Symptoms of strabismus
Of course, strabismus is a mostly visible eye problem, so it is a very obvious symptom that the eye axes are not parallel when viewed from the front. It is important to note here that from the side, however, this is not at all clear. In young children, squinting can also be a sign of squinting if they rub their eyes a lot, are noticeably bothered by the light and squint a lot.
Unfortunately, if this eye condition is not treated in time, it can lead to the development of blurred vision in the squinting eye. In children, the brain can completely filter out the signals from the weaker eye, but in adults with strabismus, it can no longer do so, resulting in double vision. Depending on its severity and duration, this can be a particular problem when driving or working in front of a monitor, for example.
What solutions can help?
Treating strabismus can take years, so it’s important to start with a professional you trust and can work with. For single-eye squints, in addition to the necessary spectacle correction, the non-squinting eye is covered first, but this should never last more than a week, followed by a half-day break. The eye covering lasts until the squinted eye has regained its full visual acuity, if this is possible. For other types of strabismus, alternate masking may be considered. In such cases, spectacle correction is often required to restore visual acuity.
Once these procedures have been completed, the strabismus eye is operated on. The aim of the operation is to minimise the degree of squint to at least 5 degrees. After the operation, further tests will follow and, depending on the results, spectacle correction may be considered again.
As our brain has to adapt to the new situation, it is necessary to continue with ongoing treatment/examinations with the help of an ophthalmologist after surgery. In the case of acquired strabismus, prismatic correction or surgery may be an option to eliminate the distracting double vision.
