Simple surgery corrects crossed eyes

The discovery of a simple surgery that corrects strabismus (crossed eyes) not only gives patients a quicker recovery time than previous surgical procedures but also improves their horizontal eye movement. Details of the procedure are in the February 2012 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. The new technique is called rectus transposition with adjustable medial rectus recession and involves repositioning the superior rectus muscle. This muscle is responsible for moving the eye up but it is repositioned to move the eye outward. The procedure was performed on 17 patients and results showed that horizontal eye movement improved¬† by about 45% and inward-turning or "crossing" of the eye improved by about 75%. In addition, 8 of the 17 patients regained depth perception.