r/Strabismus

I don’t know much about my lazy eyes, but sometimes they go outward when I stop focusing on something. I’ve had this condition for years and it’s starting to get worse as time goes on. I’m in high school and this condition ruined any self confidence I had about myself. I can’t look people in the eyes when talking to them and when I try to, I close one eye out of insecurity. Today is the most my eyes were brought up today, both in a bad and concerned way. I recently got new glasses as well which has helped for a bit, but my eyes started to get back into going into the side of my head. Is there any way I can hide my lazy eye? Is there a trick to always having my eyes focused? Please, anything helps. I’m 16 years old about to be 17 and I’ve had this condition since I was around 3. :[

Hey everyone, question is title

I have an amblyopic right eye and it drifts towards my ear. I’m 25 and the injury occurred when I was 1.5-2 years old so have had it pretty much my whole life

I’m considering getting some alignment surgery, and am aware that is going to be purely cosmetic. At this stage in my life I’m fine with that.

Though I am slightly hesitant as I know it’s an eye-brain issue at the end of the day, and the chance of needing recurrent surgeries is always present.

So I ask, have any of you gotten the surgery just once, and had the straight alignment stick around? How many surgeries have you had?? Did you end up getting Botox or did you give up?

Thanks in advance

I'm going to be 21 years old in a couple of months. I guess I could vote in every signe country haha.

I have exotropia since I'm 3. Or more specifically Stilling Duane Type 2 on the right eye. I can't look left. It hurts. It got revealed to me at the beginning of the year by my parents who already apparently did a diagnosis at that age but I was never told, or they claim they did, but I didn't know. I just thought it was normal exotropia.

I've been bullied ever since I was 6 until... Even now. At school they'd play "tag" but in that version I was the monster because of my eyes, and they'd throw little rocks at me, but naïve me didn't know about it and thought I was making friends. I've been the victims of so many jokes about my eyes, insults about how ugly I am. Each time I didn't see something clearly, I'd be made fun of. They called me "12AM - 2AM" at some point. Get it? Because my right eye is drifting on the right, like how 2AM does.

I'm a silly joyous guy naturally (even today) and I tend to be really expressive. I used to be called a r*tard everyday each time I'd do something silly or "out of touch" by my said "friends" and teachers -- even parents. So much of it lasted my whole childhood. Of course there was fun moments but they usually never lasted long.

Relationship-wise (friendship and romance) it's been pretty rough. It got better but it's rough. I can count the true friends I have on my fingers, because to be fair I don't think I don't have many. I have lots of contacts in my phone because I gained my reputation back by being a smart tech guy or because I do sing well. But those contacts will reach me out only in emergencies or when they need money, making things fake nowadays. And because of chronic depression and stress, and because I stayed at home for 3 years before moving in here, my already existing social anxiety got worse, way worse -- I hardly can find friends in Germany.

For romance, I have a curse. The "9 months curse". I've never had a relationship that lasted more than 9 months. And all -- I repeat, ALL the relationships I had were even existing out of pity -- the little guy out there doesn't have a partner, let's help him. Only to leave me after, even though I'm not cheating or anything.

My life currently sucks. So much. So so much. It's all jealousy and envy. I envy "normal" people so much. I went to 2 eye specialists this year only, I got the same answer "it's impossible to fix it". What do you mean, I'm going to be stuck in this body forever? What do you mean I'll be subconsciously rejected by new people? What do you mean I'm gonna get constantly bullied and judged? I have BPD and knowing this doesn't help at all.

I have so many questions. Why are people telling me I'm talented, nice, sympathetic and everything only to never approach me or something?? Why do people tell me I'm beautiful but I don't have a chance with romantic relationships, even with all those qualities they keep praising??? Stop lying I don't like liars I don't value liesw I'm none of that. Why do I feel alone all the time?? Why am.i crying??? I'm supposed to man up like my family and society in general always wanted.

Since I'm a kid I had this fantasy that never changed. A screwdriver inside of the right eye and boom problem solved. I'm too much of a coward to do it, though. But this idea has been in my mind forever. I don't want to do it.

I'm on medication for this chronic depression, even with the highest doses, it doesn't help, I'm still feeling like I don't want to be there anymore. I feel invisible. I feel unseen. Why am I born like this... Why am like this??? I don't know why... I wanna know why...

They always tell me "at least you can see, not like blind people", this makes me even more sad. So i'm out there complaining over a problem that isn't necessarily one when people are suffering even more? Now I'm feel even worse for even complaining. That's why I never like to talk about it. That's why all my selfies are in 3/4 view. Since they want me to live like it's not a problem, I'll hide it. Or get rid of it. I don't know at this point. I'm extremely exhausted. 14 years of bullying are catching up. I want it to be over. Help me please. I want to be confident. I want to look at people normally without assuming things. I need help.

I have had two eye surgeries, both of which only slightly helped. I wonder if it's just hopeless for me.

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently decided to pursue surgery for my condition and wanted some others input.

I’m looking for some perspective from anyone who has had adult strabismus surgery, particularly for intermittent exotropia.

My latest appointment, I measured 30-35 prism diopters of intermittent left exotropia at distance, while wearing a contact lens in my right eye.

The report says:

“The aim of strabismus surgery is to improve the control of the eye alignment.”

And regarding the expected result:

“The alignment post-operatively will not be straight and aligned as adults have difficulty with this.”

It then says:

“The aim of alignment post-operatively would be a small exotropia and maintenance of right eye fixation to avoid double vision.”

So my understanding is that the surgeon isn’t aiming for completely straight/orthotropic eyes, but rather reducing the deviation substantially and leaving me with a small residual outward turn? While maintaining right-eye fixation to minimise the risk of diplopia.

