Squint
Squint causes the eyes to either Diverge(Turn out), Converge (Turn in) apart from this, squint could also cause the eyes to turn up or down. It is a basic misalignment which could occur in any direction.
- Incorrect Balance of the muscles moving the eyes.
- Faulty Nerve Signals to the eye muscles.
- Focusing Faults of the eye.
- It could also be due to some brain disorder leading to poor coordination between the eyes.
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What Are The Various Categories Of Squint?
Squint is categorized into various types on the basis of direction of squinting eye:
- LASIK surgery gives long-lasting results to patient’s improved eyesight. In future, any normal loss due to ageing or disease the LASIK surgery effect won’t last.
- Quick recovery as a patient can get back to his normal schedules in a day after surgery.
- Vision is improved almost in a day after surgery.
- No dressings or stitches are expected after LASIK surgery.
- After having LASIK surgery, many patients see a decrease in usage of eyeglass or contact lens dependence. Many people even don’t apply both of them and see clearly.
Squint Treatment
Correcting Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)
Amblyopia correction is made by patching the good eye for a few hours every day so as to equalize the vision in both eyes. This can be done before the age of 10.
Correcting Refractive Errors
Some squints can by corrected by spectacles alone. Our specialist would guide you on the best solution.
Surgery
It involves operating on the eye muscles to align both eyes in all directions. One or more operations may be needed for cosmetic correction and creating the perfect vision and binocularity.
What Are The Symptoms And Signs Of Squint?
The typical symptoms that could signify a neuro-ophthalmological problem include: Most obvious and common symptom of Squint is that two eyes always point in opposite directions. Some squint patients try to orient their heads and faces in a specific direction in which their eyes can be brought in required normal orientation. Some time the patents feel confusion and double vision. This eye condition some time causes poor vision, blurred vision as well as total blindness. The primary sign of squint is that the eye is not straight. Then there could be faulty depth perception which could be present. It could also cause confusion or double vision in children.
Causes Of Squint
- Congenital and Hereditary Squint in a newborn child could be present at birth and could stem from a history of similar problems in the family.
- Nerve Damage Squinting of the eye can also be attributed to lesions on the cranial nerve or suffering an injury to the nerves during a difficult delivery.
- Long Sightedness Sometimes a squint can be developed due to long-sightedness as the eyes have to ‘over-focus’ in a sense to see clearly and the brain might respond by switching images from one eye to the other resulting in a weakening of the muscles
- Childhood Illness Squint in the eyes can also be attributed to illnesses and viral infections like measles, chickenpox, etc, or genetic factors like Noonan Syndrome.
- Refractive Errors Many a time, squints in the eyes could also develop due to refractive errors of the eye like myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism and this is because the eye tends to turn inwards to focus better
How To Tell If My Child Has A Squint?
Children are either born with a squint or develop it in early childhood. Most kids develop this condition between the ages of 1 and 4 and in rare cases up to 6. Most of the time it is hard to tell in newborns as their eyes wander and cross occasionally during the first few months. However, eyes should straighten out by 4 to 6 months. Sometimes, however, it is very easy to spot a squint as the eyes will be pointing in very different directions. In addition to this, you could also notice a squinted eye(s) when kids focus on something close like a toy or a puzzle. Eye squints produce very little discomfort barring the occasional double vision or blurry vision but sometimes, kids won’t understand it all. It is generally noticed by others such as relatives or a health care professional.
Types Of Squint
The different types of squints are described by the way the eye turns. These can be categorized as follows:
- Hypertropia: A squint where the eyes tend to turn upwards.
- Hypotropia: Squinting/Turning of the eye in a downwards direction
- Esotropia: Turning of the eye inwards
- Exotropia: Condition where the eyes turn outwards
- Concomitant squint which refers to squint in which angle of severity is always the same in every direction.
