Eye surgery (strabismus related)

MaxandRuby

DS2 (2.5yr old) has been wearing glasses since 10mos old. His eyes intermittently cross inwards (not at the same time though) and he is significantly far sighted. For almost 2yr now, I have known that if the glasses did not "fix" the crossing that eye surgery was a possibility. Well, it looks like that possibility is now going to be a reality. From what the ophthalmologist (we've seen 3) have basically said, DS2 looks through 1 eye, then switches and looks through the other eye. The ophthalmologist we saw earlier this week (and the one who recommended the surgery) apparently took a closer look and it appears that not only do his eyes go inward but they also drift upward a little bit. He showed me and I did see what he was talking about - at least with the left eye (his worst eye). Ugh. He has recommended surgery for 2 muscles for both eyes. They will deal with the muscles that are causing the eyes to go inward and upward. It is currently scheduled for next month. We have been told the surgery should be 75min long. He will still wear glasses after the surgery.

My questions for those who have a child that has gone through this or if you have gone through this:

1. What age were you/was your child when the surgery was done?  Did one or both eyes have the surgery?

2. Was the surgery for strabismus? If so, how many muscles did they do surgery on and which ones?

3. Have you had a repeat surgery? If so, at what age? Are you anticipating a repeat surgery at a later date for your child?

4. What was recovery like? Were you able to see within 24-48hr post op (as in, did you have a bunch of swelling, etc.)? How much pain was there? Did you have drops and/or ointment for the eyes?

5. Was the surgery worth it?

6. What kind of symptoms were you/your child having? Ex: headaches, blurry vision, double vision, etc.

7. How soon post surgery did the symptoms clear up?

8. Any tips or other information? We have to be at the hospital 2hr prior to surgery and I've been told overall we may be in the hospital for 6'ish hours that day (pre-op/op/post-op recovery). I'm kind of nervous on how to keep my child calm and entertained for that long. We will be taking a leap pad, some books,  and we'll have a couple of apps on our phones but what are some other good alternatives (that are relatively quiet) to keep him entertained?

Florak8

1. What age were you/was your child when the surgery was done?  Did one or both eyes have the surgery?

25 months, both eyes 

2. Was the surgery for strabismus? If so, how many muscles did they do surgery on and which ones?

Yes, one muscle on each eye-- the ones going upward (it made it look like his eyes were going way into the corner when looking the other direction) 

3. Have you had a repeat surgery? If so, at what age? Are you anticipating a repeat surgery at a later date for your child?

No repeat, but eventually will probably have another for another set of muscles. 

4. What was recovery like? Were you able to see within 24-48hr post op (as in, did you have a bunch of swelling, etc.)? How much pain was there? Did you have drops and/or ointment for the eyes? No complaints of pain from DS. No stitches (it was just a detaching of the muscle) so no discomfort. I have heard stitches feel like sand in the eye. No swelling really but redness and a little bit of a "black eye".

5. Was the surgery worth it?

Yes, I think it is so important so they can focus better on what they are looking at and learning. 

6. What kind of symptoms were you/your child having? Ex: headaches, blurry vision, double vision, etc. Don't know.

7. How soon post surgery did the symptoms clear up? Within a week he was looking normal again.

8. Any tips or other information? We have to be at the hospital 2hr prior to surgery and I've been told overall we may be in the hospital for 6'ish hours that day (pre-op/op/post-op recovery). I'm kind of nervous on how to keep my child calm and entertained for that long. We will be taking a leap pad, some books,  and we'll have a couple of apps on our phones but what are some other good alternatives (that are relatively quiet) to keep him entertained?

The pre-op time stinks. You can never bring enough  toys. The ipad was good for a while. A stroller is good to go on little walks. Post-op, just bring some favorite snacks because once they really wake up they are starving.

HTH!  

thatgrrrrl

This post is really helpful. My 17 month old will be having this done next month - both eyes. She has the same situation where she alternates and the eyes when crossed go upwards.

