What is the reason for the squint?
Written by Mystic on Monday, January 21, 2008 All you parents should know one thing that "YOUR BABY WILL NOT OUTGROW THE SQUINT" and you will have to take the necessary corrective action before it is too late. Find out why this misconception has come into being and how dangerous it is not to visit an eye doctor for the same.
What are the consequences?
Squint in medical terminology is called Strabismus. It is the mal-alignment of the two eyes. The rectification of the eye error is crucial for the normal visual development.
The section of the brain that makes us see clearly is called the Visual Cortex. It will not function properly if proper neural connections are not made early in life. This should happen in the first 2 years of life. This will affect his ability to have binocular vision. Proper coordinated eye movements may not develop.
The most important cause of childhood squint is the inability of one eye to see clearly. This puts stress on the affected eye giving a squint. The causes may include long sightedness, childhood cataract, retinal detachment and tumors to name a few. As the vision is not proper, the brain tends to ignore the inputs of that eye. The affected eye will eventually stop moving properly giving rise to what is called a "Lazy Eye".
Sometimes squint runs in families. This is specially so if one of the parents has a squint.
The conjugate movements of muscles effect the movements of the eyes. Each muscle attached to the eyeball has a partner that acts in the opposite direction. The lack of co-ordination can result in squint. Neuromuscular diseases, or accidents, are some of the common causes of this type of squint.
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