Squint or strabismus occurs when both eyes are not aligned or parallel with each other. One eye is straight and other might be looking inwards, outwards or somtimes upwards.
Some children are born with this misalignment of the eyes or they may develop it within the first couple of years of life. This can be very disturbing for the parents.
Remember that treatment is available and one should get the child examined as soon as possible once a squint or misalignment is noticed. If delayed, a child can develop amblyopia or lazy eye, which is the inability to see well with the misaligned eye. A lazy eye left untreated can lead to permanent decrease in vision in the affected eye.
Most children with misaligned eyes need glasses as first line treatment. If a lazy eye or amblyopia has developed, the doctor may prescribe patching or occluding of the better seeing eye hence forcing the weaker eye to develop
.
If after all this, a squint also known as strabismus or misalignment of the eyes remain then in that case surgery can be done to tighten or loosen the muscles of the eye bringing them back into normal position.
This realignment of the muscles is a very commonly performed surgery, done as a day care procedure from which children recover quite quickly and painlessly. In rarer circumstance where children suffer from very severe misalignment, a second surgery is sometimes needed in the future.
Squint in children should not be ignored and at The Eye Center we provide all the services and correctives operations for squints by eye surgeons specialised in eye diseases of children. If you know of a child who suffers from this condition, please guide their parents to book an appointment and help preserve their vision.