She's never had glasses but we've been patching her for 4 hours a day since January.

 

Also a question - does your child have a "fixed" stare now? Like the eyes don't seem to move naturally now that the muscles have been altered?

kar5162

1. What age were you/was your child when the surgery was done?  Did one or both eyes have the surgery? 14 months - both eyes

2. Was the surgery for strabismus? If so, how many muscles did they do surgery on and which ones? 2 muscles in both eyes

3. Have you had a repeat surgery? If so, at what age? Are you anticipating a repeat surgery at a later date for your child? Not yet, but we are seeing some drifting out now (vs the earlier in) so it might need to happen in the future.

4. What was recovery like? Were you able to see within 24-48hr post op (as in, did you have a bunch of swelling, etc.)? How much pain was there? Did you have drops and/or ointment for the eyes? Recovery was easy - his eyes were super red the first day, but almost completely faded within a week. He was puffy for a day, but then looked quite good. He didn't seem to be in much pain - just used Tylenol for ~24 hours. We used drops and ointment. His surgeon preferred the ointment, but it was easier to use the drops.

5. Was the surgery worth it? Yes. I am torn as to whether it might have been better to wait and possibly minimize the risk of overcorrection which it seems like might have happened. But waiting would have had the risk that he would have started seeing through his eyes separately instead of using them together (which was starting to happen). That has it's own issues and can lead to one eye having a lot of trouble seeing. He does seem to see much better and, coincidently or not, started making a lot of motor and cognitive progress after surgery. I think it was needed, just not sure exactly when.

6. What kind of symptoms were you/your child having? Ex: headaches, blurry vision, double vision, etc. He was too young to describe.

7. How soon post surgery did the symptoms clear up? Too young to tell.

8. Any tips or other information? We have to be at the hospital 2hr prior to surgery and I've been told overall we may be in the hospital for 6'ish hours that day (pre-op/op/post-op recovery). I'm kind of nervous on how to keep my child calm and entertained for that long. We will be taking a leap pad, some books,  and we'll have a couple of apps on our phones but what are some other good alternatives (that are relatively quiet) to keep him entertained? Two hours isn't that bad. Obviously no snacks, but phone apps, books, quiet games, etc. Our Children's hospital has fish so we walked around and looked at them. And of course, a good part of that time was in pre-op so nurse checks, speaking with the surgeon, anesthesiologist, etc. We were there for a few hours post surgery,  but all he really needed then was cuddles.

Good luck!

kchoi

1. ds1 had surgery at 16 months on both eyes

2. yes 2 muscles

3. yes at age 3

4. initial surgery at 16 month he ended up with an infection in one of the eyes.  noticed a redness the evening after surgery and got  progressively worse by the morning. stayed in hospital for 2.5 weeks.  otherwise drops in both eyes after both surgeries

5. yes his eyes still cross without glasses, but when he has glasses on they're straight

6. to young to know

 good luck!  i'm sure everything will go well.  getting an infection is very rare and actually the hospital where by son had surgery (UCLA) didn't even know the procedure for him to get admitted! 

haleybeth81

My DD#1 at 9 mo old when she had her strabitmus surgery.  Both her eyes went out and she looked a bit like a chameleon.  It was much easier than I thought it would be and the worst part was the way they scream when they come  out of anesthesia (all kids do this but it's easier the older they are because they calm down quicker).  She had bloody tears the day of but other than that she looked normal post op (she had black dots on the outer corner of her eyes for about a month which were the sutures) and she seemed fine with everything but the eye drops.  She only had to have surgery on one muscle of each eye but they had to cut quite a bit of muscle since her's was a severe case.  She had to eye patch until 3 months ago to help strengthen the muscles (she also has hypotonia so that probably didn't help things) but her eyes haven't drifted in over a year.  There is a chance we might have to do another surgery or start patching again as she gets older but so far, it's great and totally worth it.