Strabismus if not treated can potentially lead to blindness although it's rare for blindness to occur with strabismus.
Strabismus is a pretty common eye condition that causes your eyes to look in different directions when focusing.
If you don't treat or fix strabismus then you will eventually either lose binocular vision or develop double vision.
It's never too late to correct or treat strabismus although it's more effectively treated in young children.
However even in older kids, teens and adults strabismus or lazy eye can effectively be treated and corrected.
The effectiveness of strabismus or lazy eye corrective surgery decreases as you age because the brain becomes more hardwired and less able to adapt to visual changes as you grow.
Glasses fix strabismus because the glasses tell the eyes where they need to focus and in turn the weak eye muscles strengthen over time which then corrects the strabismus.
Strabismus surgery is worth it as the strabismus surgery can help improve your vision as well as give you an improved self confidence and better appearance.
However in some cases vision may not be improved with strabismus surgery although the alignment of the eyes will be corrected.
Strabismus in adults is treated through crossed eyes or strabismus surgery.
The strabismus or crossed eyes surgery can improve the eye alignment and help restore the proper vision.
People with strabismus see differently than people without strabismus.
In someone who has strabismus the eyes are looking at different things and each eye is therefore sending a different image to the brain.
And depending on the individual the brain will manage these two images in different ways.
And very rarely a person with strabismus with squint will see two different objects in the same place.
Those prone to strabismus are siblings and children of someone with strabismus which are at the greatest risk of developing strabismus.
Children with brain disorders, such as cerebral palsy or hydrocephalus are also more likely to have and get strabismus.
Strabismus can be caused by problems with the eye muscles, the nerves that transmit information to the muscles, or the control center in the brain that directs eye movements.
Strabismus can also develop due to other general health conditions or eye injuries.
Risk factors for developing strabismus include: Family history.
The highest reported familial incidence of strabismus was 65% 16,28.
A longitudinal study found that 18% of 34 babies born in families with a parent affected by convergent (i.e. esotropia) strabismus developed constant or intermittent esotropia by 6 months 38.
Common causes of strabismus include.
Botulism.
Diabetes (causes a condition known as acquired paralytic strabismus)
Graves disease.
Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Injury to the eye.
Shellfish poisoning.
Stroke.
Traumatic brain injury.
Concomitant strabismus can be inherited as a complex genetic trait, however, and it is likely that both genes and the environment contribute to its occurrence.
Incomitant strabismus,also referred to as paralytic or complex strabismus, occurs when the misalignment or the angle of deviation varies with gaze direction.
Lazy eye treatment should begin as soon as possible, ideally before the age of 7.
Although treating this condition before this age is usually more effective, it's never too late to treat lazy eye.
Kids can be born with strabismus or develop it in childhood.
Often, it's caused by a problem with the muscles that move the eyes, and can run in families.
Most kids with strabismus are diagnosed when they're between 1 and 4 years old.
Rarely, a child might develop strabismus after age 6.
Strabismus is one of the most common eye conditions in children, affecting between 2 and 4 percent of the population.
Strabismus occurs when the eyes are not aligned properly.
One or both of your child's eyes may turn inward (esotropia), outward (exotropia), upward (hypertropia), or downward (hypotropia).
Traumatic strabismus may result because of closed or open head and/or orbital trauma.
A number of structures responsible for eye movements can be affected in the event of trauma and result in strabismus: Supranuclear structures.
Oculomotor nuclei or nerves.