Strabismus in children is one of the few diseases that can be detected independently, without various studies. Pathology is characterized by the asymmetry of one or both eyes relative to the central axis, as a result of which the baby loses the ability to focus on any object. According to statistics, the disease occurs in 3% of children, with the same frequency in boys and girls. The risk group includes babies aged 2-3 years, because at this moment the formation of the eye occurs. In newborns, pathology is also sometimes diagnosed, but it is often temporary and soon passes.
It is worth noting that strabismus in children is not only an external defect, but also a dangerous disease. The affected eye does not see well and stops in development. If the disease can not be cured before 7 years, serious vision problems may arise, in especially severe cases the child will not be able to see. In this article, we will consider the causes and treatment of strabismus in children, and also talk about the signs of pathology.
Why does the disease arise?
In medicine, there are two main types of diseases: congenital and acquired. The same goes for strabismus. Many people ask why a baby can be born with an external defect. This trend directly indicates the presence of congenital inherited problems. These include Brown and Louis-Bar syndromes, as well as dysfunction of the development of the nervous system.
The cause of strabismus in children of a congenital nature may be the pathological course of pregnancy or the presence of birth injuries. There are situations when a woman during childbirth does not have enough oxygen due to suffocation. This can easily become the basis for the appearance of an ailment.
Now, regarding the acquired causes of strabismus in children. These include:
- damage to nerve endings that monitor the functioning of the oculomotor muscles as a result of trauma or infection;
- decreased visual acuity due to the presence of ailments such as hyperopia, myopia, retinal dystrophy or cataracts;
- swelling or swelling in the eye area;
- damage to the cerebral cortex or pituitary gland;
- severe stress, fear, psychological trauma;
- malfunctioning thyroid gland.
It can be concluded that it is not enough to protect the baby from the effects of infections and physical injuries. Strabismus can also develop as a result of emotional breakdown. As you know, it is very easy to offend a child, so parents should not allow such a development of events.
False, true and hidden disease
As already noted, at the age of 2-3 years, children usually develop a disease. Just then the child seeks to study the world around him, as a result of which his eyes tighten. If at this age the baby's eye movement is not coordinated, there is reason to start to worry.
In infants, the gaze does not concentrate at one point, so it is difficult to determine the pathology. Usually, at the age of 3-4 months, the eyes stop running back and forth, you can already talk about the presence of pathology. If problems are found, consult a specialist to avoid the consequences.
Strabismus in children under one year of age is possible only in the case of congenital pathologies. It is better to check the state of vision several times annually, even if there are no obvious violations. In order to say with confidence about the presence of pathology, an ophthalmologist conducts a series of examinations. Often the anxiety turns out to be false, and the doctor diagnoses an imaginary strabismus, which appears due to the asymmetry of the face. The analyzers work well, but as a result of different shapes of slots, it may seem that both eyes are mowing. In this case, we are only talking about an external defect.
In medicine, there is also a hidden strabismus, which is characterized by insufficient development of the muscles of the eye. What is the feature? From the side the defect is invisible, but if you close one eye, the second will deviate. During a visual examination, the ophthalmologist always conducts a mini-examination to identify possible problems.
Classification
Strabismus in children is divided into many types, depending on the trait under consideration. They can be the time of the onset of the disease, the stability of symptoms, eye involvement and the type of deviation. When a doctor makes a diagnosis, he means all sorts of classifications. However, the most common is the type of deviation:
- Converging strabismus in children. This is the most common form, according to statistics, found in 80% of victims. An ailment is formed at the age of 2-3 months. As for the symptoms, bifurcation is not observed, the deviating eye sees much worse, as a result, a full-fledged image cannot be formed. This type of disease is usually diagnosed in 3-4 years.
- Divergent strabismus in children. The form of the disease is often congenital due to intrauterine pathologies. One eye squints towards the nose, the second can be absolutely normal or static, that is, it can not look in different directions due to paralytic damage. It is manifested by the duality of the image, its blurry, coupled with a headache.
- The vertical type of disease. The peculiarity is that such a squint appears as a result of muscle paralysis. Vision correction is complicated here; surgical intervention is required.
- Mixed view of the disease. The bottom line is the presence of two other types of strabismus simultaneously. Usually converging or diverging deviation is combined with vertical. If we talk about treatment, this is the most difficult option, complex therapy is required.
