WHAT ARE TYPES OF SQUINTS ?
1. ESOTROPIAS
An esotropia is the medical name for a convergent squint where one eye turns in towards the nose.
2. EXOTROPIAS
An exotropia is the medical name for a divergent squint where the one eye turns outwards.
3. HYPERTROPIAS AND HYPOTROPIAS
These terms refer to vertical squints where one eye is higher (hypertropia) or lower (hypotropia) than the fellow eye.
4. PARALYTIC SQUINTS
There are three nerves which send signals to the six eye muscles, these are the third, fourth and sixth cranial nerves. Damage to these nerves as result of poor blood supply to the nerve, pressure on the nerve or head injuries will cause limited eye movements and a squint.
HOW DOES A SQUINT AFFECT MY CHILD ?
An eye with a squint may become unable to see clearly. This weak eye is called a lazy eye. Lazy eye can only be cured if detected and treated early. The earlier the treatment, the better the results.
WHAT CAUSES A SQUINT ?
HOW IS A SQUINT TREATED ?
A child with a squint needs a full eye checkup. This may take time as young children are often uncooperative and may need to be sedated. Even then it may still be necessary to come back another day to confirm the findings or even to put the child to sleep under general anaesthesia to allow an accurate examination.
Treatment may include a combination of patching, eye glasses, eye drops, eye exercises, and surgery. Treatment using the spectacles to correct any refractive errors may cure some types of squint, but to be effective the spectacles must be worn most of the time. As children often resist, the responsibility falls to the parents to make sure they wear their spectacles constantly.
Any lazy eye must be treated. The most effective method is to cover the good eye with a patch so that the child is forced to use the lazy eye. Adequate treatment of lazy eye improves the results of surgery.
Lastly, the eyes must be straightened to improve the appearance and to allow the child to use both eyes together, done usually by surgery. Surgery is only recommended if patching or eye glasses do not work.
HOW DOES SQUINT SURGERY WORK ?
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