Strabismus cannot be ignored

#千万IP创科普# In daily life, have you noticed that your child's eyes sometimes appear abnormal? For example, when one eye is looking at the target, the other eye deviates from the direction. This may be a manifestation of strabismus.

Strabismus refers to the inability of both eyes to focus on a target at the same time. It is an extraocular muscle disease. It can be divided into two categories: concomitant strabismus and paralytic strabismus. Concomitant strabismus is characterized by no eye movement disorder and equal strabismus in the primary and secondary eye positions; paralytic strabismus has symptoms such as restricted eye movement and diplopia. It can be congenital or caused by trauma or systemic diseases.

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Symptoms of strabismus vary, the most common ones include:

1. Eye deviation: This is the easiest symptom to observe. One eye will move to the side, or lean toward one side of the nose (esotropia), or lean toward the outside (exotropia). It should be noted that if the nose bridge of a child is not fully developed or the distance between the eyes is wide, it may be mistaken for "cross-eyed". In this case, further examination and confirmation is required at the hospital.

2. Like to tilt the head: Some children with strabismus can achieve a new "balance" in the position of their eyes by tilting their heads, eliminating visual problems such as double vision caused by different gaze positions of the two eyes. If the child still tilts his head after excluding surgical diseases, the possibility of abnormal eye position should be considered.

3. Eye fatigue is likely to occur: Squint will affect reading ability, resulting in typos, missing words, and serial reading. Children need to make more efforts to see and understand the same content, so they are more likely to experience eye fatigue and rub their eyes.

4. Like to close one eye in strong light outdoors: Children with intermittent exotropia find it difficult to keep both eyes straight at the same time in strong light. One eye will move to the outside and cause "double vision", so they need to close one eye to maintain a relatively comfortable visual state.

5. Abnormal stereoscopic vision function: Children with strabismus often see things with only one eye, and the stereoscopic vision function of both eyes is gradually destroyed. Their spatial position perception ability is poor. In daily life, they may fall down the stairs or bump into obstacles, and it is difficult for them to perform well in ball sports.

The dangers of strabismus should not be underestimated:

1. Impact on vision development: If not treated or corrected in time, it may cause amblyopia and lead to abnormal vision.

2. Affects appearance: Both eyes cannot see things clearly at the same time, and the patient may adopt a passive position of tilting the head to see things. This may lead to torticollis in the long run and affect the normal development of the spine.

3. Impact on mental health: Strabismus may cause children to be laughed at by others, resulting in inferiority complex, which is not conducive to healthy mental development.

The causes of strabismus are rather complex. It may be that the brain's control over the eyes is weak, or there may be a variation in the position of the muscles controlling the eyes, or a certain muscle may be thicker or weaker.

How to treat strabismus? Treatment methods mainly include non-surgical and surgical. Non-surgical treatment methods include:

1. Wear glasses with the right degree: If your child has refractive errors such as myopia, astigmatism, or a large difference in the degree of binocular vision, the risk of strabismus may increase. Wearing glasses with the right degree can help improve strabismus.

2. Eye covering training: By alternately covering the eyes or covering the non-strabismic eye, the brain's inhibition of the amblyopic eye can be reduced, or the amplitude and frequency of exotropia can be reduced. However, there is not enough evidence to prove its effectiveness for children aged 12 to 35 months.

3. Vision training: Optometrists will use a variety of tools to provide children with tailor-made vision training to enhance the focusing ability of the eyes.

4. Wearing prisms: prisms can adjust the direction of light and refract the image to the correct position on the retina, so that the brain can normally fuse the binocular images. However, there is not enough research to prove its effectiveness in treating exotropia in young children, and it can only play an auxiliary role.

Surgical treatment is suitable for most cases of strabismus. The specific treatment method should be determined based on the type and severity of the strabismus and the individual condition of the patient. For details, you should consult an optometrist or professional doctor.

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In short, strabismus will hinder the development of children's visual function and affect their physical and mental health. Parents should pay attention to their children's eye conditions in daily life. If they find any abnormalities, they should go to the hospital for detailed examinations as soon as possible. It is recommended that infants and young children undergo eye screening and file creation as soon as possible after birth, and go to the hospital for routine eye examinations every six months to facilitate early detection and early intervention.