During breaks, primary school kids learn to squint by moving their finger closer to the nose. In strabology clinics, other children learn not to squint. Because you can get rid of it at any age.
Ahead
Healthy eyes look in the direction we tell them to and always position themselves parallel. Thanks to this, it is possible to realize the ability to see binocularly. We don’t think about it on a daily basis, but when we look at a coffee mug with both eyes, for example, each eye “loads” it separately. So two images of the cup reach the brain, each seen from a slightly different perspective. However, we know well that we see a single cup. This allows the phenomenon of fusion, i.e. merging two images into one, three-dimensional. This is only feasible when analogous points of the retina are activated in both eyes.
If at least one eye is squinting, this effect is impossible to obtain. Binocular vision is impaired, the image reaching the brain scares him, and as a result, for its own good, the brain suppresses the effects of the weaker eye. This may pose a risk of irreversible amblyopia.
Flat eyes
Probably everyone has seen a man with a cross. It is known that one or both eyes escape towards the nose (convergent strabismus), towards the ears (divergent strabismus), upwards or downwards. However, it is worth finding out how a person with strabismus sees it. This knowledge is especially useful for parents of cross-eyed children, as it can help to understand their difficulties and limitations.
– Simply put, a man with a cross has a flat view. Since the functioning of one eye is disabled by the brain, it has no three-dimensional vision, explains Magdalena Zarębska-Lindner, an orthoptist from the Vision Correction Center in Łódź. – As a result, he sometimes, for example, enters the door, has a shaky sense of distance, difficulty aiming at something, and the child has trouble writing in even rows. For adults, strabismus makes it difficult, for example, to drive a car, disturbance in estimating distances is particularly dangerous.
No upper limit
Several myths have arisen around strabismus. The first is the overestimation of the so-called physiological strabismus. It is said that young children may squint, this is perfectly normal and will go away on its own over time. Well, it won’t. Or, it may progress to amblyopia. Yes, there is a phenomenon such as strabismus, but the eye can only escape safely from babies up to about three months of age. Later, any suspicion of strabismus must be consulted with an ophthalmologist.
It is also believed that strabismus operations make sense only in young children, because they are not successful in adults. Another mistake – they succeed. Even if, for medical reasons, the ability to see cannot be restored to a squinting eye, the confidence boost provided by this, for example, cosmetic eye correction surgery, cannot be overestimated.
The operations are relatively simple, take about 40 minutes and usually the patient can go home on the same day. They are performed under full anesthesia.
When to operate?
Of course, doctors do not want a scalpel for every case of strabismus, there are other methods of conservative treatment.
Magdalena Zarębska-Lindner says:
– The ABC of treating strabismus is, firstly, to correct the pattern defect, secondly, to cure amblyopia and, thirdly, to rehabilitate, i.e. supportive exercises. If possible, we stick to this pattern.
Are there any situations where there is no point in using conservative methods and surgery is immediately suggested?
– Surgery is necessary when the double vision that occurs with strabismus persists for more than half a day. People with paralytic strabismus, i.e. resulting from the paralysis of one of the cranial nerves, are usually referred to the procedure, explains Magdalena Zarębska-Lindner from the Vision Correction Center.
Read more about eye surgery
Diagnosis
Anyway, in order to even start thinking about squint treatment, it must first be properly diagnosed; determine whether it is congenital or acquired, accompanying or non-accompanying, overt or latent, correlated with hyperopia or myopia. All of these variables influence the way you are treated, including for the selection of corrective lenses. Eye tests are possible even in very young children, so there is no point in delaying the visit to an ophthalmologist in their case. Such a doctor specializing in the treatment of strabismus in children should have a friendly approach to them, attractive, from the child’s point of view, an equipped office and the gift of turning the visit into fun.
Diagnostics is also important for another reason:
– Strabismus is not only a disease in itself, it can also be a symptom of serious changes in the brain, such as hematomas or tumors. It is also one of the symptoms of, for example, Lyme disease – Magdalena Zarębska-Lindner is allergic, but it reassures you that, fortunately, these are rare cases. Which, of course, should be understood as meaning that before the birth is calmed down, they have to make sure that the strabismus is “just” strabismus.
Text: Julia Wolin