What is the danger?
We have already said that the disease in question is not only an external defect. The presence of an ailment indicates problems in the functioning of the visual apparatus, which leads to a certain kind of negative consequences.
A situation is considered normal when the image is displayed simultaneously in the central retina of each eye during the observation of an object. In other words, visual images merge into one picture. If two different images enter the baby’s brain, we can talk about strabismus. The eyes in children in this case focus on different subjects. Images do not merge, as a result, the central nervous system does not perceive a holistic image.
It turns out that the load in double volume falls on the healthy eye, while the second atrophies, visual acuity is significantly reduced. Perhaps the development of the disease of amblyopia, characterized by the inability to process images due to the lack of interaction between the cerebral cortex and the retina. Visual disturbances have a negative effect on the psychological factor. The child becomes withdrawn, insecure, in some cases aggressive.
Symptomatology
In most cases, parents notice the external manifestations of the disease. Due to the incorrect physiological development, mothers and fathers understand that the child does not develop as well as we would like. So, the main symptoms include:
- The impossibility of concentrating the gaze at one point with both eyes. This sign is easy to identify by observing the facial expressions and facial expressions of the baby.
- Deviation of one eye up / down or left / right. If the child has obvious strabismus, then the symptom is easy to detect, otherwise only in bright light.
- Asynchronous eye movement. In principle, it is very simple to check. It is necessary to show the baby the item, gradually moving it to the side, and follow the expression of the eyes. If the movements follow the same path, everything is in order, otherwise strabismus is possible.
- To examine the subject, the baby tilts his head. It becomes a full-fledged sign only if for the child this is the main way of looking at it.
- The kid often comes across obstacles. A classic example: leaving the bathroom, the child beats on the jamb. It is necessary to observe him, if such a situation is repeated constantly, there is cause for concern.
Strabismus in children (see photo below) can be diagnosed only after they are 4 months old. Until this age, the gaze of babies is often not concentrated. This is a temporary symptom that disappears after a few months. But if the problem remains, you need to see a doctor.
In older children, specialists identify additional signs:
- excessive sensitivity to light, pain appears in the eyes, they involuntarily close;
- blurred vision, objects are perceived fuzzy, foggy;
- eyes quickly get tired, the baby constantly complains of pain while reading or drawing;
- bifurcated, the child cannot determine the number of items shown to him.
Diagnostics
In case of strabismus in children, you need to sign up with an ophthalmologist. It is this doctor who does everything related to the eyes. To confirm or refute the diagnosis, he uses the following methods:
- Visual inspection
- Determination of visual acuity using well-known methods.
- Perimetry, thanks to this study, you can determine the field of view.
- Checks eye movement. Refers to a visual inspection of a detailed type, a specialist observes the reaction of the eyes to the movement of an object up and down and left and right.
- Four-point color test, thanks to it, determine the number of eyes with which the baby sees.
If the above methods are not enough for a diagnosis, the doctor sends the baby for computed tomography and ultrasound. Often an ophthalmologist appoints an appointment with his colleagues: a neurologist and an endocrinologist. This is due to the fact that it is first necessary to determine the cause of the disease, and then engage in therapy.
Strabismus treatment in children
Immediately after diagnosis, treatment is necessary. Some people think that the baby will outgrow the ailment, and everything will normalize by itself. Unfortunately, this will not happen, and therefore it is impossible to postpone treatment in any case. After all, the sooner you start following the effective therapy, the faster you can get rid of an unpleasant defect.
The attending physician chooses a method for treating strabismus in a child after an individual diagnosis. Any therapy begins with the elimination of the cause of the disease. There are several effective methods, a particular ophthalmologist chooses depending on a number of factors. I must say that strabismus can be corrected, do not worry about this.
Kids Exercises
How to treat strabismus in children at home? One of the methods is gymnastics for the eyes. Exercises should be performed with glasses, otherwise it will not be possible to achieve a positive effect. On average, classes will take about two hours a day, while the baby should not be capricious. You can use all sorts of improvised means to attract attention.
The most effective exercises include:
- Improving visual acuity. To do this, you need to turn on the desk lamp and place a bright ball five centimeters from it. Then you need to close the baby’s eye and put it from the lamp at a distance of about half a meter. The task of the child is to keep his eyes on the ball for thirty seconds. Then you need to show the baby various color images for relaxing the eyes.
