[Medical Q&A] My child always looks at things with his eyes squinting. Is this a big deal?

Author: Liu Wen, deputy chief physician, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University

Reviewer: Li Li, Chief Physician, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University

If your child always looks at things with his eyes squinting, you should be alert to strabismus.

Strabismus is a common eye disease in children. It not only affects the child's appearance, but may also cause amblyopia and affect the development of binocular vision function and psychological development. It needs to be detected early and treated in time.

The causes of strabismus in children are relatively complex, including congenital maldevelopment, refractive errors, neuromuscular diseases, trauma, etc. Some can also be secondary to other systemic diseases. Strabismus refers to the inconsistency of the visual axis directions of the two eyes, that is, when one eye is looking at the target, the line of sight of the other eye deviates from the target, which manifests as a deviation of the eye position. It does not mean that both eyes are looking in a certain direction at the same time. Strabismus includes latent strabismus, esotropia, exotropia, AV strabismus and vertical rotation strabismus, as well as some special types of strabismus such as dissociative strabismus, eye retraction syndrome, nystagmus, etc., which can occur congenitally or acquired.