Lazy Eye (amblyopia)

Talk to your eye doctor, theres a surgury you can get, usually covered by insurance. Theyll put you to sleep, its an out-patient surgury so youll leave the same day, no biggie. The surgury prolly wont make it perfect, but alot better than before.

My son had the surgery at 12 yrs old.He is now 19 and handsome as ever!Perfect straight eyes.He had it bad too in both eyes.

I am 29 years old and had the surgery to correct my lazy eye last december here in england - I moved here years ago with the forces and stayed.
I was never offered this surgery in the usa, and most doctors still do not discuss this surgery in the usa. I have family members who have went on to tell friends and families about my success with this surgery and I will now explain it to you.

All of my life I suffered with eye problems and my "lazy eye" (in england they call this a "squint"). I would do things liike cprrecting it with posture - always tilting my head to one side. It caused me much concern growing up, and I was always told that it was a condition I was born with, and there was nothing I could do to correct it. I always ensured that people sat to the right of me, my left eye not turning left at all and somewhat inward, it made socialisation difficult. I knew that I was attractive, people always commented on my beauty, but it always seemed unreal to me - I hated my eye and how I could never take a photo unless the camera was "just so" in order to hide it. I would take hundreds of photos of myself if I needed a photo for work or something, and maybe, just maybe, I would get a few where I wasnt "squinting". I remember crying in the bathroom when going to 3d films because I couldn't see in 3d and didn't understand what the hype was about. I remember visiting art galleries (i love art) and wishing to be able to enjoy them fully.

It was mentioned to me by a colleague that she had the surgery to correct hers in her late 20s and she wanted to get her wedding photos re-taken now that her eyes were okay (all of her wedding photos were facing away from the camera).
I then went to see my gp (family doctor) in the uk and asked him about it. He said that there was no reason I couldn't go forward with the surgery and he gave me a referral to the local orthoptist, mr innes.
I was seen by mr innes, who did lots of tests on my eyes, and then determined that I was a good candidate for surgery. He booked me in on the waiting list, and I was very excited. I knew that it was an 18 month wait, but hey, what was 18 months compared to 27 years?

Finally the day came - I had my surgery scheduled for early december 2003. This was the best decision I was to ever make! They explained that during the surgery, they would snip the muscle that is attached to my eye and move it back a few millimeters. If it was not enough, he could go back in to take more off, or to try and re-position the muscle if need be. This would give me better movement with my eyes, allow me to see in 3d, and be able to take a decent photo for a change (without sunglasses on).

I remember waking from the surgery. I didn't have alot of pain, just discomfort, as can be expected. When they removed the bandages, my eyes were very sensitive to light and teared an awful lot.

For the first time in my life, I could see in 3d! This was overwhelming to say the least! I had to learn to look at things so differently now, my spacial awareness was so different as well - I still bump into things all of the time.

This feburary, I went to the national portrait gallery of london and was able to see some of the beautiful art in full perspective.

Then, in april, I went to the imax to see a 3d film. Although it was meant to be a documentary about bugs and light-hearted, I cried through most of it - I could see it and understood what all of the hype was all about. The colour, the feel, the vibrancy, it was all so beautiful!

I have since been to the tate modern gallery (art) twice, and to the royal acamdemy of arts, the british museam, and many many others. I frequent many galleries often, and appreciate my newly founded vision every day.


I went back to mr innes for a checkup 6 months after the surgery. After numerous tests, it was revealed to me that my line of vision went from a negative 47 to about -3. That is an imporovement by fourty four points! The normal range would be 0, but I am ever so grateful. I do get some double vision when looking to the right still, but that will improve in time. My brain has to learn how to see again, and how to make it all line up.

If you want to see what my eyes look like, you can visit one of my websites at www.Lushhh.Says.It

i can only recommend that you go forward with the surgery, and that your experience is as wonderful as mine!

