What is strabismus, what are its symptoms, causes and treatment methods?
For a healthy vision, both eyes must move parallel to each other. If there is strabismus, this parallelism is disrupted and the eyes shift in different directions. Thus, the normal view is disrupted and an unaesthetic appearance occurs, and the quality of vision is adversely affected. There are 6 extraocular muscles that provide the movement of the eye by working like a pulley system. If there is a power imbalance between these muscles, the eye may slip. This shift in the eye can be seen inward, outward or up and down. While strabismus sometimes appears only when tired, sometimes it can be continuous. This condition may be present at birth or may occur at any time during life. Some conditions and diseases can cause it:
– Uncorrected refractive errors in the eye (myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism)
– Past febrile illnesses (convulsions), head traumas
– Cerebral palsy
– hydrocephalus
– Brain tumors
– Nerve paralysis due to vascular diseases such as hypertension and diabetes
– Some neurological diseases (such as myasthenia gravis, multiple sclerosis..)
– Familial predisposition (genetic)
– Down syndrome
– Decreased or loss of vision in the eye
Strabismus can occur at any age, but it is often seen in childhood. Strabismus in childhood can be observed as false strabismus due to flattening of the nasal root and incomplete facial development. It is possible to understand this during an eye examination. As the child grows, the false strabismus disappears. If true strabismus is not treated, it does not improve with age, and may even increase.
The most common reasons for consulting a doctor in children and adults with strabismus are:
– double vision
– Do not close one eye in bright light
– blurred vision
– Do not turn your head to one side while looking
– Headache
– Eye pain
– Loss of three-dimensional vision (can’t catch extended objects)
According to the shape of the strabismus; It can be horizontal, vertical or torsional. It can be congenital or acquired (acquired) type. Depending on the causes, strabismus may be due to refraction-vision defects (depending on the need for glasses), paralytic (due to muscle paralysis) or restrictive-restrictive (due to conditions such as thyroid, orbital fractures). An eye examination is required to confirm the presence of strabismus; however, sometimes family physicians, families or the patient himself may notice this situation. In order to plan the treatment, some special measurements and tests should be done by an ophthalmologist who is an expert in his field. Strabismus is a curable disease. If the cause is a visual defect, sometimes a pair of glasses just to correct it can correct the strabismus. Surgical treatment methods are applied for strabismus that cannot be corrected with the use of glasses, and the amount of strabismus that cannot be corrected by the glasses can be corrected by surgery.
In strabismus surgeries, the power imbalance between the muscles that turn the eye is corrected and parallelism is restored in the eyes. Sometimes a single surgical procedure is sufficient, but sometimes two or more operations may be required depending on the amount and nature of the slippage. In paralytic strabismus, botulinum toxin (Botox) injections and prismatic glasses are additional to surgery.
or as alternative treatments. Especially if children have strabismus, being under age should not be a reason for delaying the treatment. If the strabismus that occurs under the age of 1 is done before the baby reaches 12 months, the results can be much better. In this way, the quality of vision increases, and the three-dimensional vision is not lost.
It is possible. With early diagnosis and intervention, the possibility of a lazy eye due to this in the future is reduced. Surgical treatment is both cosmetic and functional in strabismus in adults, especially if there is no additional neurological disease. It also helps the person to act more confidently in society and social environments.
