General, Research, Technology

What is strabismus and is it possible to get it?

Strabismus is a condition in which the eyesa person cannot simultaneously look at the same point in space. According to statistics, strabismus affects about 4% of the world's population and most often it is diagnosed before the age of 3 years. Healthy people have binocular vision, in which images from two eyes are combined into one. But when one eye looks in the other direction, two different images get into the brain and the person has double vision. At a young age, children may stop analyzing the image from each eye, so they see normally. But adults who later suffered from strabismus are used to combining two images into one and are unable to ignore the visual impairment. Double vision can cause frequent headaches and tension, so this condition must be treated. And for this you need to understand what exactly causes squint.

In medical language, strabismus is called strabismus.

Content

  • 1 Types of strabismus
  • 2 Causes of strabismus
  • 3 Symptoms of strabismus
  • 4 Treatment of strabismus

Types of strabismus

As a rule, strabismus is acquired in childrenunder 6 months - in this case, it is called infantile. If strabismus occurs after six months of life, it is considered acquired. Apart from these two types, there are many classifications of strabismus. No doctor can simply say that a person just has slanting eyes. He will definitely clarify the diagnosis using additional terms. Typically, these terms have two parts:

the first specifies the direction in which the eye is turned:

  • "Ezo-" - inward, towards the bridge of the nose;
  • "Exo" - outward from the bridge of the nose;
  • "Hyper" - the eye squints up;
  • «гипо-» — глаз косит вниз.

the second part specifies the conditions under which strabismus occurs:

  • "-Foria" - squint occurs when a person is not looking at anything. That is, when he is thinking and "looking nowhere" or is tired;
  • "-Tropia" - strabismus occurs when a person focuses on a certain point.

Also, strabismus is permanent or periodic. Most often, only one eye squints, but sometimes both eyes look in the wrong direction.

Strabismus often occurs during childhood. But acquired squint is far from uncommon.

Interesting fact: representatives of the Mayan people believed that squint -this is a very attractive feature. In fact, it was something of a highlight, like red hair and freckles. In order for the child to become numb and “beautiful”, a ball was hung on the bridge of his nose so that one eye would look askance at him. Over time, the ball was removed, and the person grew up with a squint.

Causes of strabismus

You can really get strabismus, but notfrom prolonged use of the computer or frequent eye-rolling. Strabismus is usually caused by damage to the nerves that are needed to communicate information between the eyes and the brain. Nerves can be damaged from head injuries because the impact can affect the areas responsible for eye movement. Also, the list of common causes can include cerebral palsy, diabetes and stroke. The latter is the main cause of strabismus in adults.

Early strabismus is much easier to treat. However, this is true for all diseases.

Also squint occurs due to problems in work.eye muscles. Each eyeball is controlled by six muscles. In some cases, the muscles in both eyes stop working in sync because some muscles become weaker than others. It may happen that one eye turns to the side normally, and the other simply does not have enough strength for it. To other people, it looks as if the “strong” eye is more sideways than the weak.

Muscles of the human eye

Strabismus symptoms

Parents can understand that it is time to show the childto the doctor, when he begins to blink more often, tilt his head for a better examination of objects and when he feels that his eyes do not look the same. In adults, the symptoms are more unpleasant: they have double vision, it is difficult for them to determine the distance to objects, tension is often felt in the eyes, and their head regularly hurts. If you experience such symptoms, you need to make an appointment with an optometrist.

If a person often has a headache and double vision, this is a clear reason to see a doctor.

First of all, the doctor is usually interested in, sufferedwhether other relatives are from strabismus - usually the disease is inherited. Strabismus can often be determined by simply looking at the person. Additionally, the doctor may ask you to slowly move your eyes in different directions. During this process, he can figure out which eye muscles are working well and which are weak.

See also: Why are eyes of different colors and which color is the rarest?

Strabismus treatment

There are many treatment methods for strabismus.Which one will be prescribed by the doctor depends on the type of strabismus, the cause and angle of the eye deviation. If the patient is concerned about double vision, the doctor may prescribe glasses with prismatic lenses. They refract the direction of light and, as it were, shift the image to the side, as a result of which double vision disappears. When worn for a long time, prismatic glasses help to get rid of strabismus.

Prismatic glasses

In some cases, the doctor recommends performingeye exercises that help strengthen the muscles that control them. Sometimes patients are prescribed eye drops that cloud the “strong” eye and allow the “weak” to work harder and gain strength. Instead of medication, you can simply use a bandage that obstructs the strong eye.

Eye gymnastics is recommended for everyone, it is useful

Sometimes none of the above methodshelps. In this case, a surgical operation is used, in which surgeons change the length and location of the eye muscles. This method is quite effective and allows you to solve the problem quickly. But the cost of such an operation can exceed 100 thousand rubles. But any treatment can make life easier for people with strabismus. Indeed, because of this defect, they not only see poorly, but also experience problems with self-esteem.

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Fortunately, doctors today can decidemany eye problems. For example, Israeli scientists recently developed the CorNeat KPro artificial cornea, which can restore vision to thousands of people around the world. One of the corneas has already been transplanted into a 78-year-old man, Jamal Furani, who lost his sight 10 years ago. You can read more about this operation in this article.