Hi guys,

thanks for the replies. I know this thread is really old, but I found it from a googl search - go figure!


Anyway, I thought I would bring you my update. Things are still the same, but I manged to get my family eye doctor to schedule me with an appointment with a specialist. This was about 5 months ago, the appoint is in 2 months (long wait!). Note that i've already done this before, 2 years ago, and I had a 8 month wait. That time, I spent all day doing tests, and the girl simply told me that she could do surgeory, but she didn't want to, because she thought it was for "cosmetic reasons." this bugged me!

Every day for 8 months I couldn't wait for to see this specialist, and then the day finally comes and then i'm told this. It was a huge disappointment.

So hopefully the new specialist will be more helpful. 2 months to go! Hurray!

Any update, eyeguy?

If one specialist feeds you a disappointing answer, consider seeing a different one. You can talk to two different specialists of roughly equal experience and get different responses.

If you can, find out what training your specialist has had. If what I heard is true, the best specialists in strabismus in the states can be traced back to a handful of doctors who trained together in the 60's and 70's. Presumably they have trained a generation of students themselves. Try to find the best, most experienced specialist you can find even if you have to travel several hours for your appointment. Ask about the specialist's success rates with surgery as well as the measure of "success", and be sure to ask about best case and worst case scenarios. Write down a detailed history of your medical history and symptoms before your appointment. You may be given eyedrops to dialate your eyes on your first visit, so find someone to drive you back. Bring sunglasses.

Regarding the efficacy of surgery, different doctors i've asked over the years have given different opinions. Some doctors or medical techs have suggested that I would have fused vision soon after getting surgery, but in my estimation these were less experienced doctors who assumed the surgery works equally for everyone. There is some possibility that your vision could get worse after surgery and you would need to have the muscles adjusted again.

My online reading suggests that in some cases surgery will *not* cause vision to magically fuse, as I suspect is true in my case. To my understanding, my vision never fused during the early months of development, therefore it is unlikely that it will do so in the future. (i could be wrong, but nothing i've tried so far has worked.) your chance of success with surgery will depend on your medical history: did you have strabismus at an early age? Have you experienced fused vision?

My subjective experience of the condition is different from that of others. I have some advantages that others with strabismus don't have. My right eye is near-sighted but can be corrected with lenses. I have continuous vision out of both eyes, though I "concentrate" out of one eye at a time. There is a "ghost" image in the center of my field of vision, but I don't notice this too often. I have good control over my eyes and can straighten them for pictures. Sometimes I straighten, sometimes I don't. Like others who have divergent strabismus and the use of both eyes, I have extraordinarily good peripheral vision.

As far as your discomfort in speaking to others is concerned, my suggestion is this: don't compensate. If you can help it, don't tilt your head. If you look at someone straight with one eye, the person figures out soon enough which eye to look at. People i've known for a while typically say they hardly notice my lazy eye even though the angle of divergence is fairly wide.

Here's a biggie: people who judge you according to the appearance of your eyes generally aren't worth knowing. People will find you less attractive if your eyes aren't straight--let's just face facts--but there's more to appearance than just the eyes, and there's more to you than what one gets from a quick first impression. Making that first connection may take a little extra effort on your part, but just do it.

As is the case with others with strabismus, I am sensitive about the condition even if I don't like to admit it. See my recent posting about the use of the word "walleyed" in an editorial in the austin, texas newspaper.
Do I wish I didn't have strabismus? Sure. But I go about my day, make friends, date, and do what I can. I'm not disappointed about not seeing 3d movies, frankly, because most of them tend to suck as far as the plot is concerned. I'm an arts enthusiast and I enjoy 2d and 3d art. Partly because of my vision i'm fascinated with art that crosses over from 2d to 3d.

My advice at the end of this long post: keep your chin up, look straight ahead, find out as much as you can, and then make an informed decision about what if anything you'd change.

