Surgery frequently involves both eyes, which can be straightened surgically by shortening or lengthening the muscles that control eye movement.
Your surgeon may choose to use an adjustable suture. In this procedure, the operation is done to place one or more muscles on a pulley. The pulleys are then adjusted the next day with the patient awake thereby increasing the likelihood of successful alignment of the eyes. There is only minimal discomfort involved with this adjustment procedure.
People recover quickly from this procedure and are able to return to normal activities within a few days. In a few instances, additional surgery may be necessary to keep the eyes aligned. Strabismus surgery is usually a safe and effective treatment.
Strabismus surgery has few serious complications. In a small number of patients the eyes remained misaligned after surgery. Rare complications include bleeding, perforation of the eye, infection, retinal detachment and diplopia.