Q: I am a 30 years old male. My power in the right eye is -12 but my left eye has no refractive errors. I suffered from a stroke on the right side of my body at age of 12 years. Though I recovered from the stroke within 3 months, I developed a refractive error in my right eye. I never used any glasses or contact lenses all these years and have started wearing contact lens from the last 15 days for my right eye. I observe that now my right eye deviates and I have developed a squint (Exotropia). Whenever I focus on something, I get a squint and because of this, I am unable to look straight into the eyes of others while talking to them. Can I get rid of the squint at this age? Will this refractive error persist in my old age?

A:Because you have such a high power in one eye and normal in the other eye, that eye has not been used since childhood and this would have given you lazy eye as well as divergent squint. You can do some convergence exercises i.e. converge by looking at something close with both eyes and with contact lenses but this may not help you a lot. Stroke made it worse. You can go ahead and have corrective squint surgery at any age. Lasik should correct your refractive error but not squint. Even in your old age, the refractive error will persist.