Gary, this sounds corny, but the advice you give really really does help, and I really appreciate your reply. It has been 2 weeks (after a long long wait) since I saw the specialist. He said "yes you definately should have corrected this with your doctor years ago." and told me I was a good candidate for surgeory. But he's the part the stinks; I live in canada and although you hear rumours about our wonderful health care system, it really really isn't that great. He's referrings me to *another* specialist, who specializes in strabismus (however it's spelled). It has been 2 weeks and I havn't heard anything from either of the doctors, i'm starting to wonder if they forgot about me. The waiting lists here are *long*, it could be up to another year before anything actually happens. Even then, my eyes may not be perfectly straight. And if my eyes turned in once, what's preventing this from happening again?


I have one last question is this: I find others very uncomfortable to look at me when I am talking to then. Even my own parents won't look at me. I don't know what the proper etiquitte here is, to stare away (not at them), or cotinue to stare at them even if they feel uncomfortable?


Anyways, thanks again everyone.

Eyeguy:

i'm glad my comments were of some help.

In my opinion, you should never look away to "spare" someone. If the person you are talking to is uncomfortable, my suggestion is to offer help. Tell the person, "hey, if you're not sure which eye to look at, try this one." building up the confidence to say this could be hard for you. Try blurting it out before you have time to think about it.

Under no circumstances should you apologize, though. Having strabismus isn't something you asked for, so why apologize? It'd be like apologizing for cloudy days. Life is short. There's little worth being embarrassed about, and I don't think strabismus is it.

But . . . If someone treats you differently because of your strabismus, then they've made a choice, perhaps a conscious one, to treat you differently. Rather than get too mad or upset--unless they intentionally insult you, in which case i'd rather not give advice--try to remember that people can be surprised by someone or something they don't see very often, so their reaction may be simply that: a reaction. They, too, may not be sure what to do because they don't want to insult you.

If by some chance the person you're talking to wants to discuss your strabismus, it'd probably be best to remain as matter of fact as you can rather than describing how it makes you feel.

To respond to your question about looking at someone during a conversation, you don't necessarily need to stare. Try to do what comes naturally and look at the person when it's appropriate during a conversation. Looking away too much can make it uncomfortable for both parties.

Sometimes when i'm at a table with several people clustered around, someone may get confused when they're not sure if i'm talking to him (left eye) or to her (unattended, outward turning right eye). At first I may try to throw the person's name back into the conversation to indicate who i'm talking to (e.G. "know what i'm talkin' 'bout, george?"). If that doesn't work, i'll be more straightforward.

Making a recommendation about how to approach your parents is difficult, but i'll give it a shot. Try to talk to your parents openly about your strabismus and (to some extent) how you feel about it. Be sure to tell them they shouldn't feel guilty about not looking you in the eye, but you would prefer it if they didn't look away since this makes you uncomfortable. If you don't feel right talking to your parents about this, perhaps you could ask a family friend to talk to them about it.

If you ever watch bernie mac's comedy show you may notice that one of his eyes appears to turn outward in some shots (which could be strabismus, exopthalmia, or simply the fact that some people with normal vision have eyes that turn slightly outward). His crew doesn't reshoot these scenes. He doesn't make an issue of the matter, nor (in the episodes i've seen) does he call attention to it. Go, bernie.

If by some strange chance of fate I appear on tv some day, I would like to state for the record that I don't plan to look away from the camera. (this assumes I wouldn't have tried elective surgery to see if there's some chance I could finally have the "fused" 3d vision various folks seem to think is so nifty.)

perhaps it's in my character as an engineer/scientist/techie to view strabismus as an interesting problem to discuss and perhaps even to solve, but I won't assume that everyone else is as comfortable discussing it as I am.

