1. Strabismus
Strabismus is an eye disorder. It is generally referred to as lazy eye or crossed eyes. It affects about 5% of young children. It usually varies in severity. It affects some people all of the time and others only when they are tired or sick. Lazy eye occurs when the two eyes don’t work together. It finally manifests in 3 forms:
- Hypertropia — one eye looks higher than the other
- Exotropia — one eye turns outward
- Esotropia — one eye turns inward
2. Seeing Double Vision
When your eyes don’t focus together it results in double vision. The term lazy eye is given because the brain gradually begins to suppress one eye. Hence, the vision in the affected eye becomes very poor. Also the vision cannot be corrected with glasses. It occurs in children with crossed eye before the age of four. It is extremely important to treat this condition in an early stage.
3. Binocular Breakdown
Binocular vision breakdown means the inability to see and focus together with both eyes. It is generally an inherited condition. In most cases, crossed eye is not apparent in parents. But usually one or both often have extreme farsightedness. Some other causes for strabismus include:
- tumor in the eye
- nerve damage to the eye muscles
- vision loss in one eye
4. Uncrossing the Eyes
The treatment for strabismus is based upon the specific underlying medical condition. The most common way of treating crossed eyes include:
- Glasses to correct farsightedness or nearsightedness
- Patching the dominant eye to strengthen the weaker eye
- Corrective surgery is also a popular mode of treatment to correct crossed eyes
5. Children Never Outgrow Crossed Eyes
Your child will never outgrow crossed eyes. But early detection and treatment can prevent vision loss. It may even correct the deviation. Hence, it is very important that you take him/her to an ophthalmologist as soon as possible.