- Increased muscle mobility. It is also recommended to use a bright ball. You should hang it on a small stick and drive it from side to side so that the baby monitors movement, closing his eyes one at a time. Try to bring the wand closer to the face, the baby should reduce his eyes to the nose.
- General development. Divide an ordinary sheet of paper into cells and depict something in each of them, and several drawings should be repeated. The goal of the child is to identify and cross out the repeating figure from the game.
Optical correction and pleoptics
You need to understand that the method of correcting strabismus in children depends on the cause of the onset of the disease and the type of disease. There is no universal way. For example, optical correction is most effective for hyperopia, myopia and astigmatism. Apply this kind of treatment to children from 9-12 months. As a result, the problems of the visual apparatus disappear, and with them the squint. In addition, optical correction is a good preventive measure against lazy eye syndrome, that is, situations when the eye goes blind in the absence of load.
But if nevertheless the child has developed ambleopia, doctors recommend the use of pleoptics. This method is clearly aimed at treating lazy eye syndrome, the essence is to turn off a healthy eye from the visual act. How to achieve this? There are many ways, the most popular is the closure of one of the glasses in glasses. A blindfold is also common on the seeing eye. As a result of simple manipulations, all the visual load falls on the squinting eye.
But what if the syndrome is detected on both pupils at the same time? Then experts recommend taking turns in sticking. That eye that sees worse should be blocked for one day, and the other for two or more. It is better to ask your doctor in detail, it will indicate the duration of wearing the bandages depending on the visual acuity.
Hardware therapy
The advantage of the method is that it has practically no contraindications. Even the smallest kids calmly tolerate such treatment. Usually courses are held in several procedures. Specific methods are prescribed individually after the examination. Among them are:
- Amblyocor. The action of the equipment is aimed at correcting the lazy eye syndrome, as well as the development of binocular vision. With the help of this apparatus, the control of the nervous system over all processes of the visual analyzer is restored.
- Sinoptofor. It also develops binocular vision, plus it trains the mobility of the eyes in the baby. The essence of the method is to separate the fields of view. In other words, one eye of a child sees a circle, and the other a mouse. The task will be to move the mouse in a circle.
- Amblyopanorama. The method is intended for the correction of lazy eye syndrome in the smallest. Thanks to the panoramic blind fields, the baby returns to normal vision.
- Fresnel lenses. Wearing allows you to come to an excellent cosmetic result. They are used to make glasses with thin glasses.
Surgical intervention
The operation to correct strabismus in children is carried out to solve external problems with the subsequent restoration of the function of vision. That is, the sharpness increases, the blurriness and duality disappear. Intervention is carried out on an outpatient basis for one day. When it comes to babies, mild general anesthesia is used. For older children, local anesthesia is used as anesthesia. This is not to say that the purpose of the operation is rare. The doctor opts for surgery if an external deformity is fatal.
This method is of two types:
- reinforcing, the essence is the shortening of the eye muscle;
- weakening, the place of muscle attachment changes, it is transplanted further from the cornea, in other words, the actions of the muscles towards deviation are weakened.
The rehabilitation period is one week. Strabismus in children after surgery disappears, and in most cases this problem does not torment the child throughout life.
Reviews
Modern medicine involves a huge number of ways to treat this problem. There are techniques that are most effective in one situation, but absolutely powerless in another. Users of the global network daily express their opinion on strabismus in a child. Reviews about the therapy vary. Some say that surgery is the only right decision. Others argue that the problem can be solved by optical correction or hardware treatment. As already noted, there is no universal method, it is necessary to analyze a specific situation.
Prevention
It’s easier to prevent the disease than to treat it later. In this case, you can give the following tips to parents:
- timely fight with ophthalmic diseases;
- conduct frequent examinations with a doctor;
- comply with the rules of eye strain.
If you notice that the child has begun to see worse, do not buy glasses yourself. If you choose the wrong optics, your vision can only get worse. The sooner you cope with the strabismus of the baby, the better. It is necessary to get rid of the disease before school time in order to avoid psychological trauma. Watch your child’s posture; do not allow sitting at a computer for a long time.
In our material, we talked about the causes and treatment of strabismus in children, and also discussed symptoms and classification. , . , . : , . .