To wrap up, i'd be more than happy to offer whatever other advice I can, including practical advice for dealing with the situations that can give people with strabismus trouble. Although i'm not a pro or even semi-pro by a long stretch, i'm a much better pool player than the average joe or jane, which should suggest that this condition isn't a complete impediment. (i would never admit to playing pool for money, but if hypothetically speaking I had played for money, I would be happy to report that I made more than I lost.)

seriously, though, i'd be happy to offer practical advice about driving (e.G., look over both shoulders when you can rather than relying on mirrors), trying to hit or catch a ball (go for sports with larger, slower moving balls), or whatever. I've dealt with strabismus for all of my 30+ years, and i've given a lot of thought about how to compensate for this or that difficulty.

- gary

Again gary, it's nice to hear about someone else in my shoes.

You say you've had this condition for 30 years, have you ever tried to fix it? (just curious). Do your eyes get progressively worse over the years? Are your eyes only horizontally out of align or do you have some vertical misalignment as well?


I *have* seen bernie mac's show, and I thought I noticed his eyes as well. I thought I just had strabismus on the mind :0)

i'll take your advice for talking to my parents / friends. Maybe they just think it makes *me* more comfortable because I don't have to look them in the eye (i once told them focusing on things too distant was awkward because of the double vision).


For sports, yeah I know what you're talking about :) soccer, volleyball, anything with a large ball is fun and easy to play. But people often don't understand why I absolutely suck at baseball. Sometimes I tell them I have no depth perception, but I don't think they know what that means.

Again, it means a lot to me that you've the taken time to respond and give very helpful advice. No one around me has experience with my condition, so I never get to get things like this off my chest. Finally I have :)

thanks.

Eyeguy:

i had my last surgery when I was seven, if I remember correctly. I had previously had surgery to correct an inward-turning eye.

During my last visit to an ophthalmologist I tried using a fresnel (flat) prism on one lens of an old pair of glasses. The prism emulated what I would see if my eye were straightened. I went outside with a rubber ball and tried to walk around, throw the ball up in the air and catch it, and so on. The experience was confusing because the double vision was worse and I couldn't ignore it.

Though some have reported having their double vision disappear after corrective surgery, in one message board I recall reading that one person reported getting *triple* vision after surgery. This may sound like a joke, and doctors may say it's silly. If I close one eye I sometimes get the sense that I still have double vision in the single open eye. This has to do both with my brain's manner of compensating and with my expectations, i'm sure. Unfortunately this is a difficult point to argue because experience with strabismus differs from person to person, and those who don't have strabismus probably have a difficult time understanding what it's like to have it. Now that digital imaging tools are cheap and easy to come by i've considered creating a sort of slide show to illustrate what the world looks like to me.

Regarding my eyesight and visual acuity: my eye may have turned out more over the years, but i'm not certain. (warning! Advice from a non-doctor to follow!) I heard from one eye doctor that exercises performed daily over a period of six weeks or more could help reduce the angle of deviation. Consult at least one ophthamologist with expertise in strabismus before trying any exercises.

Over the past four years my prescription has hardly changed except for a slight (0.25 diopter) change in astigmatism in one eye. When I was younger I recall sneaking a peak at the doctor's report and reading that I had "progressive myopia". Well, my near-sightedness isn't all that bad, and it's hardly changed in 20 years.

My current prescription is -2.75 in the right eye (strong correction) and -0.50 in the left eye (weak correction). In 1987 my prescription was -2.50 and (?) +0.25.

For grins I reviewed my medical records. Here's some history of my condition and treatments:

1976 - 1977: surgery for bilateral inferior oblique recession; surgery for right medial & right lateral rectus recession

1992: visit to children's hospital of chicago, ophthalmology division
"correction might have been possible 20 years ago"
"left eye is gradually deviating further out"
"unless for cosmetic reasons, surgery not recommended"
(though I wasn't a child by any stretch of the imagination in 1972, the children's hospital facility was recommended.)

i haven't found the most recent measurement of the deviation, which is mostly horizontal (30 degrees?) and slightly vertical (~ 5 degrees). It's more pronounced than what you see in the image here:
http://en.Wikipedia.Org/ wiki/strabismus

re: "no depth perception." you must have *some* depth perception, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get around except by touch. Granted, your depth perception and mine is poor, but by unconsciously relying on visual cues such as size, shading, and apparent speed we can determine whether most objects are near, far, or at a middle distance. This, in any meaningful sense of the phrase, is perception of depth.

