Squint In Children – Symptoms And Treatment

Squint is a very common disorder, seen in 4-6% of children in India, wherein both the eyes do not align with each other. While one of the eyes may be alright, the other might be pointing in another direction – up, down, left, or right. With one in twenty children being affected with squint, it becomes one of the most common disorders, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be affected by it. Squint, although a very common problem, creates innumerous issues for those who have the condition.

What causes squint?

Both the eyes work in collaboration as a pair. When you look at an object, both the eyes look at it, focusing at the same point. The brain combines the slightly different images from both the eyes to give a three dimensional picture of the scene around you. Joining both the images from the eyes helps in having a binocular vision. This slight difference is what allows you to have depth perception. Furthermore, the movement of each eye is controlled by six muscles, which pull the eye in specific directions. These muscles while working in coordination with one another, also work with the muscles of the other eye, which allows both the eyes to coordinate their movement together. A squint is when both these eye muscles do not work in a balanced way, and the eyes do not move together correctly, thus causing vision related problems.

How does squint affect an individual?

Not only does squint affect the appearance of an individual, but also creates many difficulties. First of all, both eyes cannot look together, thus causing problems in vision. Also, with the eyes pointing in different directions, the brain is no longer able to process the separate images to produce a three dimensional perception. In addition, it is also possible that the vision in the eye which squints is weaker than the vision in the normal eye.

How can squint be treated?

To have a child’s squint be treated, there could be one of the many ways chosen by the doctor. There could be one way or a combination of multiple treatments to get the best results, depending upon the child’s condition. Whatever the treatment, it always aims to offer good vision in each eye, as well as correction of the eye alignment. For this, you may need to visit an orthoptist or ophthalmologist. Most squint treatments require regular visits to the clinic for regular examination for a number of years. Some of the common squint treatments include –

• Wearing the right spectacles that can resolve refractive errors
• Occlusion therapy, which involves using an eye patch to cover the eyes for a couple of hours every day.
• Surgery, in which the eye muscles are detached from the original insertion and shifted to a different spot. The amount of shift is determined on the measurement done with special prisms. Arohi Eye Hospital is where you can have a successful squint surgery in Andheri West done, if eye glasses and eye patching don’t work for your child.

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