Dr. Chipont is a specialist in Ophthalmology in Alicante with special dedication to the treatment of children’s ocular pathologies. In this article he explains how to detect strabismus in children, a common disease that is important to detect early.
Strabismus occurs when one of the two eyes deviates inwards or outwards, being a loss of parallelism of the eyes. As a result, each eye looks in a different direction. This ocular defect is a serious problem for the visual system and should be evaluated immediately by a specialist in pediatric ophthalmology.
The muscle coordination mechanism also allows the eyes to remain fixed on a stationary object, follow it when it moves and maintain fixation on the object when the observer moves. When there is a failure of any of these circuits and connections, strabismus occurs, leading to sensory and motor impairment with a greater impact on visual maturation stage.
The sensory alteration consists of the brain annulling the vision of the deviated eye to avoid seeing double. If this circumstance persists over time, it leads to loss of vision in the deviated eye, causing amblyopia or lazy eye.
Botulinum toxin to cure strabismus
Botulinum toxin may become an alternative to surgery in certain clinical cases and orthoptic exercises to stimulate binocular vision may be useful as a complement to surgery in certain cases.
The pediatrician is responsible for diagnosing the newborn and its immediate evolution. Educators and pedagogues can be of great help in detecting problems at such early ages. The pediatric ophthalmologist should perform a check-up from the age of three, even if there are no symptoms, and another one from the age of five, before the visual system matures.
Strabismus constitutes one of the most frequent reasons for ophthalmologic consultation in children, along with common headaches, eye redness or the usual eye environment