Strabismus (crossed eye)

Many people still misunderstand about strabismus, a misalignment of an eye; they think that it is unable to treat. Therefore, many children with the problem of strabismus do not receive any treatment and when left untreated, it can affect their personality, confidence and even quality of life.

Dr.Rattiya Pornchaisuree, pediatric ophthalmologist, explains that strabismus is caused by many reasons and often found in children.

          -     Poor function of brain that control eyes muscles 

          -     Abnormal development of eye muscles.

          -     Abnormal development of the nerves that control eye muscles 

          -     Some diseases such as Retinoblastoma. 

          -     Focusing on an object too much due to farsighted

The goal of strabismus treatment in children is to cure what we call “lazy eye” since this condition can contribute to vision loss.  Childhood is a critical period of vision development, so if strabismus happens during this period, an eye will be used less until it becomes lazy, and vision will not develop properly.  As a result, vision impairment can occur to an affected eye if left untreated. Strabismus must be diagnosed and treated as early as possible because it does not only affect the personality but it is also able to cause loss of vision and affect their quality of life in the future.

How we learn that our children have strabismus?

Parents can know whether their children have strabismus and it can be noticeable in the children aged above 4 years old. If your child look at his or her mother and their eyes seem do not line up in the same position, take your child to consult with physician for further diagnosis.

Surgery Treatment

For the treatment, the surgery “muscle correction” can be performed to loosen or tighten eye muscles, which changes the alignment of the eyes relative to each other. Adult may have the surgery under local anesthesia but most children undergo the procedure under general anesthesia. After the surgery, it is normal for the white part of the eyes to be red after surgery but it should disappear within a few days and recovery time is approximately 1 week.

If detected and treated early, strabismus can often be corrected with excellent results.