Strabismus
In healthy individuals, both eyes work in parallel and in harmony. The deterioration of this parallelism between the eyes due to various reasons is called strabismus. In squinted individuals, one eye looks straight while the other eye moves up, down, inward or outward. In more severe cases, both eyes may slip. Depending on the cause of strabismus, these shifts may be temporary or permanent.
What are the symptoms of strabismus?
Strabismus is a disease that usually occurs in childhood. The most basic symptom of the disease is an eye that does not look straight. When squinted individuals look at a point, one eye is straight while the other eye shifts and turns to a different angle. Strabismus in children is manifested by behaviors such as closing one eye in the sun or bending the head forward in order to use both eyes. Other common symptoms of strabismus are:
- Watering eyes
- Headache and eye pain
- Double vision
- Loss of three-dimensional vision
- Looking sideways with head and eye
- Blurred vision
Causes of strabismus?
As a result of the decrease or increase in the strength of one or more of the six muscle groups, which are attached to the outer part of both eyes and enable the eye to move up, down, right and left, the problem of incompatibility occurs between these muscles. This is among the factors that cause strabismus. Other known causes of strabismus are:
- Genetic predisposition
- Cerebral palsy (cerebral palsy) disease
- Down syndrome and other inherited chromosomal disorders
- Accidents, trauma and febrile illnesses in childhood
- Brain tumors
- Hydrocephalus
- Hypertension
- Diabetes disease
What are the types of strabismus?
Strabismus, depending on the type of eye shift caused in the individual; It has three different types: introversion, adaptive introversion, and outward slippage. According to the cause of its occurrence, the disease is basically divided into the following types:
- Congenital strabismus
- Strabismus due to muscle paralysis
- Strabismus due to refractive error
- Strabismus in adulthood
- Hidden strabismus
How is strabismus diagnosed?
The diagnosis of strabismus can be easily made as a result of clinical eye examination in patients. Children with a family history of strabismus are more likely to have the disease. Especially in childhood, early diagnosis and treatment of the disease greatly increases the success rate. For this reason, it is of great importance that children undergo eye screening once or several times before the age of 4.
What are the strabismus treatment methods?
A complete and detailed eye examination should be performed primarily in patients with suspected or diagnosed strabismus. With this examination, the type of strabismus, the cause of its occurrence, the degree of strabismus and whether there is any other disease in the eye should be determined. It is possible to correct strabismus with surgical operation in suitable individuals. If the eye shift occurs in infancy and especially in the first 6 months, surgical correction is usually performed in line with the physician's recommendation and the resulting lazy eye is treated. Treatment with glasses and supportive eye drops can be tried in eye shifts that occur within the first two years of age and occur due to hyperopia. In this case, it may be preferable to close one eye in order to prevent the formation of lazy eye.
Since all treatment methods applied in strabismus have a higher success rate in childhood, it is very important to diagnose the disease early and start treatment. In people who are diagnosed with the disease as a result of the eye examination, the problem of gliding eye is a treatable condition as a result of the correct treatment process.
* The content of the page is for informational purposes only, please consult your doctor for diagnosis and treatment.