I heard the phrase "no depth perception" over and over again myself while I was growing up, but later a psychology professor pointed out that I must have some ability to perceive depth. In fact, I don't think the difference between normal depth perception and our depth perception is as great as some people assume. This isn't quite flatworld vs. Sphereworld. But hey, I only know what I see. Your results may vary.

Regarding ball sports: if I happen to jump a cue ball off the table when i'm playing pool and if someone else picks it up, I make a point of telling the person right away not to throw it. Otherwise I have to do a little bob-and-weave with my head to figure out where the ball is in the air, and about half the time I don't catch it anyway. As far as pop flies in baseball go, well . . . That's a problem. I've wanted to have people tell me "run forward!" or "run backward!" when i'm playing outfield, but this isn't too convenient. By sticking with aiming sports (pool/snooker/billiards, target shooting with gun & bow) I do well because i'm not trying to catch the same thing i'm shooting. Thankfully.

According to a few sources i've read, including http://www.Strabismus.Org/, strabismus affects as many as 5 percent of children. Even if the number is only 1 percent that's a lot of people. So you're definitely not alone! And it's certainly my pleasure to provide what advice I can. Though i'm no expert in this field, i'm an engineer by trade in a field know as "machine vision" (see http://en.Wikipedia .Org/wiki/machine_vision, an article I wrote), which means I think about visual perception on a regular basis.

In a previous post I mentioned a doctor who made a big splash in this field. It was Dr. Park, I believe. This could explain why there is an eye center named the "park" center: http://www.Visionh elp.Com/clinics/moskow.Htm. I saw two or three of his first generation of students.

If you'd care to send me a private message please feel free to do so (by clicking "private message," I guess), but I think this discussion may be useful to others as well.

- gary

Hi gary,

i found your advice very helpful and reassuring. I am a teenager in college and in high school I didn't really have a huge problem dealing with strabismus until I got into college. In the back of my mind I know I am embarrassed by my wandering eye but I don't want to seem shallow about the way I look so I just avoid or ignore these negative feelings I have towards myself. It began to be more of an issue because as college progressed and when I knew that in a few years I would have to be doing interviews to get a real job. I have finally admitted to myself that my wandering eye has subconsiously held me back from jumping at a great opportunity. I feel more self-conscious about it than ever before and am afraid of making friends.

I also tilt my head when i'm looking at someone and I have a hard time concentrating (esp reading textbooks) for long periods of time. I am seriously considering getting surgery now before I am too busy to even bother with it. I didn't think that it was really affecting my social life and the way I present myself untill I spoke to my family about it and what they've observed about it. Thanks again for writing about this in a forum. It made me feel alot better.

Gracew11,

i'm glad my posts were helpful. And thanks for saying so.

It's probably best for anyone who reads a lot to take a break of 15 minutes every hour. I know this is hard to do when you're in school since you have so much to read. You may find that if you space out your reading you'll retain information better anyway.

I don't know if it's the best idea, but I tend to read with my more nearsighted right eye and then talk to people, drive, and look at distance objects with my left eye.

If you can find a good specialist, see if you can try using a fresnel (pronounced fre-nell) prism either on your glasses or, if you don't wear glasses, on a pair of cheap glasses with no prescription. Your specialist may even recommend that you wear these glasses for several weeks before surgery so that your brain has a chance to get used to the new positioning of your eyes relative to one another.

I was told that a surgery can be "undone" if the new eye position causes problems, but you would certainly have to ask a doctor about this.

