A life-changing opportunity to help a patient with strabismus improve eye alignment

Before and after photo courtesy of David's parents

Commonly referred to as crossed eyes or wandering eyes, strabismus is an eye muscle imbalance/signaling issue between the brain and eye. Most noticeable signs of strabismus are eyes that don’t look in the same direction at the same time, or don’t move together/squinting or closing one eye in bright sunlight. Some cases of strabismus can be corrected without surgery. Eyeglasses may be prescribed to align the eyes. Surgery was the case for my 2-year-old patient, David, who had shown signs of intermittent exotropia at a very young age.

“When David was 8-months old, we noticed our son’s eyes looked different,” said Michael, David’s dad. “At the time, we weren’t sure if it was because he was too young or if there was something medically wrong with his eyes. David’s pediatrician recommended we take him to an eye specialist for an evaluation. During our search for a specialist, we came across Dr. Madhuri Chilakapati of Texas Children’s.

“We tried eye patching for a while, but it was really difficult to keep the patch on him when he got older,” Michael said. “Our son didn’t need glasses because his vision wasn’t bad. At our son’s follow-up visit with Dr. Chilakapati, we discussed eye surgery as our next option.”

“After our son’s surgery, the immediate results were unbelievable,” Michael said. “If you look at him today, you’d never know he had strabismus. Since his surgery David’s eyes are straight, he has better balance, confidence and he doesn’t squint in the sun anymore. I can’t say enough good things about our experience with Dr. Chilakapati and Texas Children’s. Everyone from the nurses to the physicians and support staff, were compassionate and made sure we were okay. In the end, we are grateful to have found Dr. Chilakapati. She changed our son’s life greatly.”