Health Guide

Squint Eyes Treatment

Written by Mystic on Monday, January 21, 2008

Methods of treatment

It is important that an early diagnosis be made so that treatment can be instituted immediately. The doctors evaluate the patient on different modalities of vision like visual acuity, depth perception and alignment. The treatments instituted largely depend on the type and the severity of the problem.

Corrective Lens (specs): Sometimes the squint is caused due to voluntary movements of the eye to compensate for the inability to see clearly. Prescribing a corrective lens can help get rid of the problem.

Patching: In this method a patch is applied over the "good eye" thus making the "bad eye" work more and over time correcting its deficit.

Surgery: The muscles attached to it move the eyeball. When they malfunction, it may lead to a squint. In this case you have two options. One, to take the affected muscle and change its attachment so that its action produces the right movements. Second, surgically remove the extra muscle and thus aligning the muscle with its counterpart.

Remember an early visit to the doctor is all that you need to ensure a lifetime of good eyesight for your child.

Squint Signs

Written by Mystic on Monday, January 21, 2008

What is a "imaginary" or "pseudo" squint ?
A common misconception is that children with crossed eyes will outgrow the condition. This belief probably got started from the confusion between true strabismus and what is called "pseudostrabismus" or "pseudosquint". Pseudostrabismus is an optical illusion in which normal aligned eyes appear crossed due to an optical illusion. This appearance may be due to a wide, flat nasal bridge and/or prominent skin folds at the inner eyelids. These characteristics hide a portion of the white part of the eye creating the impression that one eye is turned toward the nose. This appearance resolves as the child gets older and causes no visual problems

What are the early signs of squint?
Not all signs of squint are overt. Sometimes the signs are very subtle and can be missed. Some of the early signs of squint are the following.

• Closing of one eye
• Excessive watering of one eye
• Light sensitivity
• Bad mood with clumsy movements

It is in best interests of the baby that the parents visit the ophthalmologist at the slightest sign of a squint.

How will the doctor evaluate it in a small child?

The easiest method is known as the Corneal Eye Test: In this method the doctor shines a torch in the child's eyes and looks at the reflection of the torchlight on the cornea.

The patch test: In this test the doctor covers the eye of the baby one at a time and looks for deviation of the eyes to a particular side.

Ophthalmoscope Test: In this test the pupil of the eye is dilated with the help of a chemical and a look is taken inside the eye.

Squint (Strabismus) in Children

Squint Symptoms - Health encyclopaedia

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.

What is the reason for the squint?

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.