Strabismus (squinting)
Squinting appears already in childhood, and gradually the vision is adjusted, but some individuals retain this aspect. The problem can be solved by surgery. Squint surgery involves altering the eye muscles to a new position to change the eyes’ alignment.
Eye muscles
Each eye has six muscles that generally work together to keep the eyes properly aligned. The muscles that we operate most often are the horizontal muscles called the medial and lateral rectus muscles.
These muscles are responsible for moving the eyes from side to side. The rectus muscles are located just below the surface of the conjunctiva, which is the transparent layer of tissue covering the white outer shell of the eye. The muscles attach to the outer shell of the eye 5-7 mm behind the edge of the cornea. The two oblique muscles are mainly involved in vertical and rotational movements of the eyes and are attached to the back of the eyeball.
How the operation works
Squinting surgery is usually performed under general anesthesia as an outpatient procedure. Occasionally, surgery can be achieved with the patient awake by numbing the eye with local anesthetic injections or drops and intravenous sedation.
It is a common misconception that the eye needs to be removed from the socket to perform squint surgery. It is not the case! Before the operation, the look is cleaned with an antiseptic solution, and the eyes and face are covered with a sterile drape.
A small hole is made in the drape, and the eyelids are held with a small clip. To find the eye muscles, the conjunctiva is opened near the cornea or next to the muscles. The strengths are then identified, exposing the tissue envelope surrounding the muscle.
Before each squint operation, the ophthalmologist develops a plan for which muscles must be strengthened or weakened and how much.
Which eye muscles need surgery and how much they are strengthened or weakened will depend on the type of squint, how severe the squint is, and whether squint surgery has been done in the past.
This is why it is so important to have accurate squint angle measurements, as ophthalmologists use these measurements to calculate how many millimeters each muscle should be weakened or strengthened.
In the case of convergent squinting, the eyes can be straightened either by weakening the medial rectus muscle of both eyes or by strengthening the lateral rectus muscle of one eye and weakening the medial rectus muscle of the same vision.
For greater comfort when the patient is awake, many surgeons inject a local anesthetic into the eye muscles or apply drops of a local anesthetic to the eye’s surface at the end of the operation. Unfortunately, this means that the eye muscles will also temporarily weaken, and as a result, it is not unusual for the first 3-4 hours after surgery to make squinting look worse.
Important information:
We will be happy to help you and offer a solution to your problem or your dream idea!
Each client is unique and has an individual situation in the field of health or aesthetics (appearance). For this reason, after consulting about his problems and needs, our specialists will propose the most suitable solution – the type of procedure or treatment and the time schedule, in case it is necessary to undergo the procedure or treatment more than once.
If you are interested in learning more, please contact us on phone number 00421 905 928 302, via the contact form or at the email address info@aladiva.sk.
