Starbismus aka cross-eyes / wall-eyes

Strabismus is a condition were the eyes can not properly align themselves together.This condition is commonly called cross-eyed, wall-eyed,wandering-eye,deviating-eyes,or eye-turns, because one or both eyes may turn up, down, inward or outward. Strabismus may be constant or intermittent, when constant the eye will always be turned,when intermittent the eye will turn when you are ill, under stress, or have been reading or doing close up work for a long period of time. According to the American Optometric Association if the eye turning becomes constant and is not treated, it can lead to permanent reduction of vision and lead to a lazy eye (amblyopia ).

Strabismus is equally as common in boys as it is in girls and it can also run in families, 2%-5 % of children have some form of strabismus. These children will squint with one eye in the bright sunlight. At first many of these children will have double vision. This is caused from the misalignment of the two eyes to one another. The brain will block out the image of the weaker eye in an attempt to avoid the double vision.

The eye has six different muscles that surround it and work together to focus on the same object .For a person who has starbismus these six muscles do not work together.This results in one eye that looks at on object while the the other eye turns in a different direction and focuses on another object.When this happen two different images have been sent to the brain,one from each eye this confuses the brain,eventually the brain may learn to ignore the image from the weaker eye.If you left untreated the weaker eye that the brain ignores will loose its site.

Keeping your eyes properly aligned is important for good depth perception,avoiding double vision,and developing poor vision in the turned eye.Without proper alignment you will not have depth perception.

There are different causes for starbismus, one being the difficulty with the eye muscles and the nerves that that transmit to the muscle or the center in the brain that directs eye movements or It may also develop to eye injuries or other general health conditions.

Family history plays a role if a person with parents or siblings have strabismus you are more likely to develop it yourself.

Children with these medical conditions down syndrome, cerebral palsy, hydrocepchlus brain tumors.

Adult causes can be varied and require prompt medical attention. Double vision or starbismus may be the first sign of a severe medical condition including a stroke or brain injury. Other cause may be graves disease diabetes, cataracts, eye or brain injuries

Even though there are many types of staribsimus in children and adults the the two most common types are constant esotropia and intermittent exotropia

Constant esotropia occurs most often as the result of uncorrected farsightedness due to the fact that your eyes focusing system is linked to where your eyes point, the extra effort needed focus and keep images clear may cause the eyes to turn inward. Sometimes the eye will turn the same way;however the turn can alternates from eye one eye to the other. Most children have comitant starbisums the degree of deviation does not change no matter which direction the child looks. Some signs & symptoms to look for may be seeing double, turning or tilting of the head, and closing or covering one eye when doing close work.

Intermittent exotropia may develop into a inability to coordinate both eyes together. Your eyes may experience eye strain, difficulty reading, headaches. When looking at a distance or a bright sunlight they may a tendency to close one eye. This occurs most often when the eyes are focusing on distant objects and has a outward turn of the eye.

Glass or contact lenses may be the only treatment needed with some farsightedness. With the farsightedness corrected the eye requires less effort focusing and remain straight. The good eye is also patched sometimes to make the weaker eye stronger and place less strain on the dominate eye this may be done with or without glasses.

Prism lenses is a special with its propose is to alter the light entering the eye and to help in reducing the amount of turning the eye has to do to look at an object.Sometimes the prism lenses are able to fully compensate or/and eliminate the eye turning.

Vision therapy is prescribed to improve eye coordination and focusing abilities. This therapy trains the eyes and brain to work together more effectively. The eye exercise are to help eye focusing, eye teaming, re mediate deficiencies in eye movement and to reinforce the eye brain connection. The therapy may be done at the optometrist office or at home.

Eye muscle surgery can change the position or the length of the muscles surrounding the eye in an attempt to better align the eyes.The surgery may be able to physically align the eyes so they appear straight.After having eye muscle surgery vision therapy may also be needed to develop a functional improvement in eye coordination to keep the eye muscles from going back to their previous misalignment.

Eye surgery is done under a local anesthetic for children while it's optional for adults.The recovery time is rapid you can usually resume your daily activities in a few days.