botulinum toxin A

well most people when they read the above would think either: whhattt? or Botox.

I thought both.

In November last year my retina detached in my right eye, I had to have emergancy surgery on it to save what little sight I have in that eye and it has to be said, so far at least, the surgery appears to have been successful at keeping the remainder of my retina in place.

However, after the surgery I noticed my right eye had become increasingly squint. not "oh my god look at her eye" squint, but squint enough for it to upset me and make me feel very self conscious.

I mentioned this to my surgeon during one of my post operative checkups, and they suggested that I may be a good candidate for botulinum toxin treatment.

This is an alternative to traditional strabismus surgery (the posh name for squint surgery). It is much less invasive and requires a local anaesthetic rather than a general, which is always a good thing.

What it involves is having a derivative from the botulism disease injected into the muscle beside your eye.

This botulinum toxin acts as a muscle relaxant, which - in theory - allows the eye to move back into correct alignment. Local anaesthetic eye drops are administered first to numb the area and then the toxin is administered via a very fine needle.

According to the literature, it will take 3-4 days for the toxin to act and for the eye to change position. A generic dose is provided for the first procedure so there is a chance that it may e too strong for my eye or indeed too weak.

I'm sitting in the waiting area at the moment and I have to admit, I am petrified.

The thought of a needle anywhere, let alone in my eye, scares me, But i suppose that I don't have much to loose, I'm already incredibly self conscious of my eye and the last thing I want is for it to be squint for our wedding in August.

So here goes........ I'll post again afterwards.

S xoxo