Strabismus is a disorder in which the eyes have trouble moving in tandem. Although it can cause serious complications, with early treatment these complications can be minimized. Of course, to get prompt treatment you must first recognize the symptoms strabismus causes. Here’s a look at the symptoms and complications of strabismus.
Visual Symptoms
If you have strabismus, your eyes don’t move together, and so they cannot focus on a single object. Instead, the brain receives two images -- or at the very least, two different angles of the same object. This can create a lot of issues with your vision. You may see double, as the brain fails to combine the two images. Additionally, this can create problems with depth perception, or being able to tell how far away from you something is. Refraction issue may also ensue, causing additional eye strain.
Eventually, if both eyes focus incorrectly, the brain starts ignoring the weaker of the two eyes, or it may just ignore the eye that is unable to focus. At this point, you may develop amblyopia, also known as lazy eye. Amblyopia is characterized by one eye that tends to stay towards the inside or outside of the eye and sees considerably worse than the unaffected eye.
Strabismus may also interfere with vision sufficiently to cause myopia or hyperopia (near and farsightedness). Combined with strabismus, you may notice other symptoms characteristic of poor vision, such as squinting in an attempt to focus or headaches as a result of straining. In children, you may notice lowered grades if their vision is gradually declining, because they have difficulty seeing what’s going on at the front of the class or even what is on the piece of paper in front of them. All children are recommended to have a vision screening around three years old.
Physical Signs of Strabismus
Strabismus is perhaps most notable because of the distinct look of the eyes. There are several types of strabismus, depending upon the specifics of the eye(s). Constant strabismus refers to strabismus that is consistently present, while intermittent strabismus is only present part of the time. Unilateral strabismus occurs in the same eye always, while alternating strabismus may go back and forth between the eyes.
Additionally, the position of the eye can be used to diagnose a specific type, depending upon which axis the eyes wander. Horizontally, exotropia refers to an eye or eyes that wander outward, toward the temples (also called wall-eyed), while esotropia refers to an eye or eyes that wander inward, toward the bridge of the nose (cross-eyed). Vertically, hypotropia refers to an eye or eyes that turn downward, while hypertropia refers to an eye or eyes that move upward.
Pseudostrabismus
As infants eyes and eye muscles develop, they may seem to go cross-eyed or appear to have strabismus. Pseudostrabismus is when a baby looks like they have strabismus because of the shape of the lower lids’ skin and the nose. Furthermore, pseudostrabismus will get better with age, as the baby’s face matures and they gain control of the eye muscles. True strabismus can’t be “grown out of” and will not appear better as time passes. One way to tell the difference is to look at where the point of light hits the pupil or iris. If it is in 2 different parts of the eye, your child may have strabismus.
