Strabismus

Strabismus can only be treated with surgery.

Facts:

Vision therapy may be very effective in the treatment of strabismus.

Overview:

Strabismus is the general term for any misalignment of the eyes regardless of type, cause or age of onset. Esotropia "crossed eyes" and exotropia "wandering eyes" are examples of this. It can be due to either a paralytic (due to a weak or paralytic muscle or nerve) or non-paralytic (due to congenital imbalance or focus problems) this affects approximately 2 to 4 per cent of the population. The most frequent age for strabismus to occur is between 18 months and five years, with a large number of cases occurring between ages two and a half and three and a half.

Symptoms:

For strabismus, common symptoms include:

• Decreased vision
• Misaligned eyes

• suppression (turning off ) of one image
• headaches
• eye strain
• problems with depth perception
• slight head tilt

• double vision
• suppression (turning off) of one image
• people with intermittent exotropia often develop adaptations that allow them to suppress or ignore the image from the wandering eye and therefore they will not notice the double vision. During the time the eyes are straight, the suppression is absent and both eyes see normally as a team. If the eye turn is constant a lazy eye may develop.
• Light sensitivity is also a common complaint.

Causes:

Most often strabismus is the result of an interference in learning how to use the two eyes. Binocular vision is a learned skill. There appears to be an inborn program and schedule for its development. Sometimes factors such as head injury, a cataract, a droopy eye lid can disrupt the development of binocular vision, usually it comes from an interference in the neural control centers or the ability to attend to and absorb information from both eyes. Disturbances in the neural control centers occur with high fevers and childhood illnesses. Sometimes the neural interference occurs for other reasons. This is probably the reason that studies show a relationship between the development of strabismus and the delay in a child's learning to sit, walk, talk, and control elimination functions.

It seems that the mind pays attention more fully to the workings of the visual system between the ages of four months and six years (or most critically between four months and three and a half years). After that period the mind is more critically involved in other learning skills. A delay in neural growth or the protective covering of nerves may put binocular development out of phase with the concentrated attention necessary to convert the eye coordination skills into conditioned habit patterns. If visual habits are not firmly fixed they are then more vulnerable to loss.

Conventional Treatment:

For esotropia or extropia, depending on the type and severity either surgery, glasses and/or visual training can be done.

• Manage chronic stress in your life. Chronic, long-term stress has been shown in numerous studies to contribute to serious disease, and is suspected to cause such eye diseases as glaucoma. Managing this stress would go a long way towards helping preserve one's health and vision. There are a number of great techniques including biofeedback, meditation, yoga and tai chi.
• Eat healthy (see our Prevention section). Many peer review studies have confirmed that a regular diet that includes green, leafy vegetables and grains, can significantly lower one's likelihood of getting eye disease, particularly macular degeneration and cataracts.
• Maintain a regular, aerobic exercise routine. Fast walking 4-5 times a week is excellent.
• If you are a computer user, please review our section on "Computer Fatigue Syndrome" under "Eye Diseases" on the home page.