The eye is shaped like a large marble and the muscles look like elastic bands attached to the outside of the eye. When the muscle contracts, the eye changes position. Eye muscle surgery involves detaching and reattaching the muscles to another place on the eye. The primary goal of the surgery is to restore straight eye alignment.
Most eye muscle surgery is done as an outpatient in the hospital. This means there is no admission to the hospital. The patient arrives in the morning and leaves the same day. Occasionally, a patient will need to stay overnight following surgery.
Normally the surgery takes approximately an hour and a half. This includes the time the patient is brought into the operating room until the time the patient goes to the recovery room.
Most children require general anesthesia for the surgery. Adults require general or local anesthesia.
General information on preparing for surgery
Eye muscle surgery is performed with the eye in its normal position. At no time during the operation is the eye removed from the socket. The surgeon determines where to reattach the muscles based on eye measurements taken during your office visit.
The incision goes through the white part of the eye. Most of the time the healing is hidden so it can hardly be seen except with magnification.
When the patient is waking from anesthesia, he/she must be kept from rubbing their eyes. Later, rubbing does not seem to be a problem. Children usually do not rub their eyes, or when they do, the lids are tightly closed, thus preventing any eye damage. Generally, there is no immediately undesirable result from eye rubbing.
After surgery the eyes are "scratchy," but not very painful. People are different. Some are more sensitive to discomfort than others. Patients usually only require Tylenol for discomfort.
There will also be some swelling and discharge after the surgery. The swelling should not be very much and the person should be able to open their eyes within the next 2 days, that is, the swelling should get less as each day goes by. If the swelling increases significantly, contact your doctor immediately, particularly if there is pain. Also the eye position should be reasonably straight. If the position of the eye is way out of line, tell your doctor about this right away.
Adults and children older than 6 years, frequently will have double vision for a limited period of time after surgery. Children less than 6 years, sometimes will have double vision for a short period of time. Rarely is the double vision permanent. People with double vision learn to disregard the second image.
Patients generally do not have to wear patches after surgery, although occasionally a temporary patch may be used.
Your doctor will want to see you for a follow-up appointment 1-2 weeks after your surgery.
The success rate of this surgery varies from person to person and depends on their particular condition.
The most common risk is that the eyes will not end in the intended position. In this event, a second surgery is sometimes needed. If a second operation is required, the success rate for this operation is usually as high as for the first operation.
Some infrequent complications include, but are not limited to, allergy to sutures, bleeding, and change in pupil size.
For more information: Contact the
Eye Plastic, Orbital and Facial Cosmetic Surgery Clinic or the
Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus Clinic at the U-M Kellogg Eye Center (734) 763-1415.
Click here for a complete list of surgical procedures at the Kellogg Eye Center.
