Home Page

Date issued: November 2023

Review date: November 2025

Ref: C-420/SP/REI/Strabismus/squint surgery v2

PDF:  Strabismus squint surgery final November 2023 v2.pdf [pdf] 175KB

Why Have Strabismus Surgery?

Squint surgery can be beneficial in many different ways depending on the specific case. A few ways squint surgery can be very helpful are:

• To improve the ocular alignment of the eyes by reducing the size of the squint.

• To improve quality of life¹.

• To enable the eyes to work together, to achieve 3D vision in some cases².

• To alleviate symptoms such as headaches and double vision. 

Before the operation

Pre-operatively you will have appointments with an orthoptist, consultant and optometrist. The orthoptic appointments will be to determine the type of squint present as well as to do the required tests to ensure measurements are stable and assess the vision and eye movements. Measurements must be stable for 3 consecutive visits to go forward with surgery to allow for the best possible outcomes.

Some squints react well to certain types of glasses. At times, convergent squints can be fully corrected or decrease in size if there is a long-sighted prescription³. Where-as divergent squints react well to short-sighted prescriptions. Therefore this is to be accounted for before surgery⁴.

The consultant appointment will be to discuss any possible questions you may have regarding the surgery, as well as to check the health of the eyes.

The operation

Squint surgery is carried out as a day case. The surgery itself lasts approximately 30 minutes. A general anaesthetic is used which means that you or your child will be asleep during the operation and may be in theatre for up to two hours.

There are 6 muscles attached to the eyeball, some of these may be weakened or strengthened to make the eye straighter, the particular muscles involved will depend on which eye condition you have and whether previous surgery has been done.

Risks

Severe risks/ side effects during squint operations are rare, these can be:

• Redness of the eye, this is quite common and usually gets better by itself.

• Double vision may be present post-operatively. This may be temporary or permanent and may require further surgery to correct⁵.

• There is a small risk of post-operative infection requiring antibiotic treatment⁶.

• Under/overcorrection which may require further surgery.

• General anaesthetic - the risk of complications in a healthy child is very low. A specialist paediatric anaesthetist will look after your child during the operation.

• Damage to the eye is extremely rare but a serious complication which can cause bleeding or infection inside the eye which can have a permanent effect on eyesight⁶.

After the operation

• The eye may feel uncomfortable and redness can take up to 8 weeks to resolve.

• Eye drops or ointment will be prescribed after the operation to help the eye recover.

• Return to work/school is usually possible after a few days.

• Swimming should be avoided for 2 weeks.

• Glasses should be worn as normal afterwards, unless advised otherwise by your orthoptist.

• Contact lens wear should be avoided until the eyes are fully recovered.

In paediatric patients, if patching treatment is taking place, this may be resumed 2-4 weeks after the operation, or as instructed by your orthoptist

If you have any questions, please contact the Orthoptic Department on: 01752 439319

For more information about squint surgery visit: www.squintclinic.com

For further Orthoptic information about strabismus: https://www.orthoptics.org.uk/patients-and-public/about-orthoptics/