Health Awareness #2: Strabismus a.k.a Squint Eye

When I was 18 years old, I was diagnosed by an Ophthalmologist of having Strabismus also known widely as Squint Eye.


What is Strabismus?
Is a condition where your eyes are not properly aligned with each other. For example, you are looking towards one direction but somehow one of your eyes lost focus and sway to the side. Strabismus is mostly found in children.

Example :

Picture taken from kgn.orgn

My parents didn't aware of this condition since I wasn't born with one. I started to realise it when I was in high school at the age of 15 years old. It started during one of the night tuitions with my friends. I was talking to her and she saw both of my eyes weren't coordinating together. One of my eyes look away to the side. It happened quite frequently during night tuition especially when I am very tired. Sometimes when I talk to her,  my eyes get stray away and she would wave her hand in front of me and said "Wui..!! " or sometimes "Hello???". 

Since then, I became much more self aware of this condition and a bit confusing. I told my parents about it, but they sort of think is nothing much or perhaps think that I am too tired to focus. 

I let it drag for years till one day my friend said to me "Hey, no offence to you but I have been noticing that you might have the same eye condition as one of my family members" I was shocked! Because all these while, I thought I was the only one having this condition. He told me that his cousin went to see an eye specialist and undergo an eye operation to fix it. 

Hearing that, once my mum came back from work, I insisted to go for an eye check up. In my heart, I wanted it to get fixed as soon as possible. I google here and there and found International Specialist Eye Centre (ISEC) located at MidValley. Check all the doctor profile and found the most suitable Ophthalmologist named, Dr Choong Yee Fong. He specialised in squint eye condition. 

I underwent an eye surgery for both of my eye where Dr Choong helped me to tighten both of my eye muscle. The healing process after the surgery is not a smooth one for me. I couldn't open my eye for a week, that's where I truly experienced how was like to be a blind person. I was extremely sensitive to light, whenever I see light, I would scream. The light shone on my eyes were painful enough to make me tears. For the first few days, I need my mum to guide me to the toilet and feed me but after awhile I got used to it and try my best not to depend on anyone. 

After 1 to 2 weeks, I could slowly open my eyes. Though my eyes were still reddish but it wasn't painful anymore. I was really happy with the result, I could focus on my work better and experienced less frequent headache. Strabismus could cause headache as well.

The best thing was I am no more worried about people keep asking me "hey, your eye looks crooked" or "Hello, I am here, why aren't you looking at me".  

After my healing process, I started to be more aware with the people around me. I can spot people having strabismus quite easily and it makes me wonder did they know that this can be fix. Perhaps they aren't aware off or no one dare to tell them that. If it wasn't my friend that were brave enough to tell me, I will be still suffering from strabismus. 

I would like to write this blog post to pass the message around so that people will be more aware off Strabismus. It could happened to your closest friends or even family members. 

Be brave and tell them that what you have been noticing and encourage them to go for a check up. Some Strabismus conditions that aren't so serious could be cured by constant eye exercises whereas serious one need surgery. 

Do not be afraid and embrace it with courage :) 

Sincerely, 
Elena