- Incomitant squint which refers to squint in which angle of severity can vary in every direction you look
Strabismus or squinting is a condition that is better treated early on in the life of the child. Previously, it was believed that beyond a certain time period (called critical time) strabismus was untreatable. However, with modern corrective techniques, squints can be treated at any time. It is advisable however that you show up for constant eye checkups if you suspect your child may have squints, it becomes easier to correct it in the early stages of life.
Symptoms Of Strabismus (Squint)
Strabismus is one of those vision imperfections which could produce very little to no symptoms and it could also show a lot of symptoms. It is not easy to figure out whether or not a child has a vision impairment or not. The most obvious and noticeable symptoms will include eyes not being perfectly aligned in a line. In addition to this, there are a few pointers on as to how to determine if the kid has a squint or not.
- Blurred/Unstable Vision: Images are not clear
- Double Vision: Seeing two sets of images of the same objects
- Lazy Eye: Where the brain starts ignoring signals from one eye in order to avoid double vision
- Split Vision: Like seeing perfectly from one eye but only being able to see half an image from the other eye
- Eyestrain
- Headaches
- Fatigue
How To Cure Squinting?
Squinting eyes can give an individual a feeling of being different from others which might give young children self-doubt and over-sensitivity towards their appearance. Apart from the mental and psychological challenges, long-standing squints in the eye could hamper day-to-day activities like reading, driving, etc, and also could lead to some permanent visual impairments. Thus, it becomes essential to address this issue as soon as it is diagnosed. Here are some corrective measures that can be used to cure squinting:
- Corrective Glasses: If long-sightedness or any other refractive errors are what is causing the squinting, it can be corrected by glasses.
- Eye Patch/Occlusion: Eye patches can sometimes correct squints in the eye. The patch is worn over the good eye to enhance the vision of the eye with a squint. Eye patches can sometimes correct squints in the eye. The patch is worn over the good eye to enhance the vision of the eye with a squint.
- Botox (Botulinum toxin) Injection Turning off the eye inwards
- Exotropia: Condition where the eyes turn outwards
- Concomitant squint which refers to a squint in which the angle of severity is always the same in every direction.
- Sometimes, doctors cannot find an underlying cause for the eye squints and the symptoms start appearing out of the blue. In this procedure, Botox is injected into a muscle on the surface of the eye. Botox temporarily weakens the muscle injected which can assist in the proper alignment of the eyes.
- Eye Drops and Eye exercises: Special eye drops can help correct squints in addition to this, some eye exercises can go a long way to help with this eye condition.
Eye exercises also called home-based pencil pushups (HBPP) can be done to improve the condition. Here are the steps to the exercise:
- Take a pencil and hold it at a distance as much as your arm’s length aligning it with the mid-point between the eyes.
- Move the pencil towards your nose and try maintaining a single image of the pencil.
- Move the pencil towards the nose until there is a point where the pencil is no longer a single image
- Hold the pencil at the nearest point where you can see a single image.
- If you have trouble retaining a single image, try the procedure again.
- Oral Medication- It might be necessary based on what type of squints you have.
- Surgery – If all other options don’t seem to work the last resort option has to be surgery.
Our Team
Dr Shweta Jain
Cataract, Retina, LASIK
Dr Neha Wadhwa
Cataract, Retina, LASIK
Dr. Lalit Chaudhary
Femtosecond LASIK
Dr. Poonam Gupta
Femtosecond LASIK
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the risks associated with squint surgery?
Every surgery has its complications. So have squint surgeries. However, the chances of complications in squint surgery are very rare. A complication might include:
- Endophthalmitis (infection in the eyeball)
- Retinal Detachment
How long does squint surgery take?
Mostly, squint surgery takes around 30 to 70 minutes.
Is it possible to correct squint with a glass?
Yes, glasses do come for restoring the alignment but it may take months. Also, if it is not working, you might be asked to try eyedrops or eye patch simultaneously.
What are the benefits of Squint Surgery?
There are several benefits of the squint surgery including:
- Improved appearance
- Increased peripheral (side) vision
- Improved depth perception
- Improved lazy eye condition