Another factoid: if you can control your eyes and can straighten them when you want, you may find your vision goes blurry when the eyes are straightened. If a person with divergent strabismus straightens the eyes, this is roughly equivalent to a person without strabismus attempting to stair at his own nose. One's vision will go out of focus. Straightening the eyes by repositioning the muscles should not lead to blurry vision since the brain will not detect muscular tension when the eyes are relaxed.

- gary

Gary,

you always seem to provide exactly what I want to hear. And about your experience with "double vision" with one eye.. I have that as well in my lazy eye. I never really thought of it much until right now. Do you think when/if I finally get surgeory to straighten my eyes if that will effect the results? At first I pictured myself finally having "single vision," but now i'm not so sure.




You seem to be a very confident person when it comes to your condition. I envy that!




On a side note, this forum parses most of your links including the punctuation at the end making the links seem dead at first. It also adds random capitalization (ie, htm) for people who wanted to visit gary's links:

http://www.Strabismus.Org /
http://en.Wikipedia.Org/w iki/strabismus
http://en.Wikipedia.Org/w iki/machine_vision
http://www.Visionhelp.Com /clinics/moskow.Htm

as for depth perception, yes you are right. I do have some depth perception -- I guess i'm lucky for that :)

as for surgeory, I am finally seeing the strabismus specialist in may -- who happens to be the same doctor I saw when I was two! A hundred doctors referrals to get me back to where I started :) I am not positive if he will offer sugeory, but i'm told if anyone will offer it, it will be this guy. Let's hope he learned a thing or two in 17 years.




I have a couple oral presentations coming up at school. Some tips from the professor: "good eye contact with your audience." oh boy, this will be fun..

Hello, my name is leo and im from brisbane, australia. I'm just looking around as "lazy eye surgery" is unheard of, or so I can tell, over here.

I am 21 years of age and I have had lazy eye/s as long as I can remember, especially when a few of your school photos look like pirate mugshots ;)

my problem is that I can only focus through one eye at a time, once I focus through one the other wanders away, and vice versa. I dont get double vision, and my eye rolls out so I think it helps my peripheral vision :)

some doctors have told me its just plain old lazy eye, some say its "independant" eyes and some aren't sure altogether.

I've trained myself my whole life to switch from one eye to the other to make sure there is no "dominant" one, but people still look over their shoulder sometimes to see who i'm talking to. I was never made fun of or anything which was a bonus, but I can't do things like fly a plane.

I was just wondering if anyone knows anyone good over here, or has heard of any particular surgery/surgeries that may be able to correct this. I don't wear glasses and I am the only one in my immediate family who doesn't, but I am open to suggestions like prism lenses, i'll settle for anything at the moment :)

my next step is to ask for a referral to an opthomologist but I thought i'd ask you guys before I started the "grind" of medical beaurocracy

thanks

Ph0b0s, I am in no way an expert (just reading from the internet my condition), and along the way I have found out that a person in your condition has the best chance to have their eyes corrected 100%. You can eitehr align your eyes with surgeory or prisms, and if your eyes still don't work together, i've heard vision training has a very good chance of getting them to work together.

Hey, yeah thanks for the support, it makes me feel alot better to at least hear someone say things look ok.

Ive learnt to live with having two separate focuses, I guess I have never known much different. My dad had a lazy eye when he was young and towards the end of his life that eye started to shut down and was hard to see out of. When he died they were able to donate one of his cornea's to someone to help them see again, which was a bonus.

I just find it a bit strange that I can see things like 3d movies, but not those 3d pictures you have to look at for a while. I do think I have fairly good depth perception but even so i've been told im ineligible for a pilot's licence.

Does anyone know if this is purely a medical issue or are there factors like brain hemispheres working independantly? I am wondering whether I will pass it onto my son like my dad did.

