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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
Crossed-Eye problem
Our Ask A Doctor Ophthalmology Forum is where you can post your question and receive a personal answer from physicians affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Crossed-Eye problem
by karmika, Mar 27, 2007 12:00AM
I am studying Medicine final year and having problem of Crossed eye.
I am planning to do House surgeon and then Post Graduation in Medicine in USA.
My question is will this crossed-eye problem affects on my further studies or not. Am I eligible to do further courses in USA and anywhere or not?
Is this is the problem to my future career?
Am I need to go for Surgery definitely???
I am planning to do House surgeon and then Post Graduation in Medicine in USA.
My question is will this crossed-eye problem affects on my further studies or not. Am I eligible to do further courses in USA and anywhere or not?
Is this is the problem to my future career?
Am I need to go for Surgery definitely???
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Mar 27, 2007 12:00AM
well
assumedly a surgeon needs to have good binocular skills. most people with strabismus have *no* binocular skills. so you definitely have a strike against you. having surgery may 'straighten' your eye, but as an adult it will not improve your acuity in that eye (assumed to be not very good) *nor* your binocularity (or 'depth perception')
i dont know what the requirements are for surgical residency int he US, but if they require binocular skills then you most likely will not be a candidate, even if you had strabismus surgery to 'straighten' your 'crossed' eye...
assumedly a surgeon needs to have good binocular skills. most people with strabismus have *no* binocular skills. so you definitely have a strike against you. having surgery may 'straighten' your eye, but as an adult it will not improve your acuity in that eye (assumed to be not very good) *nor* your binocularity (or 'depth perception')
i dont know what the requirements are for surgical residency int he US, but if they require binocular skills then you most likely will not be a candidate, even if you had strabismus surgery to 'straighten' your 'crossed' eye...
I want to let you know one fact i.e while I am seeing in straight direction, there is no problem and other won't find any defect about my eyes. But while I am seeing to left side or right side others will find easily that there is a crossed eye problem on my eyes. I have a eye sight for long distance i.e. 3.
Now suggest me am I eligible to go for further studies?
And please let me know how to check binocular skills.
Thanks!
My eye sight of long distance is 3.
Please let me know how to check the binocular skills.
Thanks!
My eye sight of long distance is 3.
Please let me know how to check the binocular skills.
Thanks!
It depends on how your eyes were during development. I had strabismus from birth, but it was a vertical displacement, and slight enough that my brain did develop "binocularity circuits". I had binocular vision for 30+ years, until I decompensated and started seeing double. Only at that point did I recognize the problem and seek treatment.
There are cases where people who never had binocular vision still managed to recover it after therapy and surgery. As long as you had *some degree* of binocular vision from birth, even if it faded in and out or was only in one direction, the brain cells and connections responsible may have survived enough for you to recover full binocularity.
I did vision therapy for years, which helped a lot. If the problem is minor, vision therapy alone might correct it. VT got me from 12 degrees vertical mismatch to 6-8, and improved my distance vision markedly. My problem was severe enough to require surgery to go any further. I've had one surgery, and will have another in June. Since my brain can do binocularity just fine, my prognosis is good.
Testing for binocular vision is easy : go see a 3-D movie; if you can see the 3D, your vision is binocular. Then look right or left (e.g., to the Exit signs). If the exit signs are double, you have some intorsion/extorsion on side gazes -- the image is rotated because your eye muscles aren't moving properly.
You can also string beads along an 8-10 ft. string and look along it (attach one end to a doorknob or something, and hold the other end up to your nose). Focus on a bead at least 3-4 feet away. You should see an "X" pattern, with "both" strings meeting in the middle with the bead at the center of the X.
If one string is above or below another, your eyes are not "pointed" at the same place, and you're not locating properly.
The bottom line is, see a vision therapist, who can do a battery of tests to figure out exactly what the issue is. Some eye doctors can also do this (though many are dismissive and not trained in it). Good luck! Don't give up your medical dreams! These problems are usually fixable.