[Medical Q&A] How can parents detect strabismus in their children early?

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

First of all, some children have obvious eye deviation. Parents can observe that the two eyes of the child are not parallel when they look at the target. For example, esotropia can show what we commonly call "cross-eyed", that is, the eyes are deviated inward; exotropia can see the eyes drifting outward when looking at things, and the line of sight will be "divergent" and "dazed", especially when looking at far away or not concentrating. Sometimes it can be found that one of the child's eyes is turned up, which may be vertical strabismus. Some children with intermittent exotropia usually do not easily show strabismus, but they may like to squint one eye in strong light, see double images when looking at things with both eyes, or get tired easily when using the eyes for a long time at close range.

In addition, if a child likes to tilt his head or look at things sideways, or his eyeballs do not move in the right direction, or the two eyes do not move in a coordinated manner, these indicate that the child may have strabismus. At this time, it is recommended that parents take their children to the hospital and ask a professional doctor to check.

Another situation is that the child's nose bridge is relatively wide, and there is what we call epicanthus. The white of the eyeball (sclera) at the inner corner of the eye is partially blocked by the skin of the inner canthus. Visually, the child may look "cross-eyed", especially when looking to the sides, it will feel that the eyes are drilling inward. But in fact, if we look closely, we will find that the child's corneal light reflection point is in the center of the eyeball. If you pinch the nose bridge, you will find that the child's eyes are in the right position and symmetrical. In this case, we parents do not need to worry.