Thanks for your help so far guys

Hello, people with different strabismus problems.
I am a mother of children with exotropia and we live in poland. I thought it was only in our poland that things were so hard to fix. Poland is not a rich country and so the health care provided may not be very up-to-date.
However, I have been struggling for my children for years. The results are not good, information is difficult to obtain.... And the time passes.
Has anybody tried the use of botulimum toxin a in treating the strabismus? I have read an article about using the toxin in curing. For some people it might help to be injected once, for others it needs to be repeated two, three times. The effect only works for 3-4 months and during that time the patient needs to do quite a lot of vision therapy tu use the time. Is that popular/done in the usa, canada or australia. The countries seem to have more access to science and the latest scientific discoveries.
Another question is - has anybody used special striped prisms to cure the strabismus? They look awful, but apparently help to get rid of the strabismus - deepen the 3d vision and dicrease the squint angle. Any experience with the prisms?
I shall be grateful for any opinions on the success/failure of the botulinum and striped prisms.
All the best for you, people

Although I would never wish this condition on anyone, it's refreshing to read this thread and realize that i'm not alone.


Passed down from my father who had surgery for his strabismus in the early 1950's, out of 5 children, I was the only one to inherited this strabismus condition. I didn't learn to walk until I was 2 years of age. Although I can't remember... The specialists said that would have been why. I live in new brunswick canada, and have had 2 separate surgeries to correct it(1973-1974). Before any surgery, I had one eye pointing upwards and the other inward. Children could be cruel and I was at a young age, very self conscious of my situation. I never looked at anyone directly in the face when talking to them as everytime I did they would glance behind themselves to see if anyone else was there and they'd ask me, who are you talking to? This really affected me, and my self esteem :( .

I had these surgeries at the age of 6 and 7 which was the best thing my parents could have done for me. Although it never corrected the fact that I couldn't work both eyes at once, my eyes were straight. Today i'm 37 and I can recall the words of my specialists dr aube, now long passed, that this condition could come back in my later years. Although I still consider myself a young chap, i'm now seeing some signs. My wandering eye is now pointing outwards.

I had my nephew visiting the other evening and I turned to him to say something and he looked behind to see if anyone was behind him and said those dreaded words: "who are you talking to?" then and there, I said i'm not going through this again... Not at 37.

My vision is really important to me as i'm in the computer business, i'm a screenwriter and novice filmmaker. I'm considering the surgery again as i've noticed over the last few years the problem has progressed and i'm experiencing vision changes. I'm thinking maybe my eye muscles have weakened since I was treated for non-hodgekins lymphoma a couple years ago, now cancer free by the way. I've talked to my optometrist about it and although she tries to comfort me by stating it's hardly noticeable, I know it is noticeable and it bothers me a great deal. So to strengthen those muscles, I try to remember the exercises Dr. Aube taught me... Gawd... 30 years ago and am doing them. We'll see soon. Has there been any advances in this surgery since the 70's anyone know of?

I know this reply doesn't offer advice, but it feels good to share it with people who understand.

I haven't been back to this site for a few months. I hope everyone who has posted here is doing well.

In particular I wanted to follow up a half-serious side comment I made in an earlier post:

as it happens, i'm producing a dvd of interviews and panel discussions shot at a comic book convention that took place in march of this year. I interviewed about half a dozen people myself. In the camera #2 shots you can see that my body is turned slightly to face the interviewee; if you look closely (or maybe not even very closely) you can tell that my left eye is looking at the interviewee, and the right eye is sorta pointed at the camera.

No one seemed to care.

(by the way, I am using proper punctuation and capitalization, but this bb keeps mangling my entries.)

Hi all! Some of these posts seem old but I have just decided at the age of 36 to seriously look into this surgery.

My right eye is lazy but not severe, however it is noticeable sometimes, enough to make me very self-concious.

I would love to know the best resource to find a Dr. In southern california that can perfom at least a cosmetic correction and would appreciate any feedback or advice from the group.

I'm also wondering if this cost is ever covered by insurance?

Many thanks!
S