Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 02/17/2009
As with any surgery, there are risks involved. Eye muscle surgery is relatively safe, but very rarely a cut muscle cannot be retrieved. This, and other serious reactions, including those caused by anesthetics, can result in vision loss in the affected...
eye. Occasionally, retinal or nerve damage occurs. Permanent double vision is also a risk of eye muscle surgery. The success rate of this surgery varies from person to person and depends on each person's particular condition.
Some infrequent complications include, but are not limited to, allergy to the sutures, bleeding, and change in pupil size.
The major risk of eye muscle surgery is failure to achieve a satisfactory alignment of the eyes. This may be an undercorrection or an overcorrection, with the eyes turning the other way after the operation. Surgeons aim to achieve perfect alignment, but this is not always possible. If the alignment is still unsatisfactory at the final postoperative visit, then a second operation may be required.
Infection is an unusual postoperative complication and can be treated with antibiotic drops.
Because an incision is made through the conjunctiva and muscle, there is always some residual scarring. Usually, this is detectable only under a microscope, although it may be possible to see it on close examination.
As with any eye surgery, there is a potential risk of visual loss from strabismus operations, but this is a very rare complication.
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Other Information
Definition
Eye muscle surgery is surgery to weaken, strengthen, or reposition any of the muscles that move the eyeball (the extraocular muscles).
Purpose
The purpose of eye muscle surgery is generally to align the pair of eyes so that they gaze in the same direction and move together as a team, either to improve appearance or to aid in the development of binocular vision in a young child. To achieve binocular vision, the goal is to align the eyes so that the location of the image on the retina of one eye corresponds to the location of the image on the retina of the other eye.
In addition, sometimes eye muscle surgery can help people with other eye disorders (nystagmus and Duane syndrome, for example).
Other Information
Approximately 56% of all patients achieve results of 20/20 or better and over 90% achieve 20/40 or better (which is good enough to drive without corrective lenses in most regions).1 Those with moderate to high myopia (greater than 7 diopters) have a lesser chance of achieving that result. As technique and technology improve, the results continue to improve.
From: Eye Surgery Education Council
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