For years, Elizabeth Allen struggled with a common vision problem that prevented her from seeing clearly. She couldn’t even look at herself in the mirror. “I hadn’t seen my ear in multiple years,” she said, describing the way her eyes misaligned.
This issue is known as strabismus, a condition where one or both eyes become misaligned. It affects about 13 million Americans. Eyes may drift inward, outward, up, or down. While it’s more common in children, adults like Allen can face this problem too.
Dr. Sylvia Yoo, an ophthalmologist and the director of the Strabismus Service at Tufts Medical Center, explained that when Allen first came to her, the misalignment had worsened. “Her eyes didn’t move outward at all,” she said.
Strokes are a major cause of strabismus in adults. Other risk factors include head injuries and conditions like diabetes. In Allen’s case, doctors suspect a brain tumor, diagnosed when she was 11, triggered the problem.
“The control of eye muscles comes from the brain,” Yoo explained. “The surgery and treatments Allen received for her tumor affected the nerves that control her eye movement, which worsened the misalignment over time.”
As a teenager, Allen wore special prisms in her glasses to help with double vision. However, five years ago, she noticed her condition getting worse. “Both of my eyes started turning inward,” she said, signaling that some eye muscles were weakening while others tightened.
After a thorough evaluation, Yoo recommended surgery. “The goal was to help her look straight ahead without double vision, both when looking forward and down,” Yoo said.
After a two-hour procedure, Allen was relieved to find that her double vision had disappeared. “There are no restrictions on what I can do now,” she said, grateful to finally be able to see clearly.
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