Certain types of nystagmus benefit from surgical treatment. The purpose of the surgery is to decrease the amplitude of the nystagmus, to increase the capacity of effort, to improve the visual acuity and to correct the head position (torticollis). Nystagmus does not disappear after the surgery.
For nystagmus in which the patient has a specific position of the head and eyes in which its amplitude decreases and the patient sees more easily and stably (null-point), a surgery that moves the extraocular muscles is performed so that this null-point is in the “straight-forward” position correcting the vicious position of the head (Kestenbaum-Anderson method, modified Anderson, etc.).
In nystagmus in which there is no vicious position of the head, other interventions are indicated: tenotomy of horizontal muscles, large recessions of horizontal muscles or other surgical techniques.
Postoperative treatment consists of drops and the healing process is similar to that of the surgery for strabismus but the effect of the intervention is gradually installed.