I’m curious how people interpret “small exotropia” in this context.

If you started around 35Δ, what sort of residual deviation did you have after surgery?

Did your surgeon give you a specific target, such as 5–10Δ?

How did your alignment/control actually feel compared with before surgery?

concerns about double vision?

And if you’ve had similar surgery as an adult, were you happy with the result even if your eyes weren’t perfectly straight?

Thanks for reading :)

Anyone else believe that if they didn’t have a wandering eye that you could have had a lot more professional opportunities. I feel like it makes me look a little disabled. Idk

I just had surgery 8/13 (both of my eyes for exotropia) and I’m feeling miserable post-op. The eye discomfort is uncomfortable. I’m scared to even clean my eyes properly. The eye drops that go 4x a day burn after I put them on minus the antibiotic at night. The light sensitivity is so bad I can’t even stand up. Has anyone experienced this? I’m regretting having this surgery and it’s been miserable the whole time.

Hello, I’m reaching out because my 21-month-old daughter was recently diagnosed with intermittent exotropia.

Her right eye drifts outward when she’s tired, sleepy, or crying. It often happens after a blink, and then seems to correct itself when she blinks again. She also sometimes closes or rubs her right eye when she cries. We always thought this was just one of her cute little habits, and we used her drifting eye as a sign that she was getting tired. We didn’t realise how much more drastically the eye turned away when she was crying until we started monitoring her closely today.

She was diagnosed a few days ago. Her children’s eye doctor said she was concerned that it has appeared quite early, at 1 year and 9 months, as she said intermittent exotropia more commonly emerges from around 3 years old.

She recommended trying an eye patch for two hours a day and monitoring her over the next couple of months. She also told us that intermittent exotropia tends to get worse with age, and that if it does become significantly worse, surgery would ultimately be the treatment option.

Hearing that, especially when she is still so young, has left me quite worried.
For parents whose children have intermittent exotropia, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. How old was your child when you first noticed it? Did it become more frequent over time, or did it remain stable or even improve? How is your child doing now?

What treatments have you tried—patching, glasses, monitoring, surgery, or anything else? Did anything seem particularly effective? If your child eventually needed surgery, at what point did the doctor decide it was necessary, and how did things go afterwards?

And if your child started showing signs at a similarly young age, I’d especially appreciate hearing how things developed as they got older.

Thank you. I’m still trying to understand what this diagnosis might mean for her and what we should expect, so hearing from other parents who have been through this would mean a lot.

I have myopia of approximately -2.75 in one eye and -5.00 in the other. I have divergent strabismus (intermittent exotropia/heterophoria). One eye drifts outward intermittently - mainly when I am relaxed, tired, or not actively focusing on something. When I consciously concentrate, I can usually keep my eyes aligned. I also have amblyopia in the drifting eye.

Has anyone here with a similar type of strabismus managed to completely get rid of it, so that the eye no longer drifts even when relaxed or tired?

If so, what treatment did you have, and how did you achieve the result? I'm particularly interested in experiences with surgery, vision therapy, prism correction, or other treatments.

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who were able to achieve a complete or nearly complete correction.

I’m 22 and last year I got contacts for the first time. I have exotropia and I am stereo blind. I had them for 2 months. Finished out the month with my first pair (not a straight month, but 30 days of use over a gradual period of time) and with the second pair one of my lenses tore almost immediately after using them for the first couple of uses and I don’t have another pair so I haven’t been wearing them.

I noticed when I did wear them I was struggling to really focus my eyes together and use them as a unit, more than I normally would with glasses. I was struggling to self correct with contacts.

I would like to order a new pair of contacts online but I don’t wanna waste my money if I get them and I still can’t see properly when I receive them.

Is that normal? How do I get my eyes to focus while wearing contacts the same way I do with glasses? Is there anything I can do to promote my eyes working more as a unit?

Hi all- I’m glad I found this thread because it is helping me prepare for and after my surgery. I’m 47 yo and have congenital strabismus. It was not noticeable my whole childhood and I always adjusted my head slightly to the left which realigned my gaze. Fast forward to my 20s when it would really become noticeable when I drank and my muscles got weaker. I did vision therapy for awhile and maybe it helped…hard to tell. It has slowly but steadily gotten worse and more noticeable, especially as I age and my muscles are getting weaker. No eye doctor would say I needed surgery or even that surgery was a thing! Earlier this year, I was walking down the stairs and I wasn’t really able to judge where the next stair was. It scared me. I stumbled upon the surgery on the internet and my new eye doctor referred me to a surgeon earlier this year. I’m excited, but very nervous. I’ve seen this way for 47 years…my brain makes the adjustment so I normally do not see double (until I get tired). But I can tell it’s getting worse and I’m seeing double more frequently. I’m nervous that by getting the surgery, I’ll have worse double vision- I know that doesn’t make sense, especially seeing it writing, but I’m worried my brain won’t be able to adjust to the new alignment since it’s been adjusting the same way for almost 50 years!

I’ve only smoked a few times but I’ve noticed that every time my vision kinda goes out of wack. Like blurry where I really have to pay attention to what I’m looking at to see clearly.

Normally I don’t even realize my lazy eye (I think of it as extra peripheral vision on my left side)

I haven’t heard of anyone else having these weird vision problems on weed before though, I’m just wondering if it happens to other people as well

A few months ago, a doctor told me about a new program in San Antonio, Texas, that could operate on my bad eye; however, yesterday I saw another doctor who said I would never regain vision in that eye. It is truly sad to live a life like this—feeling uncomfortable while driving, getting mocked in high school, and even having people look at you strangely. I would give anything to see out of both eyes—even if just for a day—or to see what it feels like. 😞