I had optic nueritis in my right Eye 2yrs ago and it has left me with 20/200 vision. could it cause lazy eye?

Question

Because recently I have notice that when I look straight ahead my right eye is off to the right.

By the way it is MS related

Answer 1

Strictly, no.
You don't have a lazy eye, (medical term "amblyopia")

But the lack of good central vision in the right eye, from the neuritis, could have allowed a tendency for the right eye to drift out ("exophoria"), which was previously well controlled, to become apparent ("exotropia").

You don't say whether the optic neuritis was an isolated incident or associated with other problems. If the latter, it's possible that the nerve controling the inward movement of the right eye, the medial rectus, has had a similar episode to the optic nerve.

In the first case, if the turn is obvious, cosmetic surgery to re-align the eye might be considered, but in the second it would be approached only with a fair degree of caution.

If you wear glasses there are also possibilities to reduce the appearance of the strabismus without surgery.

Optometrist, retired.