Strabismus: treatment will require effort

Strabismus can become a real disaster for the child, so parents try to take action against the detected disease as early as possible. This is correct - the earlier the exact diagnosis is made, the easier it is to cure the patient. However, sometimes there is strabismus in adults. Treatment in these cases is more difficult, but it can also be effective provided the doctor is well qualified.

Strabismus in children under 7 years of age is sometimes accompanied by amblyopia, that is, underdevelopment in the brain of areas that are responsible for the eye with reduced vision. As a result, the brain learns to ignore the image from the weak eye. Age is critical precisely because the development of these areas of the brain is limited to seven years. Correction of strabismus over the age of 7 will not solve the problem of amblyopia, so if the strabismus occurs in a small child, it is necessary to start treating as early as possible. Otherwise, the vision will remain very low, although there will be no strabismus. Treatment can be both conservative and surgical.

The most familiar method is wearing glasses. If there is a slightly expressed strabismus, the treatment can be so simple. The patient is offered to wear special bifocals, that is glasses with two-focus lenses. Or special lenses called prisms. Simultaneously with the glasses you need to use special drops.

An eye patch is the main way to treat amblyopia, which is sometimes the cause of strabismus, and sometimes a consequence. So, how to cure strabismus with a bandage? This method will only work if this condition was provoked by amblyopia. A strong eye is closed by a bandage to work weak, so the brain has to work with the image from the weak, which usually "walks" with strabismus. Thus, the eye develops and develops the corresponding center of the brain, and over time the strabismus is overcome. The main thing is not to force a child to wear a bandage longer than your doctor recommends, otherwise an amblyopia of a healthy eye can arise.

Are medications effective with such a diagnosis as strabismus? Treatment may include atropine or substances, on the contrary, narrowing the pupil (myotics). They affect the muscles of the eye, which work with the pupil. Myotics help in case the strabismus is caused by the inability to focus the eye. Atropine is often used instead of a bandage, as a result, the vision of a strong eye temporarily deteriorates, and the child has to use a weak eye. This method is better for wearing a bandage, because in this case the child can not remove the bandage, that is, stop the action of atropine, and this action lasts a fixed time.

Exercises for the eyes are used as an additional tool. However, in themselves they are not able to cure strabismus, so do not believe in advertising on the Internet and do not pay money for fiction. Exercises work only in conjunction with serious methods. And do not deceive yourself. The worst thing, if the child is sick, is to lose time that could be used for effective treatment.

Botulinum toxin is used not only in aesthetic medicine. It is also used to weaken the muscles of a certain side that provoke strabismus. This method is usually applied together with surgical, but it causes too much controversy and the results are usually unpredictable.

How to remove strabismus surgically, what is the principle? The doctor changes the length of the small muscles of the eye or changes their position, as a result, the eyes begin to move simultaneously. Often after the operation, the child needs to wear glasses for a while and perform the exercises. Sometimes, strabismus corrects children under 2 years, but it is not recommended to do this until 6 months, because sometimes it disappears by this age itself, and any intervention is undesirable.

For adults, surgical resolution of the problem is the only really effective way to remove strabismus. The treatment helps them to eliminate the double vision, expand the field of vision, raise self-esteem and give the opportunity to feel more confident in communication.