Strabismus, known as ‘wandering eyes’ or ‘crossed eyes’, is a condition where the eyes are not properly aligned. Adults who have this condition are usually told that it is too late to correct it. Common symptoms include double-vision, loss of depth perception; a pulling sensation around the eyes; difficulty reading; and seeing overlapping or blurred images, leading to confusion. It is almost impossible for those who have strabismus to make eye-to-eye contact because of the horrible twisting sensation in the eyes. This in turn has a devastating impact on social interactions, whether professional or personal.
This condition may be constant or it may occur only for sometimes, the rest of the time the eyes may be straight.
When the eye turn happens all the time, it is called constant strabismus, but when the eye turn occurs only some times, it is called intermittent strabismus. Intermittent strabismus usually appear when the person is ill or in a stressful condition.
Generally the causes of strabismus are genetics, inappropriate function of the “fusion center” of the brain, problems with the controlled center of the brain, injuries of the muscles or nerves. But most cases of strabismus are due to the control system: the brain.
In children, you may notice deviation in the eyes. A child would not pay attention to the image from deviated eye, and only focuses at one image that comes from one eye only. In adult strabismus, the image from either eye cannot be ignored, therefore he has double vision. This condition can be very irritating because it may interfere his activities.
You may ask at what age strabismus treatment no longer should be tried. The answer is everyone at any age deserves an opportunity. Although treatment at young age is ideal and can give a better result, a study has shown that patients over the age of 50 who were never treated for their strabismus experienced a spontaneous improvement.
How can you treat strabismus?
Constant strabismus has to be treated as soon as possible. If artificial glasses or patching do not work, eye surgery needs to be considered. Most of eye surgeons prefer to give surgery and generally other treatments are not their options.
When the eye turn occurs some of the time, treatment can be performed with judicious patching, special glasses and vision therapy. Glasses / contact lenses or eye surgery are not always necessary to improve your eyesight. There are other effective methods to have good vision in simpler ways than you can imagine such as eye exercises.
Until recently, insurance carriers would not cover surgery for strabismus, as they viewed it as merely cosmetic. Fortunately, things are changing, with more insurance carriers regarding the surgery as reconstructive.
Fortunately, again, our options for treating strabismus are expanding. For one thing, eye-care professionals are now saying that you’re never too old for corrective surgery. This surgery involves either shortening the muscles on the outside of the eye, if the eye is turned inwards; or shortening the inner muscles of the eye if it points outwardly. Typically, the operation is performed as an out-patient and the patient resumes his normal routine within just a few weeks.