Strabismus

Strabismus occurs when the eyes are not correctly aligned. An eye is usually diverted inward (esotropic) or out (exotropic) intermittently or constantly.

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Typical symptoms are double vision, narrow eyes, abnormal motility of one or both eyes, headache, anomalous position of the head and discomfort.

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The causes can be refractive (they need glasses or contact lenses), organic or sensory, motor or anatomical and inervational.

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When the strabismus occurs in a small child,  can develop a lazy eye. If he o she is diagnosed and treated soon, he or she can avoid it. Between two and three years, there is the maximum incidence of strabismus with  high hyperopia. With glasses with positive glass it is fixed.

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If strabismus starts suddenly in an adult, it can be due to neurological causes (tumor, multiple sclerosis, meningitis, ...) or systemic illness (diabetes, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, ...). Diabetics tend to have strabismus because of paresis of the external muscle, but it is usually of good prognosis, because after three months they tend to recover.

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The treatment is done through: lenses, additions, prisms, visual therapy, drugs and surgery. Since the causes can be many, the treatment sequence must be studied very well in each particular case.

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