to help make something happen, I’d be very interested in supporting it.
I’d be really interested to hear your experiences and whether you think this is something the strabismus community should push for.

This happened with people with conditions with cancer ,diabetes,burns and a lot more so it is possible to make it happen with people with strabismus

I’m interested in hearing other people’s experiences:

Has strabismus affected your confidence, mental health, social life, education, work, or relationships?

Did any ophthalmologist, orthoptist, or healthcare professional ever ask about the psychological impact?

Were you ever offered any emotional or psychological support?

Do you think psychological screening or support should be part of routine NHS strabismus care?

Im writing this after crying for hours i have strabismus im 16 and this impacted me since 8-10 years old.

At 8-9 years old i told my mum i wanted to kms she didnt give a shit and said oh its a sin she didnt comfort me or nothing.
at this time i wanted to do it because of my condition i hated speaking to people and it made me very anxious and shaky because they can see it and i was always afraid of being made fun of.
but at 9-10 years old this problem wasn’t the biggest since the people in my primary school didn’t really care and treated me normally and i wanted to commit suicide at 9 because of how my mom abused me throughout my life she used to hit me everyday.

One time i was about 5 years old and i was going to go to school and my mom left to go somewhere
i was upset about how she treats me so i threw something in the kitchen it was only like a powder or something and it wasn’t all over the kitchen it was only on one spot and i left to go to school and after school she asked me if it was me and i said no and at home she started beating my little brother who was about 3-4 years old and i was in the other room hearing this and it hurt so bad hearing it and i started crying and ran to my mom to tell her it was me and she started doing the same to me and we both had marks from her. I cried to god every night to take me in my sleep and so i wouldn’t wake up in the morning.

i was researching everywhere for ways to do it and at 11 years old i became very depressed.
i started secondary school and everyone knew me and was making fun of me people in older years, 5 years older than me and people from other schools i never heard of just knew me and were being rude when i never seen or heard of them before because people used to jump me and try fight me and multiple videos got sent around.

teachers didnt care the only thing they did was give me a 15 minute early pass at the end of each day because of the bullying and fighting but it was only because of the principal that noticed what was happening and how my pastoral and head of year didn’t do anything about it so it was the principal that did that but it was taken away after i had a new pastoral manager and it was when the fighting and bullying was still happening

i was suspended so much times i remember being called names multiple times a day in corridors , and in lessons OUT LOUD so everyone can hear and its not like i reacted to the bullying i was very quiet and shy so i never spoke and i dont think there was a day where i didnt get called names at least 3 times. People 2-3 years older than me used to come into my lesson standing at the door and shouting things at me laughing making fun of me, while the teacher and all the students were in the classroom , everyone laughed even the teachers they didnt do anything and laughed with them even making fun of me too. i was also pushed every single day in the corriders , lessons etc. i was hit walking out of school , in school , basically anytime they would see me and this always used to get recorded and sent around school.

and in year 8-9 i got into so much trouble everyday because i started skipping lesson and walking out of lesson because of how people used to treat me and i used to go to the bathrooms and just cry.

My head of year sent me to isolation for weeks at one point and i was just in there so much times i was suspended , detentions every day because of all this and the teachers knew it was because of the bullying , i didnt have no friends, i went in the bathrooms at lunch which i also got into so much trouble for there was also these two cleaners that used to always keep an eye on me telling me to get out and line up outside when they knew what would happen if i did because of the students bullying me fighting me etc they used to laugh with them too they knew everything and why i used to go in the bathrooms.

this whole thing went on for so long and i just tried to ignore everyone and hide my feelings and pretend i was fine and i used to hide what i felt from my parents because i was really embarrassed by it and how it is all because of my condition

i don’t like showing my feelings and i just asked my parents for the surgery for it and they didnt take it as seriously and there was this one day where i couldnt hide my feelings anymore and i cried to my mum asking her for it and she was confused and said why are you crying? I didnt reply but isnt it obvious? It was while asking her for the surgery asking her to help me get it and in school some teachers would treat me so differently some made jokes about strabismus to other people in front of me and laugh with other students when they were bullying me.

and in year 10-11 i was just quiet and i turned to S.H and i did get a group of friends but i will still very insecure. I don’t make eye contact if its not at a certain angle because it looks awful at certain angles , i start shaking with most interactions because of how nervous i am and because i know they see how bad it is.eye contact is so important to me i just want to make eye contact without getting nervous/uncomfortable and shaky

i tried to hide my feelings but at home
some days i just burst out crying on random days it can go on for weeks , months or even just a day but it impacts me so much i feel so ugly im so embarrassed of myself i became an atheist last year and i hate the concept of god even if he was real i would NEVER worship him i prayed to him so much times and i never got a response

and i didnt kms because of my dad and sisters becasue i love them so much but now im starting not to care because its my life and i wont feel guilt anyway i will be gone

i also had surgery at 4 years old i was supposed to have a second one but i moved countries and i HATE my family for doing that they only had to wait one more month and my WHOLE LIFE wouldve changed , i wouldn’t be suffering with all of this if they fucking cared for my health the treatment wasn’t fucking done and they decided to move saying they would finish it in the uk but its not that fucking simple the surgery is complex and they need multiple measurements and findings before surgery and its taken 12 years for them to book me in for surgery.

I just want to feel normal and i hate i was born this way ,i hate it so much i never felt normal i never felt human and no one took this condition seriously and i think its also because lf how people with my condition are portrayed in the media as being idiots and being stupid and this is weird but everytime when i was a child and someone even noticed me even a simple hi i used to feel so wierd and i was confused but happy at the same time because i never really got treated normal or human and im so upset i never got to experience a normal life.

In march i got told i was finally gonna get surgery i started crying so bad because of how much it would change my life i would finally speak to people , look at them , go outside since i was literally so scared of doing that because i was embarrassed of my condition.

But i dont think i can ever recover from what happened to me i always get flashbacks , it comes to me in my dreams etc and i developed unhealthy coping mechanisms - i hit myself , cutting myself sometimes , i don’t feel comfortable saying other things it made me want to do but its worse. And i think the only way i can be at peace from all this is suicide tbh i always wanted to do this and its my life i hate how people force people to live , letting them suffer when its their body.

Edit- i forgot to mention but my brother also is very abusive towards everyone in my family , to my sisters who are 3 and 10 he caused my baby sister to have seizures and now she has to take medication for it and have a developmental delay and my sister and my mum gets hit by him , he steals a crazy amount of money from my mum and hits her , she cries every time because she cant do anything about it but she still defends him which i hate.

Theres a lot of things im just used to doing that i dont really notice and its all because of my strabismus

Like for example walking on a specific side of the pavement just incase someone talks to me or just because the strabismus is less noticeable
Looking away when a car is driving past or when someone is walking past

Sitting on specific seats because if someone did try talk to me or come up to me they would come up to me on a side where its not as noticeable
Squinting when taking pics or sometimes when talking to people just so its not as obvious
And the obvious ones like avoiding taking pics when someone else is taking them
Or avoiding meeting new people or going to events just because im afraid of people noticing and embarrassing myself and it can also be because i find that some people might see it as rude if they come up to me trying to have a conversation but they are on the side where it looks the worsttt if i look at them

Also sit a bit wierdlyyy and like i turn my head slightly and talk too just so its not as obvious
This also might just be me but when i have a new class i have to be early to choose a seat that will stay with me for the rest of the year and this stresses me out soo much

has anyone else done this? And what other things have you noticed you do?