Garden City Eye Hospital
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Mon - Friday 10:00am-8:00pm

Sunday - Only on prior Appointments

National Accreditation Board
for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers
Monday - Friday 08:00-19:00

Saturday and Sunday - CLOSED

+62 810 2633 8711

csmedison@example.com

1428 Callison Laney Buoy

Building 201/VRY Virginia, VA 22902

SQUINT

WHAT IS SQUINT?

Technically know as Strabismus, Squint is a condition where the two eyes are misaligned. That is both eyes do not appear to be looking in the same direction. One eye may be looking at an object and the other eye may be turned in or out or up or down.A squint may be constant (always apparent) or intermittent (seen only at times – usually when tired). Squints are more commonly seen in children. The condition affects 2% of children under 3 years and 3% of children and young adults.

TYPES OF SQUINT:

Squints are classified depending on direction of the squinting eye : A. 
esotropia
  Convergent squint or esotropia when one eye is turning in. B. 
exotropia
  Divergent squint or exotropia when the eye is turning out. C. 
Hypertropia
Vertical squint when one eye is pointing upwards. D. 
Hypotropia
Vertical squint when one eye is pointing downward.

CAUSES:

The precise cause of squint is unclear in a large proportion of childhood squints. It is understood that the condition may be due to mis-functioning of the brain in moving the eye muscles synchronously. There is no defect in the eye muscles themselves. The other causes leading to a squint can be refractive errors like hypermetropia (long-sightedness), myopia (short-sightedness), astigmatism or unequal refractive error in both eyes.

TRAUMA:

  • Brain trauma and certain brain tumours may also cause the eye to turn in. If a child develops a sudden in-turning of the eye associated with nystagmus (involuntary eye movements), an urgent assessment is required as it suggests a build up of intracranial pressure or a possible tumour.

EARLY DIAGNOSIS:

If the proper visual impulses are not transmitted to the brain in the first few months after birth, which is the critical period of visual development, amblyopia will develop and there will be loss of 3D (binocular) vision.

NON SURGICAL TREATMENT:

Prisms: These are specialised glasses used to treat double vision of sudden onset. They can be used as a temporary measure and are later incorporated into the usual spectacles.

SURGICAL OPTION:

To achieve surgical correction, the eye muscles in one or both eyes (depending on the degree and direction of the squint), are tightened or loosened. The muscles are shortened and reattached to the eye to tighten or moved further back which has the effect of loosening.The amount of surgery is based on normograms that are tables which have been developed based on results of muscle surgery in thousands of patients.