Amblyopia/strabismus research

danmc11

Hello, I am a product design undergraduate student, currently studying in IT Carlow. I have been reading through some topics in this section based around people seeking treatment for strabismus (lazy eye). And I am currently looking for people who have had corrective surgery in order to realign/focus the weaker or wondering eye.

I have had surgery myself but at a very young age, and was a particularly fussy child and did not wear the required patch after the operation so I did not get the full benefits of the procedure. As the years went on my vision became gradually worse and I have now had to wear glasses for several years and have begun to contemplate getting surgery. I cannot afford this so I began to wonder if I can create something practical which would be able to help me or help my vision become stronger..

I am currently conducting research into this area with the hope of developing a device or system which helps in areas such as:

• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Surgery
• Monitoring
• Post operation rehabilitation
• Home rehabilitation and care

I am keeping my research very broad at the moment because I need to keep an open mind and somethig may pop up I have not realised or identified. I would also like to take this project on for postgraduate studies.

So with that said I hope to get in contact with anybody who would be willing to talk to me about their experience with amblyopia/strabismus. I hope to organise meetups/user trips and understand this from someone else's perspective.

I really do have a genuine interest in this area and hope you guys would be up for helping me out it would be an amazing experience to create dialogue and or meet up.

All the best
[/COLOR]

Justsomeguyyy

I have strabismus since 2018 which is caused by PTSD somehow 

I first got PTSD back in July 2018 and since PTSD can cause damage to the brain ( some form of brain damage I believe) it caused hypervigilance and strabismus and exotropia ( eyeball turning outwards)

It also caused a condition called PTVS ( Post traumatic vision syndrome) which is basically strabismus but I have strabismus caused by PTSD

So I have a complex form of PTSD

This has made my life a nightmare! And made my life very awkward. Let me explain why:

I can't concentrate, can't focus both eyes on the same object

One eye is straight and normal but the other eye turns outwards ( exotropia). Sometimes it's my right eye, sometimes my left eye. I can't control my eyes. I don't have control of my eyes. I need to focus really hard to keep my eyes "straight" but this causes eye strain & headaches & fatigue because I have to focus hard when before I didn't have to! It's exhausting

 I have misalignement of the eyes. My eyes are misaligned.

This has made me so self concious that I don't go out. I stay home. I've lost confidence that I don't want to be around other people because my condition makes me seem" suspicious"

Let me explain why. Because for example when I'm sitting on the sofa next to my brother, it feels like I have my right eye looking/staring at him and my left eye on the TV. But it's not my fault! I don't do it deliberately. I can't control my eyes. On some days it's fine but others it's all over the place! I have wandering eyes. This has negatively affected my quality of life significantly :/

It's not only at home, it's when I'm driving, in the waiting room of the doctor's office, at the cinema, etc, my right eye is turned outwards ( undeliberatly) and my left eye is normal. So it's as if I have my right eye on the person sitting next to me and the other eye on the movie screen at the cinema, or my left eye at the person sitting next to me and the other eye at the wall in the doctor's waiting room, or my right eye on the person sitting next to me in the car and the other eye on the road when I'm driving!

Sometimes it's my left eye and somedays it's my right eye. I have no control over this!

I never had this problem before. This problem only occured after I got PTSD in 2018.

So having had untreated PTSD & strabismus ( caused by PTSD) for 5 years I need to start treatment ASAP

My psy prescribed to me effexor but I haven't started it yet. I tried to get an appointment with him but he's on vacation since it's the summer holidays so I have to wait until September and will have to take it for the next 6 months to effectively treat PTSD

If the effexor doesn't fix this issue of strabismus, I'll have to have surgery to treat this once and for good!

I needed to share my story and get it off my hest because I've had this condition for 5 years now and it's been going on for way too long

I too feel isolated and totally misunderstood because nobody around here where I live understands my condition.

They think I'm crazy or insane or untrustworthy because of my exotropia ( eyes turning outwards) when in reality I'm not

So having this condition sucks! Because it's made me self conscious and I've lost confidence in myself

I am relieved to know I'